Who is Cong. Martin Romualdez in the eyes of the one living outside the 1st District of Leyte

My first personal meeting with Cong. Martin Romualdez at the SM Media awards.

I was not born in Tacloban City or even in the first district of Leyte. I was born in Burauen, Leyte which town was more than an hour drive from Tacloban City. But I live in La Paz, Leyte –a town next to Burauen located in the western part of the province. I lived and studied in Tacloban City since 2006.

In my younger years, I have known only one surname of a politician who dominated our district for decades now. Sometimes, it’s his wife or him who holds the congressional seat. I noticed that he was too old for the position, but he still clung to the seat.

But in their entire term in congress, we never experience the kind of service that people should enjoy. Other districts have their own programs for the farmers, women, and youth or even for the elderlies. At first, I thought that it was just normal to have none because they may have other more important things to think about. You know! Young age thinks that way.

But this perception was changed when I was able to live here in Tacloban City. There were services provided by the representative of the first district of Leyte. There were scholarships for students whose parents weren’t able to send them to college or even high schools; consistent feeding program for small children; free surgical operations for those poor patients who suffered illness and continued medical missions in the brgys covered by the 1^st district of Leyte.

I learned that behind those services for the people is the active leadership of Congressman Martin Romualdez and he is popularly known as Cong. FM. His acts as a serving politician changed my old perception. Since then, I admired his presence in the implementation of some of his programs. He’s not that typical politician that is hungry of media mileage. He just served from the heart and this was noticed by the common people.

Congressman Martin was a member of one of the prominent families in Leyte. They came from a respectable and well-trusted family. He’s a brilliant lawyer. I admired his intelligence through his bills passed in the House of Representatives, which is significant to the common people. He truly represented his district through his measures. He’s so humble and straight to the point man. I don’t remember a single major issue thrown unto him. 

The man who never left us after Yolanda

I worked at the DyBR Apple Radio since September 2012 until such time that the station was struck by a storm surge. Most of us almost died. Ugh. I don’t want to state anymore the sufferings we had through and on how we survived. We lost kuya Archie, my partner in one of the radio programs of the most listened station in Eastern Visayas.

I was advised to go to the residence of Congressman Martin for water and food on that day after the water already subsided. They gave me water and food. It was Saturday night when Mr. Ver Noveno, one of sir Martin's staffs arrived with a satellite phone which will be used for communication.

The following day, a lot of relief packs, boxes of medicines and sacks of clothing arrived intended for the starving and homeless typhoon survivors. I volunteered to list down the medicines needed for the injured who were brought to the RTR hospital which operations was affected due to the impact of the storm. To continue the operations to serve the victims, the office of the Congressman immediately responded and brought the necessary medicines.

That’s the time when I was able to talk to his wife, Ma’am Yedda Romualdez on the other line of the phone. I felt her worried voice and her concern for us. I did my best to dictate the names of the medicines given to me by the chief of the hospital. It was Sunday morning when I saw the helicopter of the Congressman landed at the landing area in his residence in Brgy Calanipawan. I saw him having a meeting with his staffs. His face was very worried. I felt it.

When I returned to Tacloban to check my cousins two weeks after, I still saw him and his staffs doing relief operations and medical missions to those communities whose access to medical services were limited. A truckload of clothing for children were distributed to the communities as I was able to volunteer in repacking the said stuff in the hospital.

With those services he delivered during the time of needs of the people even outside the first district of Leyte, I can say that Congressman Martin Romualdez is different among other politicians I’ve ever known. He acts as the true representative of the 1^st district by pushing measures that would benefit not only his district but also the majority of the Filipinos. He proved to the people of Leyte that he is not just a lawmaker but a true serviceman.

The first district of Leyte was very lucky that they have this kind of leader who never left them their hard times. Unlike other elected officials who never showed even their shadows after typhoon Yolanda. I just hope that he can serve other Filipinos too.