Noynoy on cousin: He has more hair

MANILA, Philippines - Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is ready to slug it out with his cousin, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, in next year’s presidential race, conceding that Teodoro already has a two-point edge over him – more hair and a wife.

Teodoro was chosen yesterday as the standard bearer in 2010 of the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD party.

Aquino and Teodoro are second cousins, their mothers Corazon and Mercedes being first cousins in the Cojuangco family. Mercedes is the youngest sister of business tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco.

 Aquino, standard bearer of the Liberal Party, said Teodoro was “a worthy opponent” that would “mount a campaign with decency and honor.”

“I wish him well,” Aquino said, even as he admitted that he was not really close to Teodoro.

In Congress, when both served as lawmakers for three terms, they had always been on opposite sides of the political fence.

Aquino said they never agreed on issues but respected each other’s positions.

“(Our differences) never became personal. Maybe, we both were trying to understand where we were coming from, our backgrounds are different,” Aquino said.

“We never attended the same schools, I am older than him. He has more hair than me, that’s one point. He has gotten married also, so that’s two points for him now,” Aquino said in jest.

But he said with a competent relative running, he could foresee a campaign that is not shallow and debates that are elevated to higher ground.

“Just like what my father, the late senator and national hero, Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino Jr., always used to say, everyone should be running scared so as not to be complacent, “ he said.

Aquino admitted that their families had not been working together since they were young boys and that they just got to know each other when they were in Congress. “There was a split within the family,” the senator said.

He said they would cooperate for the sake of Tarlac, their home province, and would support each other’s programs for their home province.

Aquino said it is now up to the people of Tarlac who to vote for in 2010.

“That’s always the case, in every place there is a favorite son,” Aquino said.

Aquino also said it would now be up to Teodoro and his running mate, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, to decide whether to resign from their posts.

He said he and Sen. Manuel Roxas II would announce soon whether they would run as a tandem next year. “It will be soon, just wait for it,” Aquino said.

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said the upsurge of Aquino as presidential bet of the LP must be seriously considered, along with the other candidates, by the administration.

“That (Aquino’s case) was very sudden and catching the whole country by surprise. There is the steady topnotcher status (in surveys) of (Sen. Manuel) Villar (Jr.) and movies of (former President Joseph) Estrada (that give him) continuous exposure and rapport with his audience,” Santiago said.