Tarlac congressman a darkhorse for DND post

A quiet but bright lawyer in the mold of outgoing Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz is emerging as a dark horse for the post Cruz would vacate at the end of this month.

He is Tarlac Rep. Gilberto Teodoro whose name, according to House sources, was added to the shortlist of candidates for incoming secretary of the Department of National Defense (DND).

The 42-year-old Teodoro finished law at the University of the Philippines in 1989 and topped the Bar examinations that year. He took his master’s degree in law at the Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He is a reserve colonel in the Philippine Air Force and has a commercial pilot’s license for executive jets and small aircraft.

He has been the representative of Tarlac’s first district since 1998. He will finish his third and last term in June next year.

Teodoro possesses political pedigree, being a Cojuangco. He is the son of Gilberto Teodoro, former administrator of the Social Security System, and Mercedes Cojuangco,
a sister of San Miguel Corp. chairman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr.

He is the acknowledged leader of scores of House members belonging to the Nationalist People’s Coalition, the political party his uncle founded in 1992.

House sources told reporters yesterday that Teodoro has an "overwhelming edge" over three other congressmen reportedly interested in Cruz’s job.

The three are Prospero Pichay Jr. of Surigao del Sur, Jose Solis of Sorsogon and Amado Espino of Pangasinan.

On Wednesday, Majority Leader Prospero Nograles endorsed his namesake for the DND post.

"Butch Pichay would be an ideal defense secretary who is civilian in character but national in scope," Nograles told a news conference. He did not elaborate.

Solis and Espino are former military officers.

The name of another lawmaker, opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson, has been floated as a possible candidate for Cruz’s job. Lacson was a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy and chief of the Philippine National Police during the Estrada administration.

The House has been a source of Cabinet talent for President Arroyo. Her recent Cabinet appointees were congressmen.

They are Rolando Andaya Jr. of budget, Ronaldo Puno of interior and local government, and Jesli Lapus of education.

Cruz tendered his irrevocable resignation after criticizing the failed people’s initiative as a "harebrained" and "constitutionally infirm" idea.

He said the proposal to convene Congress as a constituent assembly to approve Charter change even without the participation of senators would also fail like the Sigaw ng Bayan people’s initiative.