Villar, Romualdez As Next Congress Leaders?

Is Sen. Cynthia Villar the next Senate President in the 19th Congress?

A source said Villar is likely to get the Senate presidency after she and her husband, former senator Manny Villar, hosted a meeting with Sen. Imee Marcos in a branch of the couple’s coffee shop in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig recently.

“The meeting was about the Senate leadership. So far, Sen. Cynthia Villar has already 13 senators from those elected in 2019 and during the May 9, 2022 polls to support her bid for the Senate top post. But there will still be a caucus among the 24 senators to formalize that (agreement),” the source bared on Thursday, May 12.

The Philippine STAR tried to confirm the reported meeting with the Villars but Marcos declined to comment, saying they are still focusing on the elections.

“Sorry no comment for now. All up in the air as we were focused on the elections. Ngayon lang mag re-group (We will regroup just now),” Marcos told The STAR in a Viber message.

Under the initial agreement, the source said reelectionist Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri will likely keep his post as the majority leader, while Marcos will likely be the next Senate president pro-tempore.

The source also said that returning senator and former House speaker Alan Peter Cayetano is likely to be the next minority leader. Cayetano’s elder sister Sen. Pia Cayetano is also expected to be with him in the minority.

Senatorial frontrunner Loren Legarda has also indicated her intention to be among the possible choice to become Senate President in the 19th Congress.

Legarda said she could join Villar and Marcos in the race to head the Senate in the 19th Congress. “You said two women (are considered for SP), don’t you want (the race) to be for three women? I didn’t think about it, you were the ones asking so I suddenly thought (about it),” said Legarda in an interview on One PH on Wednesday, May 11.

Romualdez for House Speaker

The second largest power bloc in the House of Representatives endorsed on Thursday the first cousin of presumptive president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as speaker for the incoming 19th Congress, which will run from July 2022 to June 2025.

The National Unity Party (NUP) issued a statement expressing full support to reelected Rep. Martin Romualdez (Leyte, first district), current House majority leader to Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.

“In a consultation with the NUP members of the House of Representatives, it was unanimously agreed to endorse Rep. Romualdez as the Speaker for the coming Congress,” said Reginald Velasco, the group’s spokesman.

According to him, this decision was arrived at “in recognition of his exemplary service as Majority Leader of the 18th Congress (2019-2022) and his proven ability as a consensus builder for the different political parties in the House.”

NUP is poised to be one of the largest political parties in the 19th Congress. It is led by Dasmariñas City Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. and has about 60 members in the lower legislative cham-ber.

Romualdez, who ran unopposed in his district, can be credited as one of the powers behind the imminent victory of Marcos and his running-mate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio who is leading the vice presidential race, courtesy of the vast Lakas-CMD political machinery.

Political analysts are speculating that Romualdez may end up as the Speaker – and not just the second highest House leader – of the 300-member House come July 25, when Marcos delivers his first State of the Nation Address.

This is because while rumors have it that returning former president and speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is eyeing a comeback in the House leadership, a sitting President cannot risk giving such post to a mere political ally, when he has a blood relative who can do the job.

“Blood, of course, is much thicker than water,” a former House leader told The STAR.

House sources say this is especially so borne out of the alliance between Arroyo and presumptive vice president Sara Duterte-Carpio, where the former’s loyalty may be questioned.