THE 2022 general elections next year seemed yielding more “presidentiables,” with former defense secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro’s name adding up to what is already a long list of would-be-presidents.
Many believe Gibo has what it takes to become an effective President. He has a remarkable scholastic attainment, an untarnished government record and sterling government portfolio that saw him effective in a department that is usually bestowed to retired generals.
His private life has remained as is even during his exposure as an offshoot of being a public servant. He has managed to do away with controversies that come along with being a public figure.
In a duly-verified Facebook page, a pubmat, which had “2022” and a large check mark, was uploaded twice, seen as an indication of the biggest event taking place next year – the national and local elections.
From the standpoint of a netizen, the post appears to be an indication of Gibo’s political plans, years after hibernating.
Gibo is no stranger in politics. In fact, he ran but landed 4th in the 2010 presidential elections, which was won by his cousin Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino. Since then, he has kept out of the public eye and has dodged calls for him to run again for public office.
During those years, he worked for the private sector, including a board seat in the Philippines’ largest lender, BDO Unibank.
Prior to his first crack into politics, Gibo served as defense secretary to former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, whose party, Lakas-CMD made him their standard bearer.
Gibo is not just an ordinary politician. He is a bar topnotcher and a trained pilot. In fact, he would sometimes fly the military’s C-130 cargo planes, including one mission that airlifted soldiers killed in battle from Zamboanga to Manila, while he was the defense secretary.
Interestingly, predicaments seemed not favoring Gibo. One is the time element. Other presidential wannabes have already been laying groundwork, boosting presence by way of dipping into every issue they deem apt for free publicity and spending on a network in the country’s 17 regions, 81 provinces, 144 cities, 1,490 municipalities and 42,036 barangays.
Unless his core group gets to work round-the-clock for the next eight months, it would only be then that he would be able to put up a good fight. That statement, however, does not cover electoral fraud, something that he is already aware of.