Gibo over gabi with roasted nuts

Two of several things going for Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro are 1) his late father, Bert Teodoro, then Social Security administrator during the Marcos regime, refused to give an inch when Imelda Marcos reportedly asked him for a big bite of SSS funds (meaning he did not want to give away money that belonged to hundreds of thousands of social security pensioners), and 2) he looks like Hollywood actor Tom Hanks (although one of the newspaper women at a Chinese dinner hosted by the presidential candidate thinks he looks like the young Danding Cojuangco, his uncle). 

Having cut a reserved image, Gibo impressed the women with his casual ways, quickness to smile, natural intelligence, his being a voracious reader (he reads three books at a time) and culinary skills, proven by his selection of dishes including breaded gabi studded with roasted almonds, a goat meat stew with a side dish of soybean curd, and lobster heads with succulent transparent noodles.

What could be the country’s next first lady is Gibo’s glamorous wife Nikki Prieto, who took over her husband’s seat as representative of Tarlac’s first district when he accepted his appointment to the defense post. Nikki, who heads the newly created House committee on children’s welfare, drums up projects for children’s benefit. Is she supporting the Reproductive Health bill pending in Congress? A rather ticklish question, that, but she did not hesitate to answer, “I am for reproductive health, but definitely not for abortion.” (Which is what the Lagman RH bill is all about.)

Gilbert is an only son, but never felt loved by a very disciplinarian father, who mellowed down only when he was nearing his last days. Still Gilbert topped the grades and high school at Xavier, the business management course at De la Salle College, and, upon the insistence of his grandmother, Josephine Murphy Cojuangco, who practically threatened to disown him if he did not become a lawyer, went to the University of the Philippines for the law course (“I wanted to be a politician”), topped the 1989 bar exams and finished his master of laws on Harvard’s dean’s list for academic excellence. His mother made up for his father’s strange way of parenting; the former congresswoman Mercedes Cojuangco Teodoro, who spoiled him some, (“My mother thought her son could do nothing wrong.”) Gilbert has only one son, too, a 10-year-old on whom he lavishes affection he did not get from his own father.

He casually talked of the decades-long rift within the Cojuangco clan, and his meeting his cousin Sen. Noynoy Aquino for the first time only a few years ago; they are now “good friends.” He worked for a while with his uncle Danding, who recently expressed no support for his nephew’s presidential aspiration. But not to worry; Gilbert will probably get the President’s support. In his public engagements, he has cited her big boss’s accomplishments.

His political career began when he was elected Kabataang Barangay president for Central Luzon from 1980 to 86. He went into private practice, and was with the Estelito Mendoza law firm from 1989 to 1996. He was elected congressman in 1998.

Into his third term in Congress, he caught President Macapagal-Arroyo’s eye. She must have thought that Gilbert’s military experience equipped him for the job of defense secretary. He is a colonel in the Philippine Air Force (Reserved), and a licensed commercial pilot (flying with Lear Jet 31 rating). He had finished with highest honors training in air command, air education and training command from the Philippine Air Force.

 In his 18 months as defense secretary, he underscored institutionalizing reforms in his department that would enhance defense service systems, procedures and capability and put in place a “stronger” rational and strategy-based national defense policy. People have rightly or wrongly compared him with the late President Ramon Magsaysay,  who was catapulted to the presidency on the strength of his quelling, as defense secretary, the Hukbalahap insurgency. Teodoro may follow in RM’s career path, but the problems of keeping peace and order in the land have become more complex — the armed struggle with Muslim separatists, leftist elements, kidnappings, land ownership claimed by the insurgents, and poverty in Mindanao; the acute shortage of soldiers to engage in more of a psychological warfare; the need to build infrastructure projects to advance progress in far-flung areas. Add to these is coping with the economic meltdown that is being increasingly felt in the country. And graft and corruption in high and low places; his call to action on graft is to increase civil servants’ remunerations.

With all those gargantuan problems, why does Gilbert want to become president? He was quiet for a while, then he said, what he would do is ensure stability, infrastructure, and foundational changes.

The Chinese dinner gave us girls insights into the character of a would-be-president. One can be sure he will not brook corruption in his administration. As the campaign and election period near, we shall be listening and watching him spell out his vision for his countrymen.

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Plan to attend Philippine Opera Company’s spectacular three-day production, “HARANA … A Cultural Journey,” which starts tonight (May 28) and lasts May 30 at the Carlos P. Romulo auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati City.

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