House Majority Leader and Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin Romualdez filed Thursday his certificate of candidacy for reelection and thanked President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for considering him as a viable vice-presidential candidate.
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“Today, I filed my certificate of candidacy for Representative of the First District of Leyte. I decided to seek reelection in response to my constituents’ clamor for me to continue serving them as their congressman,” Romualdez, president of the growing Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) political party, said after filing his COC at the Commission on Elections Provincial Office in Tacloban City.
“I thank President Rodrigo Duterte for considering me as a viable and worthy candidate for the vice-presidential post. His repeated endorsement and words of encouragement truly serve as an inspiration. For believing that I have what it takes to occupy the second highest post of the land, I will be eternally grateful to the President,” added Romualdez, chairman of the House Committee on Rules.
Romualdez, president of Philippine Constitution Association, said he chose to continue his unfinished work as a legislator and representative of his district.
“Much as I would have loved serving the Filipino people in higher office,” Romualdez said. “I chose to pursue another term in Congress to continue the work left unfinished in my district.”
Romualdez finished his Bachelor of Arts in Government from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 1985.
In 1988, he obtained a Certificate of Special Studies in Administration and Management from Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts.
He then proceeded to law school, earning his Bachelor of Laws from the UP College of Law in Diliman, Quezon City in 1992.
Before his stint in government, Romualdez served as concurrent trustee and president of Doña Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Medical Foundation and Dr. Vicente Orestes Romualdez Educational Foundation.
In 1995, he started working as director and legal counsel for the CARPA Realty Development Corporation, and as trustee for Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Medical Foundation.
Romualdez was the former chairman of the Board for Equitable PCI Bank, as well as Director for a host of stellar companies, among them Philippine Commercial International Bank, Equitable Card Network, EBC Investments, Inc., Equitable Savings Bank, PCI Leasing Corporation, and PCI Capital Corporation, among others.
One of the laws principally authored by Romualdez was Republic Act 10754, which exempts more than 1.5 million persons with disabilities from the payment of 12-percent value added tax on certain goods and services.