Martin an embarrassment in Madrid

By Diego Cagahastian
May 26, 2025

Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, speaker of the House of Representatives and congressman of the first district of Leyte, delivered a recent speech at the US-sponsored Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum (PI-SF) held in Madrid, Spain, the 29th of the series.

Martin would have thought that this junket of an official trip could shore up his image locally, whether in Tacloban or in Metro Manila or the rest of the country, since the forum had an international audience.

It was some kind of an opportunity for Romualdez to try his hand at international diplomacy, and to hog the limelight, steal the thunder from his cousin the President, right in the middle of the international stage.

It could have been a fairly legitimate try, except that his speech or exposition came through as just a rehash of lame ideas and stinking hogwash that we hear every day from GMA 7, Richard Heydarian and Jay Tarriela.

The state news agency reported the event this way: “Amid escalating Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea, Speaker Romualdez declared that the Philippines will defend its sovereign rights through international law and global democratic solidarity.

“Romualdez reaffirmed the country’s commitment to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2016 Arbitral Award, which invalidated China’s expansive maritime claims and upheld the Philippines’ rights in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

“Romualdez’s remarks follow a series of hostile actions by the China Coast Guard (CCG), including the recent use of water cannons and dangerous maneuvers against a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel conducting research in Sandy Cay, near Pagasa Island. Similar actions have been reported near Ayungin Shoal and Sabina Shoal, drawing widespread condemnation.”

Martin has become an embarrassment in the international community for not knowing or failing to recognize that that 2016 Arbitral ruling was made by a panel built only by the Philippines, with China not participating in the process.

The speaker also glossed over the fact that the features in the South China Sea are not claimed only by China and the Philippines. How can he call for an international condemnation of China on alleged Chinese aggression when the shoals, rocks and islets in the Spratlys are also claimed by Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei, not to mention Taiwan which is also China.

Speaker Romualdez based his arguments on “hostile actions by the China Coast Guard” and talked about “drawing widespread condemnation” of these maritime actions.

We do not see any clamor or widespread condemnation in the Philippines or outside the country. It looks like this statement is just a figment of the imagination of US-funded propagandists and warmongers who were rejected by the people in the last midterm elections.

We need to point out here the embarrassing defeat of Senator Francis “Tol” Tolentino who pitifully misread that the so-called West Philippine Sea was a potent election issue in 2025.

Senator Rodante Marcoleta, who courageously stood his ground when he affirmed that the West Philippine Sea is fiction and that it is not found in any international map, was given a resounding victory in the last senatorial election by the people.

Congressman Martin Romualdez had better discuss the problems of the San Juanico Bridge in his district, which spans a small body of water—the San Juanico Strait—instead of trying the presidential podium for size, and in Madrid, Spain at that.

P.S. — We suspect that the PI-SF which was founded and run by former US Rep. Robert Pittenger is an American organization established to push US narratives and propaganda.

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