MANILA- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has named a new head of the Department of National Defense to replace Secretary Gilberto Teodoro who resigned to run for president in the May 2010 elections, a senior Malacanang official announced on Saturday.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the President appointed Secretary Norberto Gonzales, the national security adviser, as her defense secretary in a concurrent capacity.
Teodoro, Ermita said, will turn over the position to Gonzales in simple ceremonies to be held at Camp Aguinaldo in suburban Quezon City, Metro Manila Monday morning.
He added that Gonzales is no stranger to the defense department having served as acting defense secretary before President Arroyo appointed Teodoro to the post in August 2007.
“Secretary Gonzales is knowledgeable about defense matters,†Ermita pointed out as the department is in the forefront of a military modernization programme to enable the country to catch up with its neighbors, particularly in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Aside from the Philippines, Asean is composed of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma).
On Saturday, Teodoro, a lawyer and licensed pilot, also flew a Philippine Air Force (PAF) C-130 cargo plane for a “champagne flight,†or “farewell flight†to the military installations in Palawan, Southern Luzon as well as Zamboanga City in Mindanao and Cebu City in the Visayas.
Wearing a pilot uniform, his aide said Teodoro was accompanied by ranking officers of the PAF on the flight to thank the officers and men of Armed Forces of the Philippines for their cooperation while serving as the defense secretary.
Teodoro, also a former congressman from Tarlac province in Central Luzon, earlier announced his resignation to pursue his presidential ambition as the official candidate of the ruling Lakas-Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats in next year’s polls.
Those running for elective positions next year are to file their certificates of candidacy on or before December 1, the deadline set by the Commission on Elections.
On Friday, the ruling coalition also announced that,, after a long search, they have found the running mate of Teodoro, actor and TV host Edu Manzano.
As the administration standard bearer, ruling party leaders have admitted that Teodoro faces strong opponents like opposition Senator Benigno “Noynoy†Aquino 3rd of the Liberal Party, Senator Manuel Villar of the Nacionalista Party and ousted president Joseph Estrada of the “Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino†(PMP, or Party of the Filipino Masses).
Aquino and Teodoro are second cousins as they both belong to the rich and politically influential Cojuangco clan in Tarlac province.
Aquino is the only son of the late global democracy icon president Corazon Cojuangco Aquino and the late opposition senator Benigno Aquino Jr. On the other hand, Teodoro is the son of Mercedes Cojuangco Teodoro and the late Gilberto Teodoro, the former administrator of the state pension fund for the private sector, the Social Security System.
In past and recent surveys, Aquino has been the overwhelming choice for president garnering more than 50 percent of the respondents in national and regional surveys, with Villar second and Estrada third.
Teodoro has fared poorly in the same surveys, garnering a measly average of four percent but the ruling party leaders are optimistic he would emerge victorious as they claimed that they have in their fold almost all the members of the House of Representatives as well as provincial governors and other local officials like mayors.
The leaders also insisted their party has not been affected by the recent exodus of members particularly to the camps of Aquino and Villar.
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