Bar topnotcher Gibo bids for Senate to revive Miriam legacy

MANILA, Philippines — The People’s Reform Party, the political party founded by the late senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, yesterday declared that former defense secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro is the candidate that can continue the legacy that she had left behind in the Senate.

In endorsing Teodoro for senator in the 2022 May elections under the PRP banner, party president Narciso Santiago Jr. said their party mates were thrilled to find “a new Miriam” that would fit in the Senate.

“I know Gibo Teodoro to be an honest and wonderful person,” Santiago declared following Teodoro’s courtesy call at the PRP headquarters in Quezon City.

“Like Miriam, Gibo is brilliant and honest. He wants to prove his worth as a senator that’s why we are giving our people time to examine his credentials so they could look for the very same qualities of a public servant that had endeared Miriam to many Filipinos.”

Santiago also said that Teodoro’s fight for good government is every Filipino’s fight.

“He wants to champion laws in the Senate that would help uplift the lives of Filipinos in the new normal, and pave the way for the rebuilding of the economy so that we could all go back to the pre-COVID era,” Santiago further said.

He urged Filipinos who loved and continue to love Miriam to give their full support for Teodoro for senator as “her chosen one.”

“We’re confident that Gibo’s brilliance and soft heart for the people, especially the poor, would shine upon the halls of the Senate, and bring more joy and wisdom in the lawmaking process,” Santiago said.

Born in Manila, Teodoro, 57, finished at the top of his class and was awarded the Dean’s Medal for Academic Excellence at the University of the Philippines in 1989. He topped the Philippine Bar Examinations in the same year. He obtained his Master of Laws from Harvard University in 1997 and passed the State Bar of New York.

Teodoro comes from a family of highly respected public servants. His father was an administrator of the Social Security System while his mother was a member of Congress.

As the youngest defense secretary at 43, Teodoro pushed for the Defense System of Management (DSOM) implementation which provided decision-makers with timely, relevant, and accurate information, thereby increasing efficiency and transparency in the defense sector.

He assisted in the resolution of internal security threats and strengthened bilateral and multilateral security and defense cooperation with both regional and extra-regional states to further peace and combat non-traditional security threats.

As a three-term representative of Tarlac in Congress, Teodoro authored several significant laws. He was the principal author of the Securities Code of 2000, which shifted the Philippine securities regulation system from a merit regulation system to a full disclosure system.