Two of Bohol’s three congressional representatives failed to appear Wednesday for the House of Representatives election that saw Isabela Rep. Faustino “Bojie” Dy III replace Martin Romualdez as speaker, leaving only first district Rep. John Geesnell “Baba” Yap II to cast his district’s vote.
Second district Rep. Maria Vanessa Aumentado and third district Rep. Kristine Alexie Besa-Tutor, known loyalists of Marcos and Romualdez, were absent during the plenary session with unknown reasons, with reports citing alleged health issues for both lawmakers’ failure to attend the crucial leadership vote.
Dy was unanimously elected speaker after running unopposed, following Romualdez’s resignation as corruption allegations surrounding flood control projects continue to roil the country.
Yap voted to elect Dy as the new House leader during Wednesday afternoon’s session.
The speaker transition comes as the Philippines deals with widespread anger over alleged large-scale corruption and anomalies in flood control infrastructure projects that have sparked a government moratorium on such spending.
Dy, representing Isabela’s 6th district, hails from one of the province’s most powerful political dynasties.
His father, Faustino Dy Sr., served as Isabela governor from 1971 to 1986, then again from 1988 to 1992, with the family’s political influence dating back to before the EDSA uprising.
The incoming speaker entered politics in 1998 as Cauayan City mayor before winning a tight 2010 gubernatorial race against incumbent Grace Padaca, a former journalist and Ramon Magsaysay Award recipient.
Dy served as governor through 2013 and 2016 reelections before taking the vice gubernatorial post when term limits blocked another run in 2019, leading the provincial board until 2025.
Despite his extensive local government background, Dy is a returning House member who previously represented Isabela’s 3rd district from 2001 to 2010 during his first congressional stint.
His current 6th district, created only in 2018, includes Cauayan and the towns of Echague, San Guillermo, and San Isidro.
The seat was first held by Dy’s son, Faustino “Inno” Dy V, who served from 2019 to 2025 in the 18th and 19th Congress before abandoning a third term bid.
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism counts eight Dy family winners in Isabela’s 2025 elections, with three Dys now serving in the House: Ian Paul representing the 3rd district, Faustino V in the 5th district, and Bojie in the 6th.
Dy has shifted party affiliations throughout his career, running under the Nationalist People’s Coalition banner in 2016, PDP in 2019 and 2022, and Partido Federal — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s party — in the 2025 elections.
Dy announced that House committee chairmanships will remain unchanged despite the leadership transition, with lawmakers focused on catching up during the critical budget season.
“The lawmakers agreed that there will be no movement for now in terms of committee chairmanships at the House,” Dy said.
In another development tied to the corruption scandal, Yap revealed that flood control project funding for Tagbilaran City has been eliminated from next year’s budget, with infrastructure allocations cut by 20 to 30 percent as part of the ongoing moratorium.
The cuts threaten multiple planned projects in the city, including flood control infrastructure for Peñaflor street, Manga, Taloto, Ubujan and JA Clarin areas.
Yap had submitted proposals for these projects, but they were removed from the National Expenditure Program in line with the flood control moratorium.
“Despite the situation, I will be doing my best to restore funding of flood control projects in Tagbilaran City,” Yap said, expressing hope that the new speaker could assist with restoration efforts since Tagbilaran’s projects are “devoid of any anomaly.”
The flood control controversy has become a national issue due to alleged large-scale corruption and anomalies in similar infrastructure projects across the country, prompting the government to impose the spending freeze while investigations continue.