By Beting Laygo Dolor, Editor

MANILA – He may be President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s most  important ally, but Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez’s hold on the House of Representatives may be considered  tenuous, at best.

The relatively poor performance of the administration’s Senate slate in last week’s elections may be to blame, as even the president admitted they had performed below his expectations.

As a result, realignments may take place in the House. Members of the lower house of the country’s bicameral Congress are notorious for shifting alliances depending on the direction of political winds.

The Senate race is used as a gauge of an administration’s popularity, or lack  thereof, because it is national in scope.

Of the 12 Senate seats up for grabs, the Duterte camp took five seats, namely re-electionists Bong Go and Bato dela Rosa, alongside Rodante Marcoleta, Camille Villar, and Imee Marcos

The same number was won by the Marcos camp, namely  Erwin Tulfo, Panfilo Lacson, Tito Sotto, Pia Cayetano, and Lito Lapid.

Two seats were won by independents Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan.

There is reason for the president’s disappointment, as two of the seats won by the Duterte camp were previously part of his Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas, namely Villar and his own sister Imee Marcos, both of whom abandoned the president and were endorsed by VP Sara Duterte.

According to Marcos, “We all wish we had better results.”

Vice President Sara Duterte was similarly disappointed because her DuterTEN candidates were also expected to perform better. Still, of the top five winners, two belonged to her camp,  two independents, and only one for the Marcos team.

As a result of the weaker-than-expected performance of the Marcos team, VP Duterte said that she was pushing her brother, Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte to consider challenging Speaker Romualdez.

She said her brother was “thinking” about the possibility.

The VP said the president was wholly to blame for his camp’s sorry performance.

“The people found him wanting in his promises,” she said in the vernacular, adding that the people “expected more from the president.”

Toby Tiangco, who served as campaign manager of Alyansa, said the results were really a draw and not a loss for the administration.

He said voters were split and highly emotional following the impeachment of VP Duterte.

“To interpret the result of the Senate election as an outright loss for the Alyansa slate is an oversimplification,” said Tiangco, who also admitted that he was considering a run for the Speakership at the House.

This could be interpreted to mean that Speaker Romualdez does not have the broad support he was once believed to possess.

Earlier, Senator Imee Marcos said that the current administration was not really a Marcos administration, but rather a Romualdez-Araneta government. The Araneta she referred to could only mean First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos,

The First Lady and the Speaker have also been targets of VP Duterte. She earlier threatened to have the President, First Lady, and Speaker killed if anything were to happen to her.

That threat was one reason she was impeached.