Mikee Romero | |||||||||||||||
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| Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives | |||||||||||||||
| In office October 14, 2020 – June 1, 2022 Serving with several others | |||||||||||||||
| House Speaker | Lord Allan Velasco | ||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Luis Raymund Villafuerte | ||||||||||||||
| In office August 13, 2019 – October 2, 2020 | |||||||||||||||
| House Speaker | Alan Peter Cayetano | ||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Fredenil Castro | ||||||||||||||
| Member of thePhilippine House of Representatives for the1-Pacman party-list | |||||||||||||||
| Assumed office June 30, 2016 Serving with Enrico Pineda (2016–2022) | |||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Office established | ||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Party-list | ||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||
| Born | Michael Odylon Lagman Romero (1972-03-21)March 21, 1972 (age 53)[1] Manila, Philippines | ||||||||||||||
| Political party | 1-Pacman | ||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||
| Children | 5 (inc.Milka) | ||||||||||||||
| Parent(s) | Reghis Romero II[2] Lilibeth Lagman-Romero[2] | ||||||||||||||
| Education | De La Salle University | ||||||||||||||
| Website | |||||||||||||||
| Years active | 2002–present | ||||||||||||||
| Board member of | Globalport 900, Inc. AirAsia Philippines | ||||||||||||||
| Sports career | |||||||||||||||
| National team | Philippines | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | Polo | ||||||||||||||
| Club | GlobalPort | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Michael Odylon "Mikee"Lagman Romero (Tagalog:[ˈmaɪkiroˈmɛɾo]; born March 21, 1972) is a Filipino businessman, politician, andpolo player who previously served as aHouse Deputy Speaker from 2019 to 2022, except for a 12-day period out of office in October 2020 due to aHouse leadership crisis. He is concurrently serving as aParty-listRepresentative for1-Pacman since 2016. He is also the president of theParty-list Coalition, an alliance of more than 50 representatives from variousparty-lists.[3] As a businessman, he is currently the chairman and president of Globalport 900, Inc. and owns theNorthPort Batang Pier basketball team in thePhilippine Basketball Association (PBA).[4][3] As of December 2018, his declared net worth is₱ 7.858 billion.[5] He is the Philippines' richest Congress representative and is among the country's 50 richest persons.[6]
Romero serves as Chairman of the Board of Globalport 900, Inc. (PSE: PORT), formerly MIC Holdings Corp, since June 7, 2012. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts fromDe La Salle University (while also playing for the university's varsity basketball team) and a Masters in Business Management from theAsian Institute of Management. He also holds two doctorate degrees in Business Administration and Political Economics coming from theInternational Academy of Management and Economics and De La Salle University.[7]
He is also Chief Executive Officer of Harbour Centre Port Terminal, Inc., Chairman of Manila North Harbour Port, Inc., Chairman of Mikro-tech Capital, Inc., CEO of Pacifica, Inc. and Vice Chairman ofAirAsia Philippines.[8]
Son of construction magnate Reghis Romero II, Romero worked in venture capital in Singapore before returning home in 2002 to seize the country's infrastructure opportunity. He converted his family's reclaimed land into Harbour Center Port Terminal, now the country's biggest bulk and breakbulk port. He listed his port assets in 2011, with a reverse takeover of listed MIC Holdings, renaming it as GlobalPort 900, Inc. He said he wants to build a 'seaport highway' across the Philippines archipelago. He also has a 65% stake in Manila North Harbour, country's biggest port, where San Miguel is a partner. Other interests include mining, hotels, a 20% stake in Air Asia Philippines and 15% in Alfred Yao'sZest Airways.
Romero took up several sports with the intention of competing in the SEA Games. He was 3-dan black belter inArnis, a national jetski champion in 2005 and was with the Philippinetrap shooting team.[9]
TheDe La Salle Green Archers had Romero as a player in theUniversity Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). His basketball career ended in 1991 after sustaining an ankle injury.[10]
In polo, he is known for being the founder of the Philippine National Federation of Polo Players.[11] The Miguel Lorenzo Romero Polo Field inCalatagan,Batangas is named after his deceased son.[9][12]
Romero is also a polo player taking up horse riding when he was five years old. He started training in polo in 2010 under professional polo players, mostly fromArgentina. He went on to compete in polo competitions in Thailand and the United States.[9] He competed for the Philippines at the2019 Southeast Asian Games. He competed in the0-2 goals event with the team settling for the bronze medal.[13][14]
Romero is also affiliated with the GlobalPort Polo Team as a player.[12] GlobalPort is set to become the first Asia-based team to compete in theU.S. Open Polo Championship. The team, Romero included, will debut in the 2025 edition.[15]
Romero owns a baseball team (Manila Sharks) and aPBA team (NorthPort Batang Pier).
Romero was named as one of the newdeputy speakers of House SpeakerAlan Peter Cayetano on August 13, 2019.[16] During aHouse leadership crisis which began in late September 2020, Romero supportedLord Allan Velasco's speakership bid in accordance with the term-sharing agreement between Cayetano and Velasco during the commencement of the18th Congress. On October 2,Fredenil Castro (Capiz–2nd) challenged the representatives to resign if they cannot cooperate with Cayetano's leadership. Deputy Majority Leader Xavier Jesus Romualdo moved to have Castro replace Romero as a deputy speaker. The motion was approved without objections, removing Romero from the position.[17]
On October 12, a majority of House members held session at the Celebrity Sports Complex in Quezon City. After they declared the speakership vacant, Romero was one of those who nominated Velasco as speaker.[18][19] Velasco was declared as the new speaker after garnering 186 votes, more than the 151 needed for a majority. However, Cayetano's side questioned the legality of the session.[20] The next day, Velasco was formally elected in an official session held at theBatasang Pambansa while Cayetano resigned.[21] On October 14, Romero was again elected as a deputy speaker, replacing the oustedLuis Raymund Villafuerte (Camarines Sur–2nd), a Cayetano ally.[22][23]
Mikee Romero married Sheila Bermudez in 1992 with whom he had five children, which includesMilka Romero.[24][25] His son Miguel Lorenzo died in 2017 at age 22, who was a polo player like himself and a jujitsu practitioner.[9][26]
