Its time to know more about the presidentiables. Today we present Gilberto Teodoro Jr.
More About Gibo:
Teodoro is the only child of former Social Security System administrator Gilberto Teodoro, Sr. and former Batasang Pambansa member Mercedes Cojuangco-Teodoro. He is also the nephew of Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr., chairman of San Miguel Corporation. [6]
Teodoro is the second cousin of another Presidential candidate, Noynoy Aquino, son of former President Corazon Aquino and former Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. While Teodoro's mother, Mercedes Cojuangco, is the first cousin of Aquino's mother, former President Corazon Aquino, both families have always been on different sides of the political fence since 1960s. During the administration of former President Ferdinand Marcos, Teodoro's father served as Social Security System administrator while Noynoy Aquino’s father, former senator Benigno Aquino Jr., was a leading opposition leader. [7]
[edit] Memberships
Teodoro, who holds distinct memberships in the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, UP Alumni Association, UP Law Alumni Association, Harvard Alumni Association and the Harvard Law Alumni Association, is also a licensed commercial pilot with a Learjet 31 rating and a Colonel in the Philippine Air Force Reserve.
Teodoro was appointed Secretary of the Department of National Defense in August 2007 at the age of 43, the youngest person to ever hold the position.
In March 2009 he announced his intention to run for President of the Philippines in the May 2010 election.[3] Months earlier, he quit his old party Nationalist People's Coalition to join the merged administration party Lakas-Kampi-CMD and cast his name in the ruling party's contenders for the 2010 elections.
On September 16, 2009, voting 42-5 through secret balloting, the executive committee of Lakas-Kampi officially selected Teodoro as their party's presidential standard bearer for the May 2010 elections, edging out the other nominee, MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando. The announcement was made by Lakas-Kampi Secretary General Gabriel Claudio after a deliberation that lasted for approximately an hour.[4]
On November 20, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo resigned her post as president of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD and handed over the presidency to Teodoro.[5]
From 1998 to 2007 he was a House Representative for the First District of Tarlac province. He assumed the position of Assistant Majority Leader in the 11th Congress and head of the Nationalist People's Coalition House members. He was also a member of the House contingent to the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council.
Following his three terms in office—the maximum number allowed by the constitution—he was succeeded by his wife, Monica Prieto-Teodoro.
While being a member of Congress, he was part of the "Bright Boys" political clique, labeled by then president Joseph Estrada, as he thought they had a bright future in congress.[2]
Teodoro completed his grade school and high school education at Xavier School, an all-boys school run by the Society of Jesus, which is considered to be one of the most elite and selective private schools in the Philippines.
Teodoro attained a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce from De La Salle University in 1984. In 1989, he completed his law studies at the University of the Philippines, where he was awarded the Dean's Medal for Academic Excellence. In the same year, he topped the Philippine Bar exams.
For seven years, he honed his skills as a lawyer in the EP Mendoza Law firm. He went to the Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts for his Master of Laws and completed it in 1997. He was also admitted to the State Bar of New York during the same year.
While practically all congressmen had a long list of committee memberships, and were jockeying for committee chairmanship, Teodoro was listed in only one, the committee on dangerous drugs. And this was because the committee chair, Ilocos Norte Rep. Roque Ablan, insisted that he included in his committee.
Instead of getting committee positions, Diaz said Teodoro gave way to his partymates in the NPC.
As NPC secretary general Michael John “Jack” Duavit said, Teodoro “never needed a position or title.”
“As long as it’s Gibo (how Teodoro is referred to), he’s the boss. When he speaks, that’s it. He doesn’t need any formal position, he just shows himself, that’s okay,” Duavit said of Teodoro’s position in the NPC, a party his uncle, Danding Cojuangco formed when he ran for president in 1992.
Cojuangco has left the NPC under his favorite nephew’s care, although his two sons, Mark and Charlie, are also congressmen representing Pangasinan and Negros Occidental, respectively, under the same party. Teodoro has often been referred to as Danding’s fair haired boy, his “political son.”
“He has been in favor of amending the Constitution from Day One of his first term as congressman,” Diaz said. And, he added, this has been clearly included in the legislative agenda of NPC
