Will Gibo become the anointed one?

An interesting advisory on the official website of Department of National Defense Secretary Gilbert ‘Gibo’ Teodoro notifies readers to watch the live feed tomorrow, September 16, the same day that the Arroyo administration has scheduled to announce their standard bearer for the 2010 election.

The choice is between Teodoro, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando, and Vice President Noli de Castro. Three’s a crowd they say, but in the end, there can only be one.

With only hours before the merged LAKAS-KAMPI-CMD’s official announcement of their bet against survey leader Senator Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III, Teodoro, who just came from the United States for a series of meetings with senior officials of the Obama government, seems sure of his stature as the ‘anointed one.’

Just this morning, Bataan Governor Enrique Garcia confirmed that Teodoro is the party’s bet. Administration legislators gathered and met Teodoro, an act which, to some, was “short of endorsement for his presidential bid.”

Who is Gibo?

Gibo Teodoro Jr. comes from a family of public servants, as his website describes. His father, Teodoro Sr. was former president of the Social Security System while his mother, Mercedes, also known as Merciditas, was a former assemblywoman.

Teodoro has a familiar middle name – Cojuangco. He hails from Tarlac and a nephew to business tycoon and known Marcos crony Eduardo ‘Danding' Cojuangco. He and Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III are second cousins.

A law graduate from the University of the Philippines, Teodoro passed the New York University Bar Exams and earned a master's degree from Harvard.

The “tall, lanky, and curly-haired kid who wore teeth and back braces” grew up to become the country’s national defense chief, primarily in charge of ensuring national security and protecting the status quo.

Before he became the Secretary of National Defense, he was Congressman of the First District of Tarlac for three consecutive terms starting in 1998.During the 11^th Congress, he assumed the position of assistant majority leader and head of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), the party founded and led by his uncle Danding.

He is married to Tarlac Rep. Monica ‘Nikki’ Prieto-Teodoro, who traces her roots to the Prieto and Roces clans.

His personal political profile included many titles and achievements, and the former Kabataang Barangay leader now aspires to be the Chief Executive.

Political body language

Teodoro instantly bared his intention to run as president when he joined and took his oath as a member of the merged Lakas-Kampi-CMD party last July. He was welcomed by 200 party members and was described by an administration Senator as a “prized political jewel of the season.”

Since then, he embarked on his silent campaign, starting by winning the support of broad sectors. He is said to be enjoying the backing of 15 non-governmental organizations, according to the Freeman.

Recently, he told Inquirer.net that 49 local government officials, or more than half the total of the country’s provincial governors, have endorsed his candidacy.

He said “he felt a tremendous boost with the endorsement.” “They believe in my candidacy and that matters a lot amid the confusion.”

Being at the tail end of the surveys with only 0.2% approval ratings in the May 2009 Pulse Asia survey, Teodoro doubled his efforts and made use of his position as National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) chair in order to be as visible as possible.

The airing of his disaster relief infomercial was timed during the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight last May. The ad, inquirer.net noted, “seemingly gave Teodoro, who comes from a wealthy family, a down-to-earth, mass appeal.”

The PR tactic backfired, as critics and legislators expressed annoyance over the political ad spelling out his surname for instant recall. Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raymond Palatino said in a gmanews.tv report, “the advertisements appeared to have hurt Teodoro's chances of being favored by the Web-savvy for the 2010 elections.”

Teodoro’s camp maintained that no government fund was spent for the ad reportedly worth Php30.7 million and that the infomercial was paid for by well-meaning friends.

With the difficult competition for the backing of the administration, Teodoro has no choice but to submit to the party’s selection process, philstar.com reported.

On the other hand, Teodoro’s primary nemesis for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s ‘Kiss of Victory,’ VP Noli de Castro, remains undecided. Almost a month after Mrs. Arroyo personally invited the Vice President to join the administration party and said that he has the ‘qualities of a good president,’ de Castro has not made any clear-cut statement about his plans for 2010.

De Castro said that “there’s no rush” and that he’s weighing his options before making any decisions. But time is running out. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita has announced the September 16 deadline.

Though De Castro earlier denied that Lakas-Kampi-CMD gave him an ultimatum, Ermita told inquirer.net that the Vice President has until today to decide if he will accept the invitation. The political rumor mill is also rife with talk that Malacanang might drop De Castro in favor of Teodoro, and that De Castro has made up his mind and is not anymore interested in purusuing with the race.

The Lakas side of the merger party at first seemed inclined to support De Castro but Kampi members said that Teodoro is the “leading presidential aspirant of the administration party” and that De Castro cannot be considered a contender because of his non-membership to the party.

Teodoro and De Castro have two things in common: They both seem to approv of Noynoy’s candidacy. Businessmirror.com.ph quoted Teodoro’s reaction to Noynoy’s September 9 announcement, “It’s great. It gives people more choice… We remain cousins and we remain good friends. That will not change and we will not allow this contest to ruin it.” For his part, de Castro said he is unperturbed by recent developments.

Both are also trailing way behind Noynoy in the ratings. In the August SWS survey, Teodoro scored .03 percent while de Castro, who previously topped the polls, dipped from over 18 percent in June to 14 percent last month.

Ermita, the party president, said “he doesn’t mind having a standard bearer that ranks low in the surveys” and issued warning “that those on top should not be too complacent because many things could still happen in the run-up to the election.”

Third wheel Bayani Fernando acted jealous over Teodoro and de Castro as he cried foul over Lakas-Kampi-CMD ‘favoritism.’ Nevertheless, Fernando expressed confidence that his loyalty and commitment to the party will be rewarded with the coveted party nomination.

U.S. blessings

In his blog, Tonyo Cruz noted Teodoro’s strong pro-US bias on defense issues “in the hope that he be chosen as the American bet in next year’s presidential elections.”

Indeed, Teodoro seems have had many engagements and agreements with United States government officials.

In June, he met Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Leon E. Panetta during the latter’s brief visit to the country. In July, he agreed with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates who said that the 600-strong U.S. forces will stay in the Philippines.

Early this month, he went to the Pentagon in Washington and met with his counterpart in the U.S. Department of Defense to discuss strengthening Philippine-US defense and security counterinsurgency cooperation.

The high-point of his five day U.S. visit was the meeting with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, whom “assured US commitment to support efforts by the DND and AFP to crush terrorists.”

He awarded Outstanding Achievement Medal of the Philippines to US Defense Officials for contribution to RP-US security cooperation. He met with UN Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping Allain Le Roy the deployment of a 336-man battalion to the Golan Heights and other issues related to Philippine participation in UN operations.

He gave an address to Filipino-Americans in Washington D.C. and led a wreath-laying ceremony for Filipino war veterans. He received US$ 1M in hospital equipment for veterans and commitment from US officials to speed up the processing of claims of Filipino World War II veterans under the $198-million lump sum package provided for in the US Stimulus Package.

He met with Ambassador Hilario G. Davide, Jr, the permanent representative to the United Nations.

A news item noted that “Teodoro speaks of security but the people hears politics.” He went all the way to Washington to court the U.S. government for his candidacy.

Manilatimes.online.com reported, “In a lecture before the think tank Heritage Foundation, the US-trained Teodoro said it would also be in the interest of the rest of Asia for the United States to continue its presence in the region.”

In short, he pledged allegiance to the United States government and in fact, even assured to continue the policies and programs started by the Arroyo administration.

But not all sectors are impressed with Teodoro’s way. Filipino-Americans in the U.S. said Teodoro’s US visit is ‘another wrong step for Filipinos and the U.S.

Katarungan advocates said that, “Teodoro, being a part of Arroyo’s Cabinet and inner circle, cannot be separated from the massive corruption, human rights abuses, mismanagement of the country’s economy, and the selling of Philippine sovereignty that have been central to the Arroyo administration.”

Squabbling over spoils

The merging of Lakas, Kampi and Christian Muslim Democrat parties brought out the worst in their leaders and foes.

Lakas officials claimed that the merger wasn’t approved by their membership and Kampi has no right to use Lakas’ name to deceive the people.”

The administration party that earned various monickers like PaLaKa (for Partido Lakas Kampi) and Kalas (disintegrate) is beating the September 16 deadline because on Thursday, September 17, the Commission on Election (COMELEC) will conduct a hearing on the petition of former Arroyo ally and party stalwart Pangasinan Rep. Jose De Venecia Jr. to “deny the request of Lakas-Kampi for accreditation, saying the merger between the two parties was illegal,” according to a report.

De Venecia regarded Lakas-Kampi-CMD as “a bogus, an illegal party.”

Another Lakas pioneer, former president Fidel V. Ramos rejected repeated invitations from Mrs. Arroyo to be the party’s Chairman Emeritus and said, “he would rather wait for the result of the petition.”

Ramos’ insinuation of no election (No-El) scenarios led by the President’s allies in the military is a proof of deepening political bickering within the administration party.

The selection process was affected with De Venecia’s petition and Ramos’ displeasure with the merger.

Teodoro admitted “he don’t know what will happen if the COMELEC un-merges the party.”

Photo taken from Wikipedia. Sourced from the US Department of Defense.

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