Teodoro's 2010 bid depends on selection process

LOAKAN AIRPORT, Baguio City, Philippines  – Despite strong endorsement from various groups, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said his presidential plans for 2010 would depend on the political process of the administration party coalition.

Teodoro was referring to selection processes of the administration coalition on who would be its standard-bearer in the next year’s elections.

Although he admitted that he is happy about the pledges of support, Teodoro said he would have to follow the process.

“I have been saying and I will say it again, let us wait for the administration (political) process. In the meantime, I will concentrate on my job as defense chief first,” Teodoro said before boarding his plane for Manila.

Asked if he is banking on the all-out support of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) headed by his uncle San Miguel Beer chairman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., Teodoro replied that the NPC has now become a mixture of administration and opposition political figures.

The NPC is reportedly planning to field its own presidential candidate, choosing between Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero and Sen. Loren Legarda.

Teodoro noted Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri’s observation that he still lacks so-called imaging to propel his presidential ambitions.

On the other hand, he asked critics not to sow intrigue or interpret as an open endorsement his frequent meetings with President Arroyo.

He said that in his series of engagements with Mrs. Arroyo, she never dropped a single hint that she is endorsing him as the administration party’s standard-bearer.

When told that his wife Tarlac Rep. Monica Prieto-Teodoro has declared that he can infuse new blood into the government, Teodoro said that what he can offer as a leader is “out of the box” strategies.

“Sometimes we need to change strategies, not just in security matters but in other public structures of governance,” he said. – With Edith Regalado and Perseus Echeminada