BATASAN HILLS, Quezon City — Questions have been raised regarding the possibility of President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (PBBM)'s cousin, Leyte representative Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, retaining Speakership of the House and the answer is redounding' yes', according to the Speaker's compatriot, Leyte District IV congressman Richard Gomez.

Aside from the former actor-turned-politician, Romualdez's allies insist that he has the numbers to keep the House leadership intact even as another relative of the President has expressed openness to replace Romualdez.

The administration’s poor performance in the recently concluded 2025 midterm elections has placed some sort of a huge target at the back of the House Speaker.

Last week, Navotas City representative Tobias Renald 'Toby' Tiangco, campaign manager of the administration’s senatorial ticket Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas, went on a media tour lamenting the results of the midterms, which saw only six out of its 11 candidates entering the so-called Magic 12.
Not holding back, Tiangco was candid about the impeachment of Vice President 'Inday' Sara Duterte-Carpio by the Lower House in February, which Romualdez leads, and this the Navotas lawmaker rationalized as the reason behind the dismal showing of the administration-backed senatorial candidates heading to election day.

He claimed that the President was against impeachment and that some House representatives signed the impeachment complaint only because of the promise that funding for their districts—“conditional release” in his own words—would be released after.

“Impeachment wasn’t necessary back then. It was a useless exercise. Because as I told them, even if you sign it now, on February 5, it would still be tackled by the Senate only by June 2. So what happened? There really was a backlash,” Tiangco cited.

“The impeachment was totally within our control. If we hadn’t done it, things wouldn’t have turned out this bad,” he added.

The former Navotas mayor’s apparent blame game cannot easily be brushed aside because just like Romualdez, he is also a relative of the President, albeit not by blood. Their familial connection is through Michelle Romualdez-Yap, cousin of the President.

Meanwhile, Romualdez’s key ally, Tingog party-list representative Jude Acidre pointed out that 100 out 115 lawmakers who signed the impeachment complaint and were up for reelection won their races. The number includes 36 out of 44 pro-impeachment lawmakers in Mindanao, turf of the Dutertes.

“Just to set the record straight, these results dismantle the narrative that the impeachment was a political liability. What we’re seeing is a public that values courage over complicity. The people have drawn the line, and they stood with us,” Acidre noted.

“With due respect to Representative Tiangco, the numbers simply do not support that claim,” he further stated.

House Deputy Speaker and Lakas treasurer David 'Jayjay' Suarez expressed confidence that Romualdez would be reelected speaker, saying at least 240 congressmen have signed the manifesto of support.
“This is already a supermajority. It’s over. The Speaker has the numbers,” Suarez pointed out.
In ending, he opined that “with this kind of broad support, any attempt to challenge the Speaker’s leadership is simply unrealistic.”