Vice President Sara Duterte described Isabela 6th District Representative Faustino “Bojie” Dy III, who replaced former House Speaker Martin Romualdez in the House of Representatives, as a kind person but noted that his political alignment is tied to the group of Romualdez and the Albano family of Isabela.
Duterte said that the connection extends through family and political ties. Rodito Albano, the governor of Isabela, is the brother of Rep. Antonio “Tonypet” Albano and husband of former Davao City Second District Representative Mylene Garcia-Albano.
“Kasi si Martin Romualdez, malapit yan siya kay Tonypet Albano. Si Tonypet Albano, kapatid yan ni Rodito Albano. Si Rodito Albano, yan yung governor ng Isabela. Si Congressman Dy, lagi yan nakadikit kay Rodito Albano. Lagi yan siyang, hindi siya lagi yung number one. Lagi siyang number two diyan sa Isabela dahil nakadikit na siya kay Rodito Albano. Ganyan kabait yung tao na ‘yan. Kaya yung grupo na yan, sila din yun. Martin Romualdez din yan. Si Rodito Albano, ang… Bakit ko nasabi may connection si Rodito Albano at si Martin Romaldez?” she said.
According to Duterte, Rodito Albano backed Javi Campos’s bid for Davao City’s Second District congressional bid in the 2025 Local and National Midterm Elections on May 12, allegedly at Romualdez’s urging.
Campos, a former member of the Duterte-backed party Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod (HTL), who later switched to the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) chaired by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., failed in his bid, losing to Omar Vincent Duterte, son of Davao City First District Representative Paolo “Pulong” Duterte and grandson of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
The vice president said the move aimed to create a political foothold for Romualdez’s group in the city.
“Si Rodito Albano ang nagpatakbo kay Javi Campos. Sinabihan niya si Vincent Garcia (former Second District congressman) na si Javi ang tatakbo sa Second District dahil gusto ni Martin Romaldez magkaroon ng distrito sa loob ng Davao City. Kaya doon kami sa partido namin lumaban. Kasi ang sinasabi namin, wala naman problema eh kung tayo lang dito sa Davao City. Pero bakit nakikialam si Rodito Albano at si Martin Romualdez sa Davao City? Bakit kailangan nila magkaroon ng distrito dito sa loob? Yan ang connection nilang lahat. Si Congressman Dy ay nasa ilalim ni Rodito Albano – ni Martin Romualdez,” she said.
In May this year, Duterte revealed that Vincent Garcia was supposedly their original candidate for the congressional race in District 2 for the 2025 National and Local Midterm Elections.
According to the vice president, when they were finalizing their slate of candidates in January 2024, she was asked to tell Garcia to seek his last term.
The vice president said that before the deadline for the filing of the certificate of candidacy (CoC) last year, she reached out to Garcia but she said that the latter refused to talk to her.
