LAKAS BETS: GIBO-EDU TANDEM / UNDER GIBO LAKAS IS
'PARTY OF THE FUTURE'
MANILA, NOVEMBER
14, 2009
(STAR) Long-trunning questions on who will be the running mate of
Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro were finally answered.
The answer: actor and television host Edu Manzano.
The announcement was made this morning by Lakas-Kampi-CMD vice chairman and Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno.
"I would like to introduce to all of you this morning someone whom Secretary
Teodoro has accepted to be his runningmate and (a) person who has accepted the
challenge of standing beside Secretary Teodoro in the quest
to
become the next president of the Republic of the Philippines and him the next
vice president of the Republic of the Philippines. No other than former OMB
chairman Edu Manzano," Puno told reporters at a press conference at the Makati
Shangri-La Hotel.
Manzano, 54, was among four personalities being considered by the party to be Teodoro’s running mate. The others were Sen. Loren Legarda, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano and senator-actor Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. Legarda, however, already announced earlier that she is running as vice president under the Nationalist People’s Coalition — her original party.
Revilla, for his part, publicly said he might not be prepared to seek higher office.
It's Edu for Gibo By Jaime Laude (The Philippine Star) Updated November 14, 2009 12:00 AM
[PHOTO AT LEFT - Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro shakes hands with TV host and former OMB chairman Edu Manzano, who has accepted the offer of Lakas to run as Teodoro’s running mate in the 2010 elections. BOY SANTOS]
MANILA, Philippines - Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. finally has a running mate.
Former Optical Media Board chairman Edu Manzano will be proclaimed as Lakas-Kampi-CMD candidate for vice president during the administration party’s national convention next week.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Lakas-Kampi-CMD vice chairman, officially announced the Teodoro-Manzano tandem in a press conference at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati yesterday.
Puno said he had asked Teodoro’s permission to open talks with Manzano, whom he had known for a long time and helped in his political and personal careers, Puno said.
Manzano said he agreed to become Teodoro’s running mate because he believes in Teodoro’s capability to lead the country as the next president.
“I would like to hitch my wagon with that of the good secretary and be part of his team that would push the Filipinos’ future,” he said.
Manzano said Puno played a “big role” in convincing him to accept Teodoro’s offer.
“Many of you may not be of the knowledge that Secretary Puno has been like a mentor to me,” he said.
“He told me to talk to Gibo (Teodoro’s nickname). I believe he possesses the qualities needed to move this country forward. I want to be part of his team.”
He suggested Manzano to Teodoro, based on the TV host’s capability as a public servant, Puno said.
Teodoro and Manzano were schoolmates at the De La Salle University in Manila.
Teodoro, incoming Lakas-Kampi-CMD chairman, said he and Manzano would push the party’s platform of governance to bring the country back on its feet.
“I need a partner who will convince people that we need to rise again,” he said in Filipino.
“We should surpass our (Asian) neighbors, we should lead again,” he added.
Teodoro said Manzano is very close to the people and he believes in his principles of good governance.
“(He is) honorable, forward-looking with vision,” he said. “He earns his keep the honorable way.”
Manzano thanked both Teodoro and Puno for their trust and confidence in him.
‘NPC members to back Teodoro’
More members of the Nationalist People’s Coalition are expected to support Teodoro’s bid for the presidency.
Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao, who belongs to NPC, said President Arroyo plans to meet with other NPC lawmakers after having lunch with him and 10 other members of the House of Representatives.
“She asked for our support for Secretary Teodoro,” he said. “How can you say no to her?”
Others who met with Mrs. Arroyo were Faustino Dy III also of Isabela, Conrado Estrella III of Pangasinan, Vincent Garcia of Davao City, Genero Alvarez and Jeffrey Ferrer of Negros Occidental, Zenaida Angping of Manila, George Arnaiz of Negros Oriental, Antonio Cerilles of Zamboanga del Sur, and Jeci Lapus of Tarlac.
Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, a Lakas-Kampi member, of Isabela, was also present.
Also in the group were Governors Jesus Jurdin Romualdo of Camiguin, Sally Zaldivar Perez of Antique and Josephine Sato of Mindoro Occidental.
“We told the President that we will support Gibo,” Romualdo said when reached for comment.
A lawmaker who attended the Palace meeting said they decided to support Teodoro since the NPC no longer has a presidential candidate.
“With the departure of Chiz (Sen. Francis Escudero) from our party, we are now free to support the presidential aspirant of our choice,” the lawmaker, who did not want to be named, said.
Aggabao said the commitment they gave Mrs. Arroyo is limited to Teodoro, who is Lakas-Kampi standard-bearer, and does not include his running mate.
“We have a vice presidential candidate in Sen. Loren Legarda, and we remain committed to her,” he said.
Other lawmakers who were Escudero’s supporters before he abandoned NPC have shifted their support to Sen. Benigno Aquino III, who is the Liberal Party’s standard-bearer.
One of them is Rep. Mujiv Hataman of the party-list group Anak Mindanao, who told reporters that he has taken his oath as a member of Aquino’s party.
Manzano decision surprises LP
Manzano’s decision to be Teodoro’s running mate caught the Liberal Party by surprise because he was supposed to be in its senatorial slate.
LP campaign manager Florencio Abad said they were surprised because Manzano had been talking to them.
“When it comes to the Senate race, his numbers are good (in surveys),” he said.
“In the vice presidential contest, he is untested. I think he’s taking a big risk, he’s practically coming from nowhere.”
Abad said Manzano was set to be at the oath taking ceremonies in Cubao, Quezon City as new LP member.
“He just told us he would not be able to come. Maybe he was not able to say no to Malacañang,” he said.
“It will not be easy for him because if the 2007 elections were to be used as gauge, candidates of the administration suffer from the unpopularity of the President (Arroyo). Right now, the President’s ratings are even lower.
Erap’s camp also surprised
Former President Joseph Estrada’s camp was also surprised when Manzano joined Teodoro.
Manzano was included in the senatorial slate of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino of the former president.
Margaux Salcedo, Estrada’s spokeswoman, said they thought all along that Manzano shared the opposition’s desire for a real democracy.
“We were taken by surprise as well by the decision of Edu Manzano to run with the administration party,” she said.
“We thought he shared the opposition’s desire for a real democracy, not the kind of regime we have experienced the last nine years.”
Salcedo also denied rumors that Estrada had struck a deal with Aquino to back out from the presidential race and support Aquino’s bid in 2010 in exchange for Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada running under the LP.
“That’s nothing but psy-war,” she said.
“President Erap is a man who is true to his word. In Tagalog, may isang salita. He has declared that he will run. There is no more backing out at this point.”
Salcedo said Jinggoy is set to run under his father’s party, PMP.
On the other hand, Lito Anzures, spokesman for Makati Mayor and United Opposition (UNO) president Jejomar Binay, welcomed the entry of Manzano in the vice presidential race.
“The public can now size up the candidates based on their executive capabilities and track record in serving the people.”
In 1995, Binay defeated Manzano in the mayoralty race in Makati.
Vi: Edu will have a tough time
Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto believes Edu Manzano, her former husband, will have a tough time in next year’s vice-presidential race.
“I respect his decision, he’s qualified as a public servant. Anyway at the end of the day it is the people who will decide,” she told The STAR by phone.
Recto said she and her husband, former National Economic and Development Authority director general Ralph Recto, would decide what party to join if they leave Lakas-Kampi-CMD.
“Let’s wait and see (by) next week, because once we decide, there will no turning back,” she said.
Recto said they will definitely choose a party or a competent presidential candidate that would have a “truthful” administration.
“We will support a leader that has solutions for our national problems and definitely will support my projects here in Batangas” she said. – Cecille Suerte Felipe, Jose Rodel Clapano, Arnell Ozaeta, Jess Diaz, Aurea Calica, Christina Mendez
Lakas seen as 'party of the future' under Teodoro By Perseus Echeminada (The Philippine Star) Updated November 13, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - A top administration party official claimed yesterday that President Arroyo, who had resigned as chair of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD, sees Lakas becoming the “party of the future” under the leadership of presidential aspirant Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr.
Ray Roquero, Lakas-Kampi-CMD deputy secretary-general, said that after the party’s executive committee meeting last Wednesday, “there was an affirmation of the President’s call for the party to transform itself from the party of the present to the party of the future.”
Aside from Mrs. Arroyo, other party leaders including Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, party president, and Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Gabriel Claudio, secretary-general, have also stepped down.
Teodoro will assume the party chairmanship when Lakas-Kampi-CMD holds a national convention on Nov. 19.
Ermita claimed that the new party leaders are forward-looking and infused with a can-do attitude that would inspire the Filipino people.
Lakas-Kampi-CMD has the program to tackle the urgent tasks of post-calamity reconstruction and rebuilding the economy after last year’s global financial meltdown, party officials said.
“We are looking ahead toward a course of greater economic liberalization and political reform,” Roquero said.
Teodoro’s assumption to the top party position is more than symbolic, party officials said.
Ermita hailed Teodoro as the “transforming leader” the country needs to inspire change in values and behavior of their co-leaders and citizens.
He said Teodoro would reinvigorate the spirit of idealism and reform and a sense of national purpose that became the platform of the then Lakas-NUCD when Fidel V. Ramos launched the party that helped him win the presidency in 1992.
Unlike Ramos who built his reputation in the military and was a hero of the first EDSA People Power revolt, Teodoro has had a stellar career in law and politics. After topping the Bar examination in 1989, he went to Harvard before winning three consecutive terms as congressman of Tarlac’s first district.
Teodoro became the country’s youngest defense secretary when he joined the Arroyo Cabinet in 2006.
“Secretary Teodoro is heir to the glorious tradition of great leadership that has been the hallmark of Lakas-CMD and Kampi,” said Misamis Occidental Gov. Leo Ocampos, president of the League of Provinces of the Philippines.
“Teodoro has the capacity to energize this party, and he will lead by the power of his reform program,” he said.
BF denies he will be Gibo’s running mate
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando denied reports that he has been offered by the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD to become the running mate of Teodoro.
“There’s no offer, it’s not true,” he told The STAR over the phone.
Fernando reiterated that he is still bent on his bid for the presidency as an independent candidate.
Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri have turned down offers of the administration party for them to be the running mate of Teodoro.
Teodoro said that there are ongoing talks with other possible running mates, and that talks that the administration is running out of choices for vice presidential bet are just political intrigues.
“They just don’t know what is the truth. They are just saying this to promote intrigues,” Teodoro said, referring to reports that nobody wanted to be his running mate.
Sen. Benigno Aquino III said it would be difficult for the administration to find a running mate for Teodoro because the Lakas-Kampi-CMD team would have to defend the Arroyo administration. – With James Mananghaya, Mike Frialde, Jaime Laude