The second role model of a Senatoriable is Atty Gilberto (Gibo) C. Teodoro, currently the Secretary of the Department of National Defense (DND). He serves as the principal assistant and adviser to the President on defense matters, overseeing various DND offices and bureaus. Gibo graduated from De La Salle University (Manila) in 1984, the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1989 where he was awarded the Dean’s Medal for Academic Excellence, and earned a Master of Laws from Harvard University. He placed number one in the 1989 Bar Exams and passed the State Bar of New York in 1997. He entered politics in the 1998 elections. He started his political career in the House of Representatives, where he served from 1998 to 2007. A top-notch corporate lawyer, he authored the Incentives Code of 2000, which introduced a full disclosure system. He also worked as a member of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council. He held positions as Assistant Majority Leader and Deputy Minority Leader, demonstrating legislative expertise and leadership.
Like former Vice President Leni Robredo, Secretary Gibo Teodoro should also be on the list of “Presidentiables” for 2028 because of not only his very high-level intellectual skills and educational accomplishments but also because of his unique experience combining legislative and executive tasks. After nine years in the Legislature, he has led the Department of Defense twice, first in 2007 to 2009 and then under the present Administration of President BBM. In his first stint, he implemented the Defense System of Management to enhance decision-making processes. He addressed security threats while ensuring the observance of human rights, strengthened bilateral and multilateral security cooperation, integrated international protocols on disaster risk management, and improved capacity building and coordination for response and rehabilitation efforts. In his present position, he is the principal advisor to the President in the most demanding and delicate task of balancing our relations with the US and China without going to one extreme or the other as did his predecessor in the presidency.
Needless to say, former Senator Franklin Drilon fits my description of the ideal Senator. He not only embodies the characteristics suggested by the very etymology of the Senator during Roman times such as maturity, experience, advanced education and integrity. He also has walked the talk as Senator of the Philippines for three terms. His public service as Senator began in 1995. He holds the record for the longest tenure in the Senate: four non-consecutive terms from 1995 to 2007 and 2010 to 2022. Throughout his career in the Philippine Senate, he held various significant positions, including Vice-Chairman of Justice and Human Rights during the 10th Congress and Chairman of Commerce and Finance during the 15th Congress. He was President of the Senate in 2000, from 2001 to 2006, and 2013 to 2016.
Before his senatorial career, Drilon served in the Cabinet from 1987 to 1995, holding multiple positions such as Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment and Executive Secretary in the Office of the President. He has held various government and private sector positions, including Chairman of the Cabinet Cluster on Political and Security Matters and Director of the Philippine Airlines, among others. His fellow Ilonggos will be forever grateful to him for his role in orchestrating the integrated infrastructure building program of the municipalities comprising the Metro Iloilo urban cluster, rendering it as the most attractive business center in the whole of the Western Visayas area. Today, Iloilo is the preferred investment destination of a host of real estate conglomerates and leading BPO-IT enterprises employing tens of thousands of highly skilled workers.
His educational background should be considered as a standard for others who seek the position of Senator of the Philippines. He attended Baluarte Elementary School in Molo, Iloilo City, graduating in 1957. He then studied at the UP Iloilo College High School. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Philippines in 1965, followed by Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines College of La in 1969, after which he placed third in the Bar examinations during the same year. He has also been conferred with a Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, from both the University of the Philippines and the Central Philippine University.
Among the younger politicians who should be encouraged to run for the Senate to ensure that this august body of the upper chamber of the Legislature will not be peopled with actors, athletes, and adventurers is Dakila Carlo “Dax” Cua who currently serves as the Governor of Quirino Province. There is no question about his being a very experienced politician. With a political career spanning both the executive and legislative branches, he has served nine years as a congressman, six years as a vice governor, and another six years as governor. Now 46 years of age, he started his political career at 23 years old. During his tenure as congressman, Cua held significant positions, including as Chairman of House Committee on Ecology and of Ways and Means, as well as Vice-chairperson of House Committee on Appropriations, Economic Affairs, and Constitutional Amendments. Additionally, he served as a Member of the Majority on Energy, Information, and Communications Technology. With a bachelor’s degree in business administration as a foundation, he has been constantly upskilling himself in the various disciplines so that he could play a pivotal role as a principal author of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law as well as the very complex Rice Tariffication Law. Keeping always close to the economically marginalized, his advocacies are centered around enhancing the quality of life for Filipinos, especially as regards health and education. Instead of just dispensing dole outs, his intention is always to make the poor self-reliant by equipping them with the necessary skills and resources, especially in the agricultural sector.
Another relatively young role model for the Senate is someone who actually was already a Senator in the past. I am referring to former Senator Bam Aquino who started his public career as a youth leader and social entrepreneur. While in the Senate, he authored 14 laws, including the game changing Go Negosyo Act, which supports Filipinos aspiring to start and expand their own businesses. The Law is based on the principle that one of the basic human rights is, as St. John Paul II explicitly pronounced for the first time in one of his Encyclicals, the right to enterprise. This is reflected in the reality that 99 per cent of all business enterprises in the country belong to the Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprise (MMSE) level. The Go Negosyo Law mandates the State to support the MSME sector by giving them access to training, credit, technical assistance and market access.
Bam Aquino has the necessary higher education needed by the ideal Senator. In high school, he graduated as class valedictorian from the Ateneo de Manila High School. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Management Engineering from the Ateneo de Manila with Summa Cum Laude honors. This course is highly demanding of mathematic skills and thus prepared the future Senator for the necessary learning to understand the more complex environment in which laws have to be crafted in the so-called era of Industrial Revolution 4.0. ( Incidentally, this is also an advantage of President BBM. I know for a fact that in his youth, he wanted to specialize in Physics because he was gifted mathematically.) Bam then took up law studies at the Ateneo de Manila Law School. Like Leni Robredo, he took an executive education program in Public Policy and Leadership at the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University. In 2022, he was named an Eisenhower Global Fellow and In 2023, he was named a Yale World Fellow of the Maurice R. Greenberg Program, Yale University’s Global Leadership Program. To be continued.