Romualdez vows to concretize ‘malasakit’ platform

WHAT INSPIRED HIM Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez tells the Inquirer how “bayanihan” amid the Supertyphoon “Yolanda” devastation inspired him to run for a Senate seat. RICHARD A. REYES

In the days that followed the horrific devastation wrought by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in his district, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez felt his nightmares were better than reality.

“I had nightmares every night. But you could not have a nightmare that could capture the devastation and destruction around. When I woke up, it’s real, and it’s even worse,” Romualdez said, eyes wide open, both hands on his head as he recalled the devastation that his district suffered in November 2013.

It had just been a year since “the darkest time” of his life, when he lost his father, former Leyte Gov. Benjamin “Kokoy” Romualdez.

But for the lawmaker, the still unquantifiable loss in his district, in lives and property, caused him “a thousand times more grief and sense of loss.”

It did not take long though for the horror to turn into hope. It was malasakit, that deep sense of caring and concern, that soon started to lift the pall of gloom from Tacloban City and wherever the devastation stretched.

“After Yolanda, I saw malasakit. That’s the reason why we were able to bounce back,” Romualdez said in an interview on Inquirer Live on Wednesday night.

“Filipinos helping other Filipinos. That’s what I saw. That’s the secret ingredient. It’s something very natural, and that was what created this whole wave, like a storm surge of help, the assistance that brought us to where we are today,” he said.

Giving back

The desire to give back to those who came to his district’s aid in Yolanda’s wake and the drive to instill the cherished value in the younger generation of Filipinos is the fuel that runs Romualdez’s bid for a seat in the Senate, a first foray into national politics for the 52-year-old member of Leyte’s most prominent political family.

“As I went around the city, amid the death and destruction, you could still see the humanity of the Taclobanons trying to help one another. Everybody was traumatized, everybody was a victim,” Romualdez said.

“Despite all of that, you could see Filipinos helping one another, lifting one another, literally. The dead, the wounded, the helpless,” said the lawmaker, who shuttled back and forth between Manila and Tacloban at the height of relief operations after the typhoon.

The city where “everybody was a victim,” where those who survived roamed in a daze in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, soon became a city of survivors raring to rebuild.

“And that struck me. Initially, everybody was like a zombie. But as soon as they were back to their consciousness, they started helping each other,” Romualdez said.

“It’s very easy to lose hope.  But we were brought up to have faith in God and the humanity of the people. It shone through. I’d like to look at that.  We learn from that and at the same time celebrate the positive side of all of this,” he said.

Unrepresented in Senate

Gunning for the Senate after three terms in the House of Representatives, Romualdez hopes to bring malasakit across the country, especially to regions similarly situated as Eastern Visayas, where he said government projects were largely “underfunded.”

Eastern Visayas has not had a representative in the Senate for six decades, the last one being the late Sen. Decoroso Rosales of Calbayog City, who was elected in 1955.

“It’s been 60 years since our region was represented in the Senate. And now, our region is the most challenged in terms of funding and development. It’s no coincidence perhaps with no representative, that’s why we’re not properly attended to,” he said.

Romualdez said his granduncle, Norberto Romualdez, ran for the Senate but died “at the height of the election season” in 1958.

“That’s my selfish personal reason for running. It’s an unfulfilled dream for the family,” he said later in a separate interview.

Although he grew up in a privileged family, Romualdez’s propensity to help was shaped early when, as a boy, he saw the disparity between the rich and the poor.

“I’d see people sleeping on the streets, and I was there in the car with my mom, we had a driver, and I saw how much more I had in life,” said Romualdez, who remembered how he wanted to provide housing for the homeless when he was younger.

It is a virtue that is gradually lost in the young, a generation for whom many things are “transactional,” and everything is done in exchange for something, he said.

“We want to imbue this generation with this virtue. This generation forgets the bayanihan spirit.  When we were much younger, that’s what we talked about: People helping each other to move a nipa hut. That’s the malasakit of our generation,” Romualdez said.

“We want to share and celebrate that because we feel we don’t have enough of it. We want to go back to that Filipino spirit that’s almost infectious. We want to spread that around, because we saw that that was the key to our recovery (in Eastern Visayas],” he said.

‘Malasakit’ platform

If given the chance to serve in the Senate, Romualdez, a lawyer, vowed to introduce legislation that would concretize his malasakit platform.

For one, inspired by his Yolanda experience, Romualdez would propose the creation of a separate department on disaster risk reduction (DRR) and management to strengthen preparation and response efforts.

Such a department would help speed up action and further focus efforts on DRR, as the next disaster is “not a matter of if, but when,” given the undeniable effects of climate change.

Romualdez would also introduce legislation that would institutionalize the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the conditional cash transfer system initiated by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and continued by President Aquino.

“We want to institutionalize that program so that it would be the right of the poor. We will get rid of palakasan (influence-peddling) and politicking, which allows those who should not be in the program to receive the cash transfers,” he said.

He would also pursue implementation of a piece of legislation he was “very proud” of: the bill providing tax exemptions, discounts and other benefits for people with disabilities.

Romualdez would also support farmers by “doing away with irrigation fees,” move for the improvement of the country’s Internet service, and call for a more consultative process in crafting a law for the envisioned Bangsamoro region.

Although waging an independent campaign, Romualdez has risen in the polls. His name also appears on the sample ballot being circulated on social media by Iglesia ni Cristo followers, indicating he has won the backing of the bloc-voting Christian sect.

Romualdez’s senatorial bid has been strategic, as most presidential candidates have adopted him without requiring him to endorse them. Behind his candidacy are Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Vice President Jejomar Binay and Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago.

“Actually it’s quite easy because when I was invited to be a guest candidate on their senatorial slates, I was pleasantly surprised that there were no conditions. I thought, let’s say if Mayor Duterte invited me, he would say I should support him. But there’s nothing like that,” Romualdez said.

Rallies ‘à la carte’

He was also given the freedom to choose which rallies he would join, and used the leeway to his advantage.  In his words, he took on rallies “à la carte,” given the flexibility to “transcend political lines.”

“What I do is, depending on the schedules, I look at the areas I have visited or have not visited, the areas that are strengths of these presidential candidates, and I would choose my rallies,” he said.

“Like for instance, if I have a schedule with Mayor Duterte in Mindanao, I obviously would like to go there because he’s very popular there. If in Makati I’m invited by Vice President Binay, I might as well come because it’s his bailiwick,” he said.

The campaign has taken him away from his family, but the father of four said the experience has brought him to corners of the country he otherwise would not have seen.

“Had I not decided to run, I would not have seen how beautiful this country is and how beautiful Filipinos are,” he said.

“That’s why I can’t turn my back on the people not just in my region but Filipinos in other regions who need help. They gave us help during Yolanda, and this is my opportunity to serve them. I am ready to serve them and that’s what I really want to do: to give back something in return for the malasakit that they showed us,” he said.

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