All Negros Island Region lawmakers favored Sara Duterte impeachment

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The signatories from the NIR include two congressional district caretakers for Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental: Speaker Martin Romualdez and Representative Joseph Stephen Paduano of the Abang Lingkod Partylist

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines – Representatives from all the congressional districts in the Negros Island Region (NIR) were among the lawmakers who signed in favor of the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday, February 5.

Among the signatories were two congressional district caretakers for Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental: Speaker Martin Romualdez and Representative Joseph Stephen Paduano of the Abang Lingkod Partylist.

Aside from the two caretakers, those who signed the impeachment resolution include:

• Representative Greg Gasataya, Bacolod City
• Representative Gerardo Valmayor, Negros Occidental 1st District
• Representative Alfredo Marañon III, Negros Occidental 2nd District
• Representative Juliet Marie Ferrer, Negros Occidental 4th District
• Representative Emilio Bernardino Yulo, Negros Occidental 5th District
• Representative Mercedez Alvarez-Lansang, Negros Occidental 6th District
• Representative Jocelyn Limkaichong, Negros Oriental 1st District
• Representative Manuel Sagarbarria, Negros Oriental 2nd District
• Representative Zaldy Villa, Siquijor

Romualdez, although the elected representative of Leyte’s 1st District, is serving as the caretaker of Negros Oriental’s 3rd District, which was left vacant after the expulsion of Arnolfo Teves Jr. in August 2023. Teves, alleged mastermind of the 2023 assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, was later arrested in Timor-Leste, and is facing the prospect of extradition.

Paduano, meanwhile, is the caretaker-designate for Negros Occidental’s 3rd District, following the appointment of its elected representative, Jose Francisco Benitez, as director-general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in August 2024.

Negros Occidental’s Yulo was initially absent from the list of House members who signed the impeachment resolution. However, in an interview on Wednesday night, he explained that he arrived at the Batasan Complex late but just in time to sign the document. 

The NIR is the country’s newest region, established in 2024 through a law signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., carving out provinces and cities from Western Visayas and Central Visayas.

Negros Island is an area in the Visayas known to be an opposition bailiwick during the previous administration. Duterte’s father, Rodrigo, lost in what is now the NIR in the 2016 presidential elections. – Rappler.com