HOUSE Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez on Thursday said he is open to the possibility of running in the 2022 elections, after President Rodrigo R. Duterte vowed to support him should he decide to run for vice president.
“Currently, I am keeping my options open with regard to the 2022 elections,” Mr. Romualdez said in a statement.
“For sure, the President’s warm support and words of encouragement will weigh heavily on whatever decision I have to make in October 2021.”
Mr. Romualdez said he will ensure the passage of the administration’s priority bills for now.
Mr. Duterte on Wednesday said he would not join the vice presidential race if Mr. Romualdez decides to run for the country’s second highest post, citing a deal between the two of them in 2019, when the lower chamber had to select a new speaker amid a leadership squabble.
Mr. Romualdez was one of the leading contenders for the speakership at that time, but was asked by the President to drop out of the race and become the leader of the House majority instead.
Mr. Romualdez chairs the Lakas–Christian Muslim Democrats, which was the ruling party during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The party currently has 48 members in the House, including 22 party-list allies, his staff told BusinessWorld in a Viber message.
Mr. Romualdez is a cousin of former Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., who is rumored to run in next year’s polls.
Presidential spokesman Herminio L. Roque, Jr. earlier said the President “leaves it to God” whether or not he would run for vice president.
In a televised news briefing on Thursday, Mr. Roque said the President “has until October to decide.” — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza