Speaker to seek reelection, not Senate seat

MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Martin Romualdez has doused speculations that he would be running for senator in the May 2025 midterm polls, saying he would seek reelection as the congressman of Leyte’s first district, where he is now on his second term.

“I will perhaps stay on as Leyte congressman and I’ll just do my work in the first district,” he told reporters Wednesday after the groundbreaking ceremonies for a hemodialysis center at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City.

That was the reply of the leader of the House of Representatives when he was asked whether he was planning to seek a seat in the Senate in next year’s midterm elections. When followed up with a query about the May 2028 presidential polls, he said: “That’s still too far off.”

There have been rumors Romualdez – a first cousin of President Marcos – is gunning for the presidency four years from now.

Romualdez, on the other hand, has been mum about his rumored plan to succeed Marcos.

But when asked for his comment about the plan of the Dutertes – former president Rodrigo and his sons Davao City Mayor Sebastian and Davao City Rep. Paolo, he replied: “This is a democratic country. Anybody can run for any seat in government.”

Romualdez sits as president of the ruling and most dominant Lakas-CMD party in the country.

Meanwhile, one of the most outspoken critics of former president Duterte in the House of Representatives who sued him for alleged grave threats accepted yesterday the challenge of her fellow teachers – which is to join the May 2025 midterm elections.

“I humbly accept the challenge you have given me,” Rep. France Castro, who represents the party-list ACT Teachers, said in response to the organization of retired public school teachers who wanted the progressive lawmaker to run for senator in next year’s polls.

The Quezon City prosecutor’s office dismissed last January the grave threats she filed against Duterte, due to lack of evidence, which was borne out of a death threat issued in October 2023 on a TV show on a network owned by his buddy Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, which discussed several national issues.

The retired teachers’ group proposed it would be best if Castro – a House deputy minority leader and one of the three-member Makabayan bloc – would run, alongside the Dutertes – the ex-president and his sons, Davao Mayor Sebastian and Davao City congressman Paolo.

“You are now nearing the end of your third and last term in Congress – and you’re about to do it with flying colors. But you can’t join us (retirees) yet. You haven’t reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 yet,” the organization stated in its “open letter” to Castro.

Castro’s colleagues in the militant bloc said she could very well pass the qualifications set for being appointed secretary of the Department of Education, but pointed out this will not be for her for reasons of practicality – since being so means serving at the pleasure of the appointing authority.

“Instead, we see you more as someone who is more qualified to be in the august halls of the Senate. Let us elevate even more the engagement of educators in the field of politics by electing her to be our Teachers’ Voice in the Senate,” they wrote.

“It’s about time that we have our first-ever senator coming from the ranks of classroom teachers. It’s also high time for us to have a genuine opposition in our midst. And it shouldn’t be the Dutertes alone, nor the conservative elite who only pretend to be oppositionists,” they added.

“We are the genuine opposition. You’re (Castro) running for senator is part and parcel of our firm belief that teachers should not be limited to the four corners of the classroom,” the teachers said. “We may be retired, but our love for the country has not wavered.”