Martin Romualdez
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Ferdinand Martin Gomez Romualdez (, born November 14, 1963) is a Filipino businessman, lawyer, and politician who has served as the 24th speaker of the House of Representatives since 2022. He has also served as the representative for Leyte's first district since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2016. He was previously the House Majority Leader from 2019 to 2022. He is a first cousin of President
Bongbong Marcos Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr. (, , ; born September 13, 1957), commonly referred to by the initials BBM or PBBM, is a Filipino politician who has served as the 17th president of the Philippines since 2022. He is the second child ...
. Born to the fourth generation of the Romualdez family, he graduated from
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
in the United States and pursued legal studies at the University of the Philippines College of Law, being admitted to the bar in 1993. Romualdez entered government in 2007 after being elected to the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
, being subsequently reelected in 2010 and 2013. Upon being term-limited as a representative in 2016, he sought a seat in the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and lost. Romualdez was elected back to the lower chamber in 2019. During his second tenure, he managed the successful vice presidential campaign of
Sara Duterte Sara Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio (, ; born May 31, 1978), commonly known as Inday Sara, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who is the 15th and current vice president of the Philippines. She is the third female vice president (after Gloria Macap ...
. He was subsequently elected as speaker in 2022. During his speakership, Romualdez played a key role in the Marcos–Duterte rift and pursued constitutional reforms that were marred by irregularities.


Early life and education

Ferdinand Martin Gomez Romualdez is the third child of former Leyte Governor and Ambassador to the United States Benjamin Romualdez and Juliette Gomez-Romualdez. His father was once named by ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'' as the 30th richest man in the Philippines with a net worth of , which the
Presidential Commission on Good Government The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) is a quasi-judicial government agency of the Philippines whose primary mandate is to recover the ill-gotten wealth accumulated by Ferdinand Marcos, his immediate family, relatives, subordi ...
claimed was ill-gotten. He is the nephew of former first lady
Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitación Trinidad Romuáldez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who was First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power after her husband Ferdinand ...
and former President
Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...
, while incumbent President Bongbong and Senator
Imee Marcos Maria Imelda Josefa Remedios "Imee" Romualdez Marcos-Manotoc (; born November 12, 1955) is a Filipino politician and film producer serving as a Senate of the Philippines, senator since 2019. She previously served as governor of Ilocos Norte ...
are his cousins. Romualdez attended
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
in the United States from 1981 to 1985, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in government. In 1988, he earned a Certificate of Special Studies in Administration and Management from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. He later enrolled at the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1988, becoming a Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity member. He earned his
Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...
degree in 1992. He was admitted to the bar in 1993. In 1992, Romualdez was appointed as concurrent trustee and president of the Doña Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Medical Foundation and Dr. Vicente Orestes Romualdez Educational Foundation, both of which are owned by his family. In 1995, he started work as a director and legal counsel for the CARPA Realty Development Corporation. Prior to his political career, Romualdez served as chairman of the board for Equitable PCI Bank. He also served as a chairman of Benguet Corporation.


House of Representatives


Elections

Romualdez was first elected as representative of Leyte's first district in
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
. He was re-elected in
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
and in
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
. In April 2014, Romualdez expressed interest in running for senator in the
2016 elections Africa Benin Republic *2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016 Cape Verde * 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016 Chad * 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 April 2016 Djibouti * 2016 Djiboutian presidential ...
. He filed his certificate of candidacy for senator on October 13, 2015. On November 7, 2015, Romualdez declared his support for presidential candidate Jejomar Binay. In 2016
Davao City Davao City, officially the City of Davao, is a City of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Davao Region, Philippines. The city has a total land area of , making it the List of Philippine cities and municipalities ...
Mayor and presidential aspirant
Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...
also endorsed the candidacy of Romualdez. He ran under the
Lakas–CMD Lakas–Christian Muslim Democrats, abbreviated as Lakas–CMD and also known simply as Lakas, (and known as Lakas–Kampi until 2011) is a political party in the Philippines. Lakas–CMD is considered to be on the Centre-right politics, centre ...
party, which he is the national president of, but ultimately failed to win a senate seat, placing 15th. In the
2019 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2019. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems has a calendar of upcoming elections around the world, and the National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections in cou ...
, Romualdez again won as representative of Leyte's first district. Romualdez was later elected as Majority Floor Leader of the House of Representatives of the Philippines for the 18th Congress. He was re-elected in
2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
and in
2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...
. In December 2021, Romualdez became the campaign manager of
Sara Duterte Sara Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio (, ; born May 31, 1978), commonly known as Inday Sara, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who is the 15th and current vice president of the Philippines. She is the third female vice president (after Gloria Macap ...
's vice presidential campaign alongside Davao Occidental
Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Claude Bautista.


Tenure

Romualdez authored House Bill No. 1039, which was enacted into law by President
Benigno Aquino III Benigno Simeon Aquino III (; born Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III; February 8, 1960 – June 24, 2021), also known as Noynoy Aquino and colloquially as PNoy, was a Filipino politician who served as the 15th president of the Philippines ...
as Republic Act No. 10754, or ''An act on expanding the benefits and privileges of people with disabilities''. On July 10, 2020, Martin and his wife Yedda Marie Romualdez were among the 70 representatives who voted to reject the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN.


House Speaker (2022–present)

Romualdez was as Speaker of the House of Representatives elected in July 2022, receiving the votes of the 284 House members. During his speakership, Romualdez also assumed legislative caretaker roles for the majority of the vacated districts during the 19th Congress, such as Cavite–7th (later filled by Crispin Diego Remulla), Negros Oriental–3rd, Batangas–6th, Palawan–3rd, Palawan–1st, Cavite–4th, and Negros Occidental–3rd. In November 2022, Romualdez, along with six other lawmakers, filed House Bill No. 6398 proposing the creation of the Maharlika Investment Fund, a
sovereign wealth fund A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), or sovereign investment fund, is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, Bond (finance), bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as ...
for the Philippines inspired by
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
's Korea Investment Corporation. The proposal drew mixed reactions from economists and mostly negative reactions from the general public.


Role in the Marcos–Duterte rift

Romualdez was instrumental in the deepening rift between the
Marcos Marcos may refer to: People with the given name ''Marcos'' *Marcos (given name) * Marcos family Sports ;Surnamed * Dayton Marcos, Negro league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century) * Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer * Né ...
and Duterte families. Under Romualdez's watch, the House denied Vice President and Education Secretary
Sara Duterte Sara Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio (, ; born May 31, 1978), commonly known as Inday Sara, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who is the 15th and current vice president of the Philippines. She is the third female vice president (after Gloria Macap ...
's requests for confidential funds that could be used for the Education department's proposed
Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...
program but swiftly passed the same funds for the Office of the President; this led Sara's father and former President
Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...
to allege a connivance between Romualdez and the leftist Makabayan bloc in stripping Sara of confidential funds. Rodrigo Duterte criticized the House as the "most rotten institution" in the country and demanded an audit of the House under Romualdez; Duterte's comments offended some House members including Romualdez, prompting the House to issue a loyalty check resolution in support of Romualdez. Shortly after, the House expelled Duterte's political allies former president and Representatives Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and
Isidro Ungab Isidro Tom Ungab (born May 8, 1961) is a Filipino politician serving as the representative of the Third District of Davao City in the House of Representatives of the Philippines. He previously served as Deputy Speaker of the House of Represen ...
as Deputy House Speakers for failing to sign the resolution. Several House members of Duterte's party,
PDP–Laban The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP, ) is a populist political party in the Philippines founded in 1982. It was previously known as Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP–Laban) from 1983 to 2024 as a result of a merger with L ...
, later party-switched, mostly to the Romualdez-led Lakas-CMD, In late November 2023, reports circulated that some House members want Vice President Sara impeached. The House later began tackling at least three house resolutions filed separately by the Makabayan bloc, House Human Rights Panel chairperson Bienvenido Abante Jr. and 1-Rider Partylist Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez, and Albay 1st District Rep.
Edcel Lagman Edcel Castelar Lagman Sr. (, May 1, 1942 – January 30, 2025) was a Filipino human rights lawyer and politician from the province of Albay. He was elected as a member of the House from 1987 to 1998 and 2004 to 2013 and from 2016 up until h ...
urging the Marcos administration to cooperate with the International Criminal Court's investigation into Duterte's war on drugs; Romualdez denied prioritizing the measures. A month later, the
National Telecommunications Commission The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC; ) is the telecommunications regulator of the Philippines. It is an attached agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology responsible for the supervision, adjudication ...
imposed a 30-day suspension on SMNI, a media network which hosted Rodrigo Duterte's platform '' Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa'', after the House adopted a resolution filed by PBA Partylist Representative Margarita Nograles, who claimed that the network was propagating
false information Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. Misinformation and disinformation are not interchangeable terms: misinformation can exist with or without specific malicious intent, whereas disinformation is distinct in that the information ...
. Two hosts of another SMNI talk show, ''Laban Kasama ang Bayan'', were detained and cited in contempt by the House after one of its hosts–Jeffrey Celiz–refused to reveal his source for his claim that Romualdez had 1.8 billion worth of travel funds. Amid the feud of the Marcos and Duterte clans in late April 2023, Romualdez said the House will probe into an agreement Duterte made during his presidency with Chinese President
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...
. Under the agreement, Duterte agreed to maintain the "status quo" in the South China Sea to avoid escalating a war. Political analyst Ronald Llamas said the probe was engineered by President Bongbong Marcos as a "political payback" to Duterte's verbal attacks and to reduce Duterte's political influence ahead of the 2025 midterm elections.


Charter change attempts

Efforts to amend the Constitution intensified in January 2024 after pro- Charter Change group, People's Initiative for Reform Modernization and Action (PIRMA), admitted talking with Romualdez and claimed responsibility for a signature drive campaign that attempted to start a People's Initiative. The proponents proposed that both chambers of the Congress—the House of Representatives and the Senate—vote jointly on the proposed amendments in a
constitutional assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
; consequentially, the 24-member Senate unanimously rejected the proposal since its vote would be overpowered by the 316-member House. The signature drive has been marred by allegations of vote-buying, and by evening of January 23, the proponents claimed to have achieved the required minimum 12 percent of national voters threshold. Romualdez denied spearheading the initiative, although a video evidence showing the opposite was later disclosed by Senator
Francis Escudero Francis Joseph "Chiz" Guevara Escudero (, born October 10, 1969) is a Filipino politician and lawyer who has served as the 25th president of the Senate of the Philippines since May 20, 2024. Escudero has served as a Senate of the Philippines, s ...
. As of December 2023, Romualdez is the president of the Philippine Constitution Association.


Other ventures

Romualdez is the owner of the newspaper companies ''
Manila Standard The ''Manila Standard'' is a broadsheet newspaper in the Philippines which, as of 2017, is owned by the Romualdez family. The Romualdezes, through incumbent speaker of the House Martin Romualdez, also own Journal Publications, Inc., the owner ...
'' and Journal Group of Publications and the mass media firm
Philippine Collective Media Corporation Philippine Collective Media Corporation (PCMC; officially known in their documents as Philippine CollectiveMedia Corporation) is a Media in the Philippines, Philippine broadcast media company. Its headquarters are located in Barangay South Tri ...
.


Personal life

Romualdez married Yedda Marie Kittilstvedt, who represented the Philippines at
Miss International 1996 Miss International (''Miss International Beauty'' or ''The International Beauty Pageant'') is a Japan-based international major beauty pageant organized by the International Culture Association. First held in 1960, it is the fourth largest page ...
, in civil rites in
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
in November 1999, with a church wedding following at Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park, Makati, on February 4, 2001. They have four children and currently live in Tacloban and Makati. Their sons Ferdinand Martin Romualdez Jr., also known as Marty, and Andrew Julian Romualdez are also in politics, having been elected as a councilor of Tacloban and a representative of Tingog Party List in 2025, respectively.


References


External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Romualdez, Martin 1963 births Living people Cornell University alumni Harvard University alumni Lakas–CMD politicians Filipino people of Spanish descent Majority leaders of the House of Representatives of the Philippines Members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from Leyte (province)
Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...
Speakers of the House of Representatives of the Philippines University of the Philippines College of Law alumni