President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s call for his Cabinet to resign was insufficient, as the real culprit remains in power — Martin Romualdez, whose greed is exemplified by the billions in insertion funds in the General Appropriations Act of 2025. The money, which could have been allocated to projects that would benefit the people, was instead diverted to those who do his bidding.

The question now on everyone’s mind is: Will the President make the same mistake twice by letting him stay?

Even Tingog, the partylist of his wife, Yeda, has benefited from the Speaker’s greed. Today, there are hundreds of Tingog offices as congressmen were compelled to establish them in their districts for the self-serving couple. Tingog won three seats in the last elections, support for it coming at the expense of many reelectionists who lost their House seats.

Decisions made by Romualdez are glaringly harmful to the administration with his push for the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Motivated by his personal ambition to become president, he stubbornly contradicted PBBM’s position against the impeachment of the VP. Due to Romualdez’s actions, the President and Vice President are bitterly split and the strong UniTeam has gone to ashes.

The schism proved pivotal to the results of the recent elections that saw only six of the senatorial bets endorsed by the administration get into the Magic 12.

Romualdez, sad to say, was the root cause of the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas debacle, generating a massive loss of trust in the Marcos Jr. administration that was reflected in how Juan de la Cruz voted.

The President then decided on a major facelift for his administration — calling for the courtesy resignation of the Cabinet and all his and FPRRD’s appointees.

With Romualdez being at the forefront of most of the controversies and infighting in the government, a change in the House Speakership will also certainly bode well for the Marcos administration.

Romualdez surrounds himself with so-called friends like Jj Suarez of Quezon province who brags of a supermajority support for the Speaker, but this is a hoax.

The lawmakers are frustrated, disgruntled, and disappointed. They ask: “How can the President allow a cold, selfish and egotistical maniac to lead the House?”

In December, insider information had it he was going to be ousted, but Romualdez pleaded to be allowed to depart with dignity after the midterm elections. But two days after the elections, driven by greed and a hunger for power, Romualdez began collecting signatures to ensure he would remain as Speaker. His actions are deemed a continuation of his corrupt scheme to siphon off taxpayer money by bullying lawmakers, Cabinet secretaries and anyone who dares go against his will.

The more important question on everyone’s mind, of thinking Filipinos, is “will the President make the same mistake twice by letting him stay?” Obviously, to save this country from being wrecked, from the crisis brought about by the Speaker, there is no other rational option.

By the way, it’s fiesta time again at the DPWH with the reappointment of Secretary Manuel Bonoan.