‘Non-Gibo voters have also expressed their feeling of validation of not choosing him back in 2010, an attitude that a potential vice-presidential candidate does not want to cultivate moving forward. After all, politics is addition, at the end of the day.’
IF one has any doubt that the political class is focused on movements for the 2022 national elections, all you have to do is check the news from last week to erase that doubt. In case you missed it, the erstwhile comeback of GMA-era Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro caught the attention of watchers, starting with a photo from Camarines Sur Rep. Nonoy Andaya captioned “On my way with my Vice President to meet my President. Done deal, folks.” The said photo showed Andaya with Mr. Teodoro in the background inside what seemed to be a small aircraft.
The pictures released soon after gave context to what Rep. Andaya tried to hint at, quite clumsily: Mr. Teodoro had flown to Davao City ostensibly to greet Mayor Sara Duterte for her birthday. I suppose it was meant to be an announcement of sorts, a partnership intended to seal the fate of both personalities as a viable tandem for 2022. It however, fell flat on its face, due to the simple fact that Mayor Duterte has largely kept quiet about her much-vaunted political plans for 2022.
It seems that Mayor Duterte is keeping her cards close to her chest, as Mr. Teodoro was received much as she would any friendly political personality, with perhaps the exception of a souvenir COVID-19 vaccination. It seems much of the noise and fanfare originated from Mr. Teodoro’s camp, who candidly admitted days later that he was willing to run as Mayor Duterte’s vice presidential candidate should she decide to make a go at the presidency.
I imagine Mayor Duterte to be quite bemused with these antics, if not a little annoyed at the antics of all these men trying to push her in the direction of making a public statement about her political future. But it’s clear that the lady is no pushover, and she has left these attempts to wangle a commitment out of her largely flapping in the wind. If she and Vice President Leni Robredo have one thing accidentally in common in recent weeks, it is being surrounded by supercilious men who have taken it upon themselves to divine (announce to the rest of the world) what is on the minds of the two women.
Instead of getting folks excited about Mr. Teodoro’s comeback to the political arena, the public could not help but notice the special treatment accorded to him, noting that Mr. Teodoro is not a resident of Davao City but was allowed to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
That qualifies as a walk-in case, which local governments routinely caution the public against doing to avoid overcrowding and following the priority designations for the limited vaccines. Rep. Andaya readily came to Mr. Teodoro’s defense, citing extra doses, etc. etc., but all in vain as it was a clear case of special treatment because of (past) political stature.
It was not, if I were in Mr. Teodoro’s corner, a good way to have announced a return to the political space. Though Mr. Teodoro has been largely silent since 2010, his social media account has been hinting at a return to politics. If there is any doubt about how bad this debut of sorts was, I have heard many folks who voted for him in 2010 voice their disappointment at this return-to-the-fore episode. Non-Gibo voters have also expressed their feeling of validation of not choosing him back in 2010, an attitude that a potential vice-presidential candidate does not want to cultivate moving forward. After all, politics is addition, at the end of the day.
Where this leaves Mr. Teodoro is still uncertain, and perhaps more will be revealed in the months to come as we expect him (and any other person wanting to run in the national elections) to be more visible in both traditional and social media to try to bump their conversion numbers up, before the penultimate event of filing their certificates of candidacy in October.
