MANILA, Philippines – Luli Arroyo Bernas, the daughter of Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is the new president of the Congressional Spouses Foundation Incorporated (CSFI).

Bernas and the other new officers of the foundation took their oath on Wednesday, August 8, at the House of Representatives. The Speaker administered the oath. 

Arroyo, Pampanga 2nd District representative, welcomed the members of the foundation back to the House.

“To my daughter Luli and all of her fellow officers of the CSFI and all of you members, congratulations to all of you and thank you for putting together the congressional spouses again,” said Arroyo.

“I hope that you will be very happy now that you have found your home again back here in the halls of Congress,” she added. 

In early 2017, Davao del Norte 1st District Representative Pantaleon Alvarez, then the speaker, said he wanted to scrap the CSFI and the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office. At the time, the CSFI president was Alvarez’s estranged wife Emelita.

Alvarez also made the CSFI leave its office at the Batasang Pambansa. Now, with Arroyo as speaker and her daughter the president of the foundation, the CSFI has returned to its old office. 

“I think we don’t have much time left… so the most important thing is to normalize now that you’re not squatters anymore,” Arroyo told the CSFI members. 

The Speaker hopes the CSFI’s longtime project, the Kabuhayan National Livelihood trade fair, will be organized once again so the members can help people in their districts.

This is not the first time that a daughter of the incumbent speaker became president of the CSFI. Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte used to head the CSFI when her father, Quezon City 4th District Representative Feliciano Belmonte Jr, was the speaker. – Rappler.com