news

The Sunday Times

SUNDAY

May 2, 2010

We should shun mudslinging – Teodoro

L

BY JEFFERSON ANTIPORDA REPORTER

AKAS-KAMPI Christian Muslim Democrats presidential bet Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro, who is known for his campaign slogan Galing at Talino (capability and intelligence) said public service doesn’t only entail integrity, but ability and competence as well because people are looking for clear plans and not just mere promises and most of all positive campaigning.

Teodoro asked the politicians to do

away with smear campaigns, and un- derscored the importance of positive campaigning because according to him there has been way too much disunity among Filipinos in the coun- try and instead of solving the prob- lem, the disunity only continues to grow because of the vicious mudsling- ing. “If from the elections alone, we candidates will keep on throwing dirt at the competition, how can we say then that on one hand I will hurl stones at you, and on the other hand I will reconcile and create unity among Filipinos?” Teodoro stressed.

The ruling party bet reiterated that the next president would have to deal with countless problems hounding the country, and should shun mudslinging.

Villar steadfast on

anti-poverty platform

Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manuel “Manny” Villar, on the other hand, reiterated that despite the vicious smear drive against him, his party will not resort to fabrication of lies like what his op- ponents engage in to gain mileage at the expense of a clean and plat-

form-based campaign. The erstwhile head of the Congress said he would unwaveringly echo his message of ending poverty plaguing majority of Filipinos. However, he lamented that be- cause of false allegations hurled at him, the real focus of the campaign was being diverted, and the people are being misled. Tondo’s once poor son also said he still sees Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile— who joined former President Joseph Estrada in accusing him of an alleged irregularity—as elder statesman. He said he will not fight with Estrada and Enrile, adding that he un- derstands that the two are merely con- ducting their exposé in aid of election.

Organized sectoral

groups for Bayani

Meanwhile, Bagumbayan vice presi- dential candidate Bayani Fernando expressed confidence Saturday that he will be able to pull off a big sur- prise on his opponents with the ir- reversible expression of support from local officials and numerous organized sectoral groups. This developed as lawyer Jose Malvar Villegas, president of the re-

vitalized Partido ng Manggawa at Magsasaka (formerly Lapiang Manggagawa), disclosed that the party’s provincial and city chapter chairmen are vigorously working for the victory of Fernando. Villegas disclosed that the Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka or PMM have adopted a full national slate called “Unity in Diversity Team” bannered by Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd for president and Fernando for vice president. The PMM “Unity in Diversity

Team” also include a senatorial slate which include Lito Osmeña (former running mate of President Fidel Ramos), Bebot Bello, Ruffy Biazon, Rizza Hontiveros, Imelda Papin, Nanette Espinosa, Adel Tamano, Jess Paredes, Joey de Venecia, Bongbong Marcos, Jovito Palparan and Col. Ariel Querubin.

De los Reyes tops

CBCP survey

Liberal Party (LP) presidential can- didate Aquino may be leading the surveys but he is way far on key is- sues on which the influential Catho- lic hierarchy has spoken. John Carlos “JC” de los Reyes of

Ang Kapatiran Party, topped the sur- vey because most of his positions on issues matched with the “perspec- tive” of the church. He was followed by independent candidates Nicanor Perlas and Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal and Eddie Villanueva of Bangong Pilipinas Party but de los Reyes is a bit way ahead of them.

Entitled “Matrix of Presidentiables

on Key Issues,” the matrix was pub- lished this week at CBCP Monitor, the official publication of the Media Of- fice of the Catholic Bishops’ Confer- ence of the Philippines after many days of research.

The candidates were judged based on their positions on issues like the reproductive health, death penalty, gun ban in public places except for law enforcers, political dynasties, transparency in government trans- actions and pork barrel.

fINC, other groups

or Noynoy?

Aquino on Saturday admitted

that he met for the third time with the leaders of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), the biggest reli- gious group in the country that

practices bloc voting. Saying they have yet received any endorsement from the INC, Aquino admitted he met with Eduardo Manalo, the executive minister of the INC, three times this year to discuss his platform. And the most recent meeting was he was with his entire family.

“I met with him recently and I managed to explain the nuances, the substance of platform. My sisters were with me when I met him also to say thank you,” the LP bet said in a press conference in Pangasinan. The INC leadership is expected to announce its presidential bet to support for the May 10 elec- tions next week.

An INC endorsement could rake in an additional 1.5 million to two million votes to a national candidate. During the 1998 and 2004 presiden- tial elections, the INC endorsed the candidacies of Joseph Estrada and President Gloria Arroyo, respectively. Aquino said there are at least three groups they are expecting to endorsement them. He, however, declined to name these groups, say- ing he would not want to preempt the announcement.

WITH REPORTS FROM CRIS G. ODRONIA AND CBCP NEWS

Sulu’s sultan raided for slaves to get products in exchange of teas

BY GO BON JUAN

(Editor’s Note: The Seventh Dr. Jose P. Rizal Awards for Excellence awarding ceremony will be held on June 19, 2010, 7 p.m. at the Kaisa-Angelo King Her- itage Center on Anda corner Cabildo Streets, Intramuros, Manila.)

own uncle’s property

Nephew wants to

Dear PAO, I would like to seek legal ad- vice regarding the house and lot owned by my uncle who immi- grated to the United States of America in the 1970’s and was naturalized thereafter together with his four children. From the time he left the Philippines and up to the time he died on June 12, 2006, I was the one paying the property taxes of the said prop- erty on his behalf. When he passed away, his chil- dren took with them the title of the property, which is still un- der the name of my uncle. Since I am the one paying the taxes for the past 30 years, can I have the property transferred under my name? Can I do this even with- out the consent of my cousins? I tried to get in touch with them but to no avail.

D. Santos

Dear D. Santos,

It can be gleaned from your let- ter that there was no such transfer made in your favor. Hence, we find no valid reason why the property should be transferred under your name. The mere fact that you paid for the property taxes of the afore- mentioned property for 30 years does not mean that you have the right to own the same. You even mentioned that you paid for the property taxes in behalf of your uncle. This only goes to show that you recognized his ownership over the property during the entire pe- riod of thirty years. It does not, in any way, give you the right to have it transferred under your name. Should you still desire to own the house and lot and have it reg- istered under your name, you can ask your four cousins to sell it to you. However, it is important for them to first have the appropriate settlement of estate of their de- ceased father so that the title thereto can be transferred under their name. Once the title is al- ready under their name and the two-year lien has lapsed in case of intestate settlement of estate, their ownership becomes complete and they have the right to transfer it to whoever they desire.

Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily col- umn of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to dearpao@manilatimes.net or via text message (key in: Times dearpao <YOUR QUESTIONS> and send to 2299).

IT is a little known fact: the raiding for slaves by Sulu in the 18th cen- tury and 19th century was because of the tea trade between China and England at the time.

It seems that the British drank so much Chinese tea and needed a good product to sell back to the Chinese to balance the trade. Brit- ish traders looked to the rich ma- rine and forest products in Sulu for

these goods, goods that took a lot of time and effort to get. Wax, camphor, mother of pearl and tortoise shells and most espe- cially sea cucumbers and bird’s nests, were strong merchandise. Sea cucumbers, along with bird’s nests, were favorite tonics of the Chinese. They were essential items in banquets of the imperial court, and

thus had a big market in China. Hence, Sulu’s sultan raided its neighboring communities aggres- sively to get the slave labor needed to get the products.

The Sulu sultan captured slaves from other areas, which covered al-

GEMS OF HISTORY

most the whole Philippine archi- pelago: from coastal areas in north- ern Mindanao to the Visayas islands and Luzon’s coastal areas. The raids reached as far as northern and southern Borneo, the coastal areas of Celebes, northern Java, northeast Su- matra and both coasts of the Malay peninsula. Between 1770 and 1870—10 0

years—the Sultan conscripted 200,000 to 300,000 slaves, accord- ing to estimates in The Global

Economy and the Sulu Zone: Connec- tion, Commodities and Culture, writ-

ten by Australian historian James Francis Warren. As many as 68,000

laborers every year gathered sea cu- cumbers for the British merchants. According to Warren, in the first half of the 19th century, the Tausugs of Sulu supplied 10,000 piculs (590 kilograms) of sea cucumbers every quarter through the slaves. That’s a lot of sea cucumbers to make up for a lot of tea drinking. Warren estimates that since the 18th century, each Briton consumed an average of 1kg of tea per year: the Chinese beverage had become one of the most popular beverages among Europeans. By 1801, British tea im- ports from China were worth up to two million sterling pounds, or at the present exchange rate, $1 billion. Between 1785 and 1833, the East Indies Company of Britain sold cot-

ton and textile from India worth 27 million pounds. This was far be- hind the value of tea imports and left a trade deficit.

This information highlights the fact that the Philippines already played an important role in world trade in the 18th century to 19th century and slaves were used to for- age for trade goods. Warren is a professor on South- east Asian Modern History at the University of Murdoch in Australia. He has also published The Sulu

Zone: 1768-1898 (1981) and Iranun and Balangiwi: Globalization, Mari- time Raiding and the Birth of Ethnic-

ity which also touches on the topic. Both books are published by New Day Publishers.

School buddies on Gibo: ‘Scary brilliant’ guy with zero social, love life

BY MARITONI TIONGCO, BEATRIZ BERMUNDO, KATREENA COSME AND ELIZA FEROLINO

INTERNS PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

HIS law school study buddies spew out superlatives when asked for proof that Gilberto Cojuangco Teodoro Jr., the candidate for presi- dent of the administration Lakas- Kampi Christian Muslim Demo- crats, is true “Galing at Talino.” Teodoro finished at the top of his class at the University of the Philip- pines (UP) College of Law in 1989. The same year, he passed the Bar with a score of 86.185 percent, landing No. 1 among thousands of examinees. And yet, this “very intelligent,”

unconventional nerd was, they add, also a “very unassuming” and “very cool” person. Even as he was scor- ing quite well in class, Teodoro also dabbled in basketball, often went home straight from school, was never linked to anyone romanti- cally, and not once hooked up with the activists on campus.

They called him plain “Gilbert” back then. His father and namesake had served as Social Security System administrator, and his mother, congresswoman from their home province of Tarlac. He was so unassum- ing that one of his study group bud- dies did not realize Gilbert was so fully pedigreed until some time later. Most Sundays before the Bar ex-

ams, Teodoro hit the books with three batch buddies and now fellow law- yers—Antonio La Viña, now dean of the Ateneo School of Government; Rodrigo Lope Quimbo, now a part- ner in the Quisimbing Torres Law; and Jaime Hofileña, now a partner in the Poblador Bautista and Reyes Law.

Quiet, likeable

La Viña and Quimbo knew all at once about Teodoro’s parents being pub- lic figures. Hofileña did not until af- ter another classmate told him about it. It was while studying together for the Bar that the three say they wit- nessed the brilliance of Gilbert. Quimbo says that Teodoro struck him “like a quiet guy who was very private . . . but also very bright.” La Viña describes him as “likeable and approachable . . . very bright, seemed to be always prepared.” When asked to put a label on his study buddy, Hofileña paced his thoughts, and then says that he thinks “nerd” would be more like

it. Nonetheless, “the results show: He finished top of his original batch. He topped the Bar . . . if it wasn’t for our study group.” Teodoro was good in class as also in their private study sessions they held at the house of La Viña or Hofileña, but never in Teodoro’s house. The four would exchange notes,

answer past Bar exam questions, quiz one another, and most times, Teodoro gave the precise answers. “It was at this time when I knew that he would top the exams.” Quimbo recalls. Even during the study sessions, he says that Teodoro was “very focused” and “very driven academically.”

Scary brilliant

Despite this, Hofileña says studying

all the time was never Teodoro’s way. “I never see him studying there, that’s the problem.” His intellect was very impressive,

even daunting, according to La Viña. “It was scary being with Gibo [the nickname Teodoro was given by the media when he declared that he was running for president in the May 10 elections] who had memorized every constitutional provision and all the relevant laws and could cite all the SCRA [Supreme Court Rul- ings Annotated] volumes for many Supreme Court decisions.” He was so brilliant Teodoro al-

ways had answers to their questions, even without having to consult law books. It reached a point when Hofileña says that he felt inadequate during the study sessions. Teodoro remembered the finer points that the others did not notice at all. “It seems he has a gift for studying,” but did not seem to be studying as hard, and between study sessions, also played hoops with Hofileña. His routine was pretty well estab- lished: He would attend class, tarry just a while in campus, and then disappear. Once in a while, he would be spotted at the library, just for brief periods.

Hofileña tells of a “legend” about

Teodoro that went around at the law school. “Legend has it that he never even entered the library. Legend also has it that he had his own library at home.” Teodoro was so absorbed in his academics not one of his friends knew or heard about his being a member of any organizations or fra- ternities, except only for their Bar exam study group. Not one of his friends also recalls him having any romantic relationship back then.

■ The young Teodoro (4th from left) is all smiles during his graduation day at the University of the Philippines. He finished at the top of his class at the UP College of Law in 1989. The same year, he passed the Bar with a score of 86.185 percent, landing No. 1 among thousands of examinees.

This story of a brilliant student starts and ends the trip to memory lane of Teodoro’s years in law school for his review buddies. Social life? Night life? Gimmicks? There is hardly anything more they could say about Teodoro as he was nearly to- tally inactive in school.

Conservative lot

A former UP president—Dr. Fran-

cisco Nemenzo—is not surprised at all. Despite all talk of the state uni- versity being the hotbed of activism, Nemenzo describes UP law school students as conservative by nature because of their respect for author- ity and reverence for the laws. The years Teodoro spent at the law school—1985 to 1989—were also a pe- riod that witnessed the decline of stu- dent activism, and the UP College of Law had turned its focus on memori- zation rather than political discussion. Many students who transfered to UP from other schools like Teodoro did not automatically turn activists, Nemenzo says. Teodoro obtained his undergraduate degree in Com- merce from De la Salle University in 1985, and finished secondary school at Xavier University in 1981. Teodoro obtained his Master of

Law degree from Harvard Law School in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1997. Hofileña sees another side to

Teodoro’s non-involvement in cam- pus politics. The law school and its faculty, he recalls, had no united stand on issues, the university re- spects one’s personal choice to be or not to be an activist. Besides, he says, Teodoro was very

busy with other commitments out- side school, including being a mem- ber of the Sangguniang Kabataan in Tarlac and learning how to fly planes. “He was some sort of a re- served officer in the Air Force.” That early, he had jumped into

politics, a natural thing to do, ac- cording to Hofileña, for one born to the part almost.

“I think that even then he was

motivated by a calling for public service that characterized also his own father’s public life,” La Viña says. “At the same time, Gibo was not necessarily interested in hold- ing power for its own sake.” Yet while they were just students, Hofileña says that Teodoro and his study buddies shared the same, sim- ple goal—to become lawyers. Run- ning for president was not part of it at all. Thus, when Teodoro finally decided to do so, even his law school friends were stunned to some degree.

Changed for better

“He became congressman for three

terms and had a Cabinet position. He

has the political pedigree. He has that material,” Hofileña concedes but says that he did not foresee Teodoro gun- ning for the presidency either. “I did not think he would run for president but I always knew he was destined for great things,” says Quimbo. Just the same, to these friends, “Gibo” has not changed much at all. If at all, he has changed for the better. “Gibo now is more mature and progressive than he used to be,” La Viña says. “Although we later became good friends, our political positions on many issues differed a lot. Gilbert tended to be quite conservative on issues where I thought radical, even revolutionary change, was necessary.” La Viña describes “Gibo” as “more pro-human rights and pro- poor than I thought was possible.” Hofileña sees “still the same hum- ble guy we knew way back in his col- lege years . . . brilliant, very intelli- gent; he answers questions very well . . . knows what he says but in a very unassuming way.” The new twist though is his campaign has com- pelled him to be a little bolder. And despite his crazy schedule in politics and public service, just like the good old days, his study bud- dies say “Gibo” still remembers how to have fun. And “fun” in Teodoro’s book, according to Quimbo, is “singing karaoke with the boys.”

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