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DND Secretary Gilbert C. Teodoro Jr.

By Ronald Roy

COMMENT

08/17/2007

From college days to the early 1980s, I was an avid aficionado at the poker table, playing with different groups: UP guys Marce Viduya, Phil Cabanos (inventor of the launching pad of Desert Storm’s most lethal arsenal called the patriot), my brother Jun Roy (UP Dramatics Club Freddie Guerrero-trained scriptwriter, thespian nonpareil and stage director) Jules Yogore, John Henry Osmeña and Joselito Aguilar. These guys somewhere in the cosmos must still be using buttons and matchsticks for poker chips. Then came the high-stakes quorum at Doy Laurel’s Mandaluyong residence, consisting of Speaker Kuya Pito, Brig. Gen. Dizon, Sen. Lawrence Teves, Sen. Landring Almendras, Cosmetic Plastic Surgeon Jorge Neri, Doy and myself. I was the “kid” (to quote them) who quit while he was ahead.

And why not? Hahaha! They thought I was just a dumb punk who was easy pickings in the land of the giants! But even before the time of these hypertensive legislators who were babes in the art of bluffing and the science of probabilities, there was a bunch of merrymakers who met every Saturday at 5 p.m. at #2 Mangga Avenue corner Balete Drive, Quezon City, like Social Security System (SSS) Chairman Adrian Cristobal, Camarines Sur Gov. Roy Padilla (dad of Robin, Rommel, Rustom and who else?), CIR Judge Arsenio Martinez, the gracious tong-free host and myself, who just wanted to unwind, laugh, drink a little and eat a lot, and lose no more than two hundred bucks each session. A gangly boy aged 6-7 often greeted us one by one as we arrived to indulge in the hospitality of Gilbert and Ditas Teodoro. Sometimes little Gilbert would announce dinner was served, but always he would bid all goodnight at around 6:30. If you remember Assemblywoman Ditas Cojuangco-Teodoro of the Marcos Parliament, you’ll know why you can consider Gilbert a certified egghead. And if you remember SSS Administrator Gilbert Teodoro who guarded every centavo of the system’s funds with eagle eyes, you can expect his junior to run the Department of National Defense with the highest sense of integrity.

This one time, I doff my hat to Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the constitutional exercise of her office’s appointing prerogative. Here are salient features of Gilbert’s curriculum vitae. Educational Attainment: Primary-Xavier School (1970-1977); Secondary: id (1977-1981); College-B.S. in Commerce, Major in Mgt. of Financial Institutions, De La Salle University (1981-1985), Bach. of Laws, UP (1985-1989) Dean’s Medal for Academic Excellence. Post Graduate: Master of Laws, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (1996-1997); Command and Staff Course Class Num.7-Phil. Air Force, Air Education and Training Command, Air Command Staff College (2001)-Leadership Awardee, Seminar Academic Excellence Awardee; Joint and Combined Staff Officers Course (2003) Leadership Awardee; Commercial Pilot with Rating in Lear Jet,31.

And so it has come to pass that, after such a long while, the Cabinet position of National Defense Secretary has been returned to the honored tradition of civilian authority over the military. Secretary Teodoro will have nothing to do with supervision over military operations. He will be concerned solely with military policy matters over which he will mediate between the Chief of Staff and other military services on the one hand, and the President/ Commander in Chief on the other. This arrangement lessens the load on the President’s shoulders. It also gives full meaning to the democratic precept of “civilian rule over the military”, through the instrumentality of National Defense Secretary Teodoro who is a civilian.

I quote Rep. Roilo Golez, from my text conversation with him last Aug. 3: “In biology, inbreeding results in defective offspring. When like people discuss issues, they produce small ideas. Giant ideas are the results of vigorous debate among people of divergent disciplines and thoughts.” In fine, Roi condemns the idea of inbreeding, and what better way is there to do it than to choose a non-military man to serve as Secretary of National Defense? Rest assured that Congressman Golez knows whereof he speaks, being a graduate decades back of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. At the same time, I am sure he was suggesting that the Armed Forces of the United States of America are the mightiest in the planet today precisely because, among other considerations, of the tried-and-tested democratic doctrine of civilian authority over the military. Verily, the appointment of Gilbert Teodoro Jr. could presage the fall of a despotic regime. Mabuhay kayo, Ginoong Teodoro at pagpalain kayo ng Poong Maykapal! At salamat sa inyo, tokayong Roi!

(E-mail address is lordoryan@yahoo.com; cell#: 0918-6449517)