Romualdez designated Palawan 1st district caretaker

March 22, 2024 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines —  Speaker Martin Romualdez now has five legislative districts under his care.

At the plenary session of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Romualdez was designated ”caretaker” of the first district of Palawan, which was left vacant after Rep. Edgardo Salvame died last week.

Aside from being representative of the first district of Leyte, Romualdez has taken over as caretaker of the sixth district of Batangas following the appointment of Ralph Recto as secretary of the Department of Finance in January.

Romualdez is also the caretaker of the third legislative district of Negros Oriental and third district of Palawan, which were left vacant with the ouster of Arnolfo Teves Jr. and the death of Edward Hagedorn, respectively.

In a full-page ad in a newspaper, the widow of Hagedorn, Ma. Elena, appealed to Congress to be “allowed to exercise their right of choice in a special election” to choose their representatives in the first and third districts of Palawan.

She said the issue on budgetary requirements to hold a special election has been resolved, as announced by Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia during  his visit to Puerto Princesa last month.

“I can accept becoming a widow for the loss of my husband, but I cannot suffer the pain of our constituents becoming orphans,” she said.

“I therefore pray for your appropriate passage of a resolution declaring the first district of the province of Palawan as vacant… and ordering the conduct of special elections,” she said.