Gilberto Teodoro

Speaking of Kamaganak, Inc. I stopped over at DND Secretary Gilberto Teodoro's site to check it out again. Last time I visited, it had two separate areas dealing with his plans for the country: a detailed strategy for each region of the country and a list of issues he deems important. (urls were http://gibo.ph/strategy.aspx and http://gibo.ph/issue.aspx)


Well, those are now GONE! Go ahead and check the 404.


Sec. Teodoro has a brand spanking new platform which is the Lakas Kampi CMD party platform.


And so we have a winner for the Most Improved in Platform Authoring!


Unlike the previous incarnations which were too disjointed, this one actually makes more sense and appears more consistent. Here's one example from the previous format: He identifies innovation as a key economic issue yet none of his strategies addresses this. Instead there are a lot of infrastructure development ideas without an overarching rationale. It's a grocery list. Where's the innovation in that? To further confuse the message, the site had Sec. Teodoro declaring the age of copying previous trends passe. My impression was that the strategies and issues were written by a band of consultants who did not consult the candidate or each other.

The newer platform is a quantum improvement. For the issue of infrastructure it notes the need for the integration and convergence of all transport modalities. It calls for the expansion of inter-island transportation and communication. The infrastructure agenda coincides with and supports the thrust for rural and agricultural development (which are separate platform items). Things work together.

If the party hired a multitude of consultants to write this script, I'm glad they're now talking to each other and to their candidate! So team Gibo gets an A for effort instead of cousin Noynoy.

Too bad there's still that stigma associated with the old regime. In previous statements he openly admitted favoritism for Gloria Arroyo and even professed a debt of gratitude to her for giving him his break in government. In a TV interview he expressed his hesitance in pursuing graft charges because of these reasons. Disturbing statements indeed. Who else will he let off the hook because of a debt of gratitude? What if these people were guilty of severe crimes?

Those troubling statements have also disappeared from his website. I think it's part of the move to sanitize his image. If I monitor elections again, I will be shamelessly copying the interesting statements from political sites. That way I can keep a better record of a campaign's development.

I doubt the recent move to create distance from PGMA will do much good in the middle of the game. Something more dramatic needs to happen before people completely dissociate the Secretary from the passing administration.

Gibo Teodoro redeems himself on Platform but his past life leaves a big question mark on character. Admittedly, he's well trained and capable. The question is: capable of what?

Cynic Dries Out

I've been scanning the news online. If there's any political dividend out of this flood tragedy, it will likely go to administration candidate Gilberto 'Gibo' Teodoro, Jr. As Secretary of National Defense and Head of the Disaster Coordinating Council, he certainly benefits from the media attention. The rather heroic [and it is heroic] nature of commanding the rescue effort does hang a halo over his head.

Well, since he's in the limelight I guess I should start looking at his credentials. I like halos around politicians. They're like bullseyes. And apparently others are taking aim as well. Just today there's been a rumor that Gibo has been refusing foreign aid saying that the country did not need it. Ahh, dredge the mud from the flood and sling it around...

I then go check out the news. No mention of the man turning away help. Most of the news items I saw had him asking for help. I then check out his website [ http://www.gibo.ph/ ]. No mention of him asking for or refusing aid. Most of the items are reports on the state of the rescue effort.

While I'm there I check out his platform. Its split into two pages, My Views and Strategy. My Views identifies broad challenges that he wishes to address. His Strategy is surprisingly detailed considering the vagueness of the My Views page. For each region he identifies specific plans.

I check out the Bicol region. Its a mixed bag. Better disaster preparedness is good. Drainage system mainenance is good. Damming the rivers, if not handled properly, may result in environmental damage.

What else? Land development. What kind of development? More commercial establishments and condos instead of farm land? A Technopark or Industrial Park? I think I prefer infrastructure development over land development. How about building roads and sewers that are good enough to accommodate a population growth of 2% per annum?

He also plans on more R&D for the promising steel and engineering sector. Ok, that's interesting and new. For the longest time must development efforts centered on tourism, agriculture and handicrafts. This may be a better direction. I'd love to see the basis of his assessment.

Overall, the site articulated vague principles alongside a to-do list for each region. The only thing lacking is an explanation of how everything actually integrates. It seems as if he really doesn't have an integrated platform. This may not be sufficient. I'll continue checking his site.

I'll be looking into the Honorable Secretary's past accomplishments in a future post. It should give some more insight on the man's character. One thing is certain though. He goes out on the field trying to get people to safety.