Defense Secretary 2.0

For the second time around, heading the Department of National Defense (DND), Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. vows to pursue in Congress the approval of a new Defense Act. Teodoro believes the passage into law of the new Defense Act will finally achieve the “cutting edge of the asymmetric defense” that will secure and effectively protect our country from both internal and external threats herein now and in the future.

Teodoro first served as Defense Secretary of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from 2007 to 2009 until he was fielded as her presidential candidate during the May 2010 elections. Unfortunately, Teodoro got beaten by his first cousin, the late President Benigno Simeon Aquino III. A lawyer by profession – he was a bar topnotcher – Teodoro went back to the private corporate sector.

He tried to get back to politics when he run under the UniTeam ticket but lost in the May 2022 elections.

In his first year into office at Malacañang, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) kept vacant three Cabinet posts and placed an officer-in-charge to each Department. And one of them was the DND. Following the lapse of the one-year appointment ban last June, PBBM named Teodoro as his Defense Secretary. So it was really reserved for Teodoro.

Having been that “been there, done that” guy at the Defense post, Teodoro certainly knows how to navigate on the to-do things that need the support of lawmakers. After all, Teodoro himself served for three consecutive terms in the Congresses past. He was the Congressional Representative of the first district of Tarlac from 1998 to 2007.

A good sign on how close he is with legislators, the 59-year-old Teodoro breezed through his confirmation recently. The powerful 25-man bicameral Commission on Appointments (CA) unanimously approved his nomination, but by-passed Teodoro Herbosa as Health Secretary.

In our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday, Teodoro underscored the urgency for the present 19th Congress to ensure the passage into law of this proposed new Defense Act. According to him, the men and women who know better how to achieve the mission of the DND helped draft the proposed legislative