Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro stated that she had personal gratitude to former House Speaker Martin Romualdez for helping her when she was first elected as a member of the House of Representatives in 2022.
Luistro explained that her thankfulness stemmed from the assistance of Romualdez to her and other lawmakers in order to solicit government agencies to their respective districts to provide their constituents with programs and services that would otherwise not be considered.
“I am personally grateful to him because during that time, I was a neophyte congresswoman, I don’t know what to do, I don’t know how to solicit the help of these agencies and Speaker Martin was very helpful,” she said during an interview on ANC.
“He was very supportive in whatever challenges the members of the House are encountering in bringing programs or services by way of soliciting, requesting to the government agencies,” she added.
The solon’s remarks addressed a video that has recently surfaced where she could be seen enthusiastically thanking and attributing the various programs directed to her district to the former speaker of the House.
Luistro clarified that she was simply expressing her appreciation for Romualdez, noting that the latter did not necessarily have any direct participation in the implementation of the projects itself.
She explained that despite the recommendation of the Leyte representative, it was still up to the government agencies not only to carry out the programs, but to determine if her district was eligible for the assistance in the first place.
Gratefulness no hand in impeachment trial
With the established respect at hand, some people online have drawn the conclusion that Luistro was motivated to be active in the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte given the rift between the latter and Romualdez.
To that, the solon clarified that her duty as a lawmaker and her personal stand did not necessarily coincide with each other as she was simply performing her responsibility under the constitution.
“My having chaired or presiding the justice committee, and my becoming part of the 11 prosecutors is constitutional. Whatever gratitude I have to the former speaker has no relation at all to the constitutional duty that I am fulfilling right now,” she explained.
Luistro has risen as the key figure in the upcoming impeachment trial of Duterte, even being tagged as the Lead Prosecutor of the 11-member group from the lower house.
In a recent development, she along with other members of the group in representatives Terry Ridon, Joel Chua, Zia Alonto Adiong, and Leila de Lima were said to have received cash deliveries from the self-proclaimed former 18 marines.
The revelation was made during the Senator Pia Cayetano-chaired Blue Ribbon committee hearing at the Senate on Thursday, 5 June.
Luistro along with her fellow congress people have since downplayed the accusations as an attempt to discredit the credibility of the House prosecutors with the impeachment trial of the Vice President fast-approaching.
“This is part of destroying the credibility of the prosecution panel, in as far as the upcoming impeachment trial is concerned,” she stated.
“It is very apparent that the names who were mentioned in the affidavit all stood…for the investigation of the alleged criminalities, irregularities committed by the past administration and with respect to this current impeachment,” she added.
She noted that it was apparent because a majority of the lawmakers listed as receiving cash were part of the Committee on Good Governance that investigated the misuse of confidential funds on the part of Duterte.
Luistro maintained that the issues being raised against them would not affect their preparations for the Senate trial that is expected to start on 6 July.