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GILBERTO EDUARDO GERARDO COJUANGCO TEODORO JR GIBO (POLITICAL NICKNAME) GILBERT (FOR THOSE WHO KNOW HIM PERSONALLY)

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Chapter 4

WRONG TURN FOR MR RIGHT

Age on Election Day: 45 years old Birthday: June 14, 1964

Party Afliation: Lakas-Kampi-Christian Muslim Democrats Previous position/occupation: Secretary, Department of National Defense; congressman, 1st district of Tarlac Strengths: Intelligent; young; competent; untainted by corruption; clear platform/agenda; uent in English, Filipino, and Ilocano; very committed volunteers network; ethical campaign conduct Weaknesses: Association with President Gloria MacapagalArroyo, estrangement from uncle Eduardo Cojuangco Jr, non-belief in surveys, heavy dependence on Punos advice (consulted limited number of campaign professionals), ethical campaign conduct Campaign handlers: Himself; Ronaldo Puno Campaign taglines: Galing at Talino; Dapat Gibo

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played a crisis agency chief in a disaster-stricken city in Volcano,1 for Defense Secretary Gilberto Gibo Teodoro Jr. It was the morning of Sept 26, 2009. Metro Manila and parts of neighboring provinces were submerged in rainwater that tropical storm Ondoy dumped non-stop since the night before. And his car was stuck in the Guadalupe area of EDSA. I have to get to Aguinaldo, he told his then media consultant, Noel Albano in the car, referring to the main military camp ten kilometers away also on EDSA. Im getting off.2 Teodoro waded in the waist-deep ood, hopped on a Metro Rail Transit train from Guadalupe, got off four stations later in Santolan, and, once again, waded in murky water to the defense ofce. He got there at around 11:30 am, and very few journalists knew how he managed it. He immediately spoke to mayors of affected towns and cities, assessed the extent of the problem, coordinated with other agencies, and barked out instructions to troops involved in rescue efforts. On the side, he managed to chide over the phone a deputy who, despite knowing that a storm was coming, went ahead to the Visayas to do what turned out to be some premature congressional campaigning. It was already 3 pm when he nally got to face the press to apprise them of the situation. Consider that just ten days earlier Teodoro was named by the ruling Lakas-Kampi-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) party its presidential bet for 2010. For campaign experts, therefore, there was only one way to describe the opportunities for media mileage that this rather frenetic day presented: priceless.

IT WAS A TOMMY LEE JONES MOMENT, when he

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190 Ambition Destiny Victory

When it was time, however, for Teodoro to go around for inspections and the media was understandably dying to catch him in action, he gave one specic instruction to his staff: We will shut down the campaign for now. We will not use Ondoy for political purposes.3 His staff and handlers could only heave a sigh of regret. How could they have forgotten that this was Teodoro? He was the chair of the National Disaster Coordinating Council who, in past calamities, refused to join in the distribution of relief goods to victims, saying it was the job of social welfare ofcers. He didnt want to display himself along waterways that were being unclogged, saying it was within the purview of engineers from the public works department. He had always said that his place was the defense departments monitoring room, so he could quickly decide how the troops could respond where they were needed. He had one month to dominate the whole political space, but he just did not do it because he felt that it wasnt right to do it. In that sense, he was very ethical, Albano said. This aversion to expose himself to the media would prove disastrous to his political ambition. Teodoro was entering a national race for the rst time, with that part of him thats consistently principled colliding with the requirement of traditional politics, which he never liked, said Antonio La Via, his friend from law school.4 The need to reconcile those two was to become a recurring struggle when he nally embarked on his presidential campaign months later.5 Well into the campaign proper, his chief of staff Nelson Victorino said, Teodoro resisted any approach that would dumb down the campaign. He wanted to give the voters an intelligent and dispassionate engagement on issues. Many times, Victorino told him, Boss, sayawin muna natin ang tugtog, saka na natin baguhin. And Teodoro would quip, Hindi, matagal nang cycle yan. 6 When told that he was wearing a frown while being interviewed on TV, Teodoro would say, Kasi iniisip ko yung sagot.7 Neither was he the type who would call radio commentators to be interviewed, a practice of many politicians. He would tell us, Theres nothing new to say, so he wouldnt make himself heard, Victorino said.

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Incomparably competent

If elections were to be decided by a candidates qualications alone, Teodoro undoubtedly would have been an easy choice for voters. He has the political pedigree. The only child of former Tarlac assemblywoman Mercedes Cojuangco-Teodoro, he entered politics at age fteen, when he was chosen by the Tarlac governor to chair the Kabataang Barangay or youth council; he led the organization in the entire Central Luzon, too. His late father, Gilberto Teodoro Sr, was not a politician, but had a long stint at the Social Security System (SSS), where his performance as administrator was characterized by honesty, hard work, self-sacrice, and excellence.8 In 1989, Teodoro nished third in his class at the University of the Philippines College of Law and topped the bar exams. He worked at the law rm of former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza and was assigned to handle the cases of his maternal uncle, San Miguel Corp (SMC) chairman Eduardo Danding Cojuangco Jr. He went on to complete masteral law studies at Harvard University and pass the New York bar. In 1998, he returned to the country for two reasons. One, his father, presumably upon learning he was a brand new grandfather, wanted Teodoros family to be here in his remaining years.9 Two, his uncle persuaded him to run for congressman of the rst district of Tarlac under the Nationalist Peoples Coalition (NPC), the party founded by Cojuangco when he ran for president in 1992. Owing to his leadership in the NPC, he was named assistant majority leader of the eleventh Congress and breezed through two reelections in his district. When he reached his term limit in 2007, he was appointed defense secretary by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. At 43, he was the youngest named to the post after Ramon Magsaysay.10 While it was his rst executive job, Teodoro gave a good account of himself. La Via, also dean of the Ateneo School of Government, said his group Bantay Korupsyon closely monitored the implementation of the Armed Forces modernization program. We were really impressed with how the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) modernization was handled in Teodoros watch.

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WRONG TURN FOR MR RIGHT

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192 Ambition Destiny Victory

Like his father did at the Social Security System (SSS), Teodoro made sure his stint at the Department of National Defense (DND) was one characterized by integrity and efciency, and so he insulated the agency from political pressures. If he only wanted to secure favors from prospective campaign backers, Teodoro could have approved defense contracts whose sponsors were sending feelers or putting subtle pressure on his ofce, said Victorino. But he was ready to resign anytime, if some well-connected sponsors pulled strings at the Palace. He was also said to have demonstrated a sincere support for the areas caught in conict. Sarangani Gov Miguel Dominguez got to know Teodoro at the height of conicts in Mindanao in 2008 and when they worked together in a peace and order summit after that. It was my rst time to see somebody who really spent time in the eld. I saw his vision and commitment.11 Indeed, from the management point of view, he was the most competent of all the candidates, said La Via. Because the leader we should have is somebody who knows his stuff. He will listen to others who have to tell him that there are other options, but he would still make the decisions. These qualities didnt escape former President Fidel Ramos, himself a defense chief before he became president. On July 10, 2009, ve months after Teodoro announced his intention to seek the presidency, Ramos told an audience in Baguio City how Gibo [is] thoroughly professional and incomparably competent.12 But even this, Teodoros camp refused to peddle as a categorical endorsement13 (even if, during the campaign, Ramos would be seen wearing Teodoros green ballers, and members of his staff distributing them). If Teodoro were to play into the star-struck and regionalistic character of Philippine elections, good things were going for him, too. His wife, Tarlac Rep Monica Nikki Prieto-Teodoro, a former model, had maintained a look that could shame many a celebrity. In fact, the talk in political circles was, if Teodoro would become president, she would be the prettiest First Lady the country would ever have. Nikki comes from the prominent Roces, Prieto, and Lopez clans, and has embraced popular causes like childrens and family welfare.

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