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Sunday, July 01, 2007
Arroyo appoints ex-lawmaker as new defense chief
MANILA — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo named Saturday outgoing Tarlac Representative Gilbert Teodoro Jr. as the new defense secretary effective Aug. 3.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Teodoro will replace Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. who will return as head of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
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Undersecretary Manuel Bonoan has been the DPWH-officer-in-charge (OIC) since Ebdane was transferred to the Department of National Defense (DND) in February, replacing President Arroyo who assumed the post on a concurrent capacity.
Ebdane, a former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief and national security adviser, is a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) 1970 class.
Bunye said National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales will be the OIC of the DND until Teodoro assumes the defense portfolio.
He, however, did not elaborate on the reasons behind the sudden changes in the Cabinet, while Defense Undersecretary Ernesto Carolina refused to comment on the appointment preferring to wait for the “official orders from Malacañang.”
Gonzales, when reached for comment, said he would consult first with Malacañang before issuing any statement.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, in an interview, confirmed the revamp, stressing that there is a “good reason that the President has made her choice.”
Ermita said one of the reasons he sees in Ebdane’s return to the DPWH is to ensure continuity in the projects and programs that he started in the department when he still headed it.
He reiterated that all Cabinet members serve at the pleasure of the President and that the administration’s dismal performance in the senatorial elections had nothing to do with the Cabinet change.
Teodoro was congressman in the first district of Tarlac from 1998 to 2007.
His wife, Monica Louise Teodoro, who was recently proclaimed as the winner in the Tarlac first district congressional race, would replace him.
The 43-year-old congressman is a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition.
He is the son of former Social Security System administrator Gilberto Teodoro Sr., and former Batasang Pambansa member Mercedes Teodoro.
He first entered politics in 1980 when he ran and won as president of the Kabataang Barangay in Tarlac and later as KB Federation-Central Luzon head, and Tarlac councilor.
He obtained a degree in Management of Financial Institutions at the De La Salle University and took up law at the University of the Philippines.
He topped the bar in 1989.
He then joined the E.P. Mendoza Law Office as an associate and later practiced law for a couple of years and then he went to Harvard University to obtain his Masters in Law and in 1997 passed the New York State Bar Examinations.
Teodoro founded the Sama-sama sa Tarlac, party which is affiliated with the NPC, which was founded by his uncle, ex- envoy Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. (Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (July 01, 2007 issue)
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