Teo "The Fist" Guingona: Presidential Picks Round 6

Opportunity is where the courageous find a name for themselves.

Teofisto de Lara Guingona III carries the nickname "TG". That is for marketing purposes. He probably does not like sounding like a Mafia family godfather, or the manufacturer of fancy red sports cars. Those Italianos, they like their nicknames. On the island of Sicily, TG would likely be called  Teo "The Fist" Guingona.  Senator Guingona is from the island of Mindanao.

Teo "The Fist" Guingona is about as brutal as a puff of cotton. "Mr. Bean" is the handle an amused and amusing blogger assigned to him.

But I like that name, for a fist is what he gave the Cybercrime Law. A huge constitutional fist in the legal solar plexus. On the strength and courage of his "No!" vote, he emerged as a principled national leader. Not a follower. He emerged as the ONLY principled leader in the Senate. The rest of the bunch toed the tight line of Executive Wish, thereby conveying to the Department of Justice totalitarian laws not seen since the Arroyo Martial Law proclamations and the endless Marcos dictates.

Teo "The Fist" Guingona is one of the good guys. An honoree of Kaya Natin! as a champion of good governance representing Mindanao and Sulu. Kaya Natin! was founded by a small group of highly respected leaders like Jesse Robredo and Grace Padaca. If they call you a "Champion", you are good. Honest. Trustworthy.

If you have a good guy with the courage to stick by his principles when everyone else is going the opposite direction, aligned with favor and a political lemming mentality, that principled, courageous guy warrants attention.

Here's Teo "The Fist" Guingona:

• Born April 19, 1959, he will be 57 in 2016, when presidential elections are held.

• Ateneo de Manila graduate. Degrees in Economics and Law.
• Member of student government. Joined protests against Marcos in favor of Ninoy Aquino's LABAN party. Jailed after a protest march.

• Elected to House of Representatives from Bukidnon 2nd District in 2004 and 2007.
• Deputy Minority Floor Leader.
• Minority Representative to Joint Congressional Power Commission.
• Involved in impeachment complaints against President Arroyo and Ombudsman Gutierrez.
• Exposed Fertilizer Fund Scam and excessive Arroyo travel expenses.
• Voted against resolution for Constituent Assembly without the Senate (Con-Ass).

• Elected Senator in 2010, placing 12th among 12 candidates.
• Platform
• Good Governance
• Financial Reform
• Mindanao Improvement
• Committee Chairmanship:
• Accountability of Public Officers & Investigations (Blue Ribbon)
• Peace, Unification and Reconciliation
• Congressional Oversight Committee on the Anti-Money Laundering Act
• Committee Vice-Chairmanship:
• Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies
• Energy
• Government Corporations and Public Enterprise
• Health and Demography
• Justice and Human Rights
• Joint Congressional Power Commission
• Committee Membership:
• Agrarian Reform
• Agriculture and Food
• Education Arts and Culture
• Environment and Natural Resources
• Finance
• Foreign Relations
• Labor Employment and Human Resources Development
• Congressional Oversight Committee on the Official Development Assistance Law
• Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Overseas Voting Act of 2003
• Legislative Oversight Committee on Public Expenditure
• National Defense and Security
• Public Services
• Social Justice Welfare and Rural Development
• Ways and Means
• Bills Filed:
• SBN 158: Right to Information
• SBN 159: Petroleum Products
• SBN 2180-2186: Budget/GAA

• Father Teofisto Tayko Guingona, Jr., served as Senator from 1998 to 2001 and Vice Pesident under President Gloria Arroyo from 2001 to 2004. His grandfather was a former assemblyman, senator, judge, and commissioner of Mindanao and Sulu during the American years in the 1930's. His mother, Ruth de Lara, is former governor of Misamis Oriental and is now mayor of Gingoog City.

• He is married to attorney Ma. Victoria Guingona, a classmate at Ateneo. They have one son.

Joe's Assessment

The three essential Rizal Robredo Index leadership qualities are: (1) intelligence, (2) character, and (3) capability, where capability is reflected in: (a) skills and (b) productivity.

Senator Guingona is the new breed of congressman arriving to voice a progressive mandate for honesty and above-board dealings. He is not a hot-head like Trillanes. He is thoughtful and principled. He is a good guy as Robredo was a good guy.

He has just introduced a new bill in the legislature called "The Crowdsourcing Act of 2012" (Senate Bill 3300). This Act recognizes the gap that exists today between legislators, who favor those who favor them, and the People, who are cut out of a clear representation on things by Congressional self-interest and by popular media that focus on the sensational. The proposed law would require that the Senate and House make available copies of bills and allow people to comment on them through e-mail and the internet. Here's what Teo "The Fist" had to say about the proposal:

• "Crowdsourcing recognizes and allows the individual and collective power of the people, with the use of the internet and/or other information and communications system, to contribute to the formulation, improvement, and creation of laws that benefit the entire nation. From Batanes to Sulu, people must be allowed to participate in the process of law-making. When people are allowed to participate, we have better laws. When people are allowed to participate, we have better people,."

This is a man of original wisdom. He need not photocopy ideas. He has a strikingly different vision of what the Philippines should be than most. He takes President Aquino's good governance to a new dimension, a modern dimension. A people's dimension.

He has the quality and depth of thinking of leaders like Jefferson and Rizal and Robredo.

The Senator also represents a hope that the Senate can be a driving force for implementation of the Bangsamoro road map to everlasting peace in the Philippines. If anybody can get this done, Teo "The Fist" can. There are those who should lead, those who should follow, and those who should get out of the way. Senator Guingona is one who should lead. Old senators carrying too much baggage, like Enrile and Sotto and Angara, should get out of the way.

Teo "The Fist" Guingona.

Character. Problem solving. Innovation. Intelligence. Courage. Sound experience in the House and Senate, learning the ropes until now.

Now moving into leadership.

JoeAm likes this kind of character, especially the courage and independent thought. And above all, his deeply held, determined principles.

Accordingly, he moves Teo "The Fist" Guingona into second place on his list of top presidential candidates. Holding the lead is Jun Abaya. Ranking third is Sonny Angara, the Young. Falling off the list is Kiko Pangilinan.

Joe's 2016 Presidential picks, for the good of the Philippines:

1. Jun Abaya
2. Teo "The Fist" Guingona
3. Sonny Angara, the Younger

Age and the Philippine Presidency

President Aquino, a man of no great ambition, was thrust into the Presidency of the Philippines by the death of his mother and his determination to do good originating from the courage and principles of his murdered father. He has achieved a remarkable remake of foundational values of Philippine governance. The remake is not set in cement. Indeed, it is fragile and under attack. Even his best friends seem to weigh in against his values of honesty and good work.

But his is a break-out from the old tradition of public service for private gain. His cabinet is stocked with capable secretaries who also pursue his aim for a cleaner, more productive government.

The past, not the future?

The nation is benefitting from this refreshing, newfound honesty and the work underway to do a better job of taking care of the Philippines. It is seeing more investments, economic stability, confidence, growth.

Mr. Aquino's presidency illustrates the point that the fates sometimes have more to do with how things turn out than do manmade plans.

There are no guarantees for any presidential candidate. A president can be highly capable and have on his hands a war that kills hundreds and hundreds of thousands of citizens (Lincoln; American Civil War). Or he can be asleep a lot of the time and oversee economic revitalization and defeat of a nation (Reagan; Russia).

It raises the interesting question, can we shape the fates to our favor?

When we vote for a candidate, we know maybe 25% of what we could or should know about him or her. So 75% is guess or unknown. And beyond that is the unpredictability of natural disasters and bully nations and the global economy and political gangs within the Philippines (NPA) that shape the landscape. I'm convinced Gilbert Teodoro was marked down as a presidential candidate in 2009 because he lost the rubber boats that were needed when Ondoy struck.

Undone by a typhoon.

Fate.

JoeAm's perspective on the Philippine presidency is shaped by a very broad idea that continuation of the Aquino breakout requires a president who is not motivated by the "old values" of personal gain, but the "new values" of honorable service and result.

Old dogs. They don't learn new tricks easily.

I see the productivity of young Sonny Angara in the house and I say "here is a young guy more interested in his future than immediate wealth." And I like it. In an environment that prizes honest behavior, the winners will be those who shoot straight rather than behave crooked. Those who do not gum the system up with favor and self-enrichment. Their enrichment will come from personal achievement. The money will follow that, naturally and cleanly.

So I like young Filipino politicians. They have not been turned into peddlers of favor over public interest.

Is it age bias? Is it bias to believe that old age traps us in inflexibility, and narrows us? Makes us more conservative? Reduces our energy. Makes us wiser but slows our problem solving? Gives us cultural values that are hard to shake?

Or is it perceptive? Real. Factual. Or at least "strategic" considering the dynamics of what it means to project a Philippines "going straight."

President Aquino, before he became president, lived a leisurely lifestyle, rich and connected with the movers and shakers of the Philippines. Including the Church. But he had no striking ambitions. Not to rule. Not to get rich. He probably would have been happy to find a wife and have kids and drive the expressways in a Porsche, a quiet man living a quiet life.

That changed in 2009. Now he has better things to do, and he will have them to do for three more years. He has grown in maturity during his three years at the helm. He projects more confidence. He's more relaxed. He is firmer in his views.

President Aquino was born in 1960. He was 50 when he took office in 2010. He has the vigor of a man in the prime of his life. He is no recalcitrant old fossil unable to deal with the stresses of an important job, locked into values that hold the Philippines back.

What about some of the people listed in various categories on JoeAm's preview of the 2016 presidential election? How old will they be in 2016?

PROSPECT	DOB	AGE
Bam Bam Aquino	1977	39
Sonny Angara	1972	44
Jun Abaya	1966	50
Atty Alex Lacson	1965	51
Gilbert Teodoro	1964	52
Grace Padaca	1963	53
Kim Henares	1960	56
Mar Roxas	1957	59
Sergio Osmeña III	1943	73
Jejomar Binay	1942	74
Conchita Carpio Morales	1941	75
Ramon "Jun" Magsaysay	1938	78

Does it matter? Can a 39 year-old be wise enough, schooled enough to handle the presidency? Maybe not. Maybe he has simply not been tested enough. Has not had enough time to show what he can do.

And How about a 78 year-old? Will he have the energy and health and alertness to manage a nation that presents huge challenges? Maybe not. Maybe that is at the outer edge. Mr. Magsaysay would be 84 upon leaving office.

John Kennedy was 43 when he became president of the United States. Barak Obama was 48. Their youthful vigor undoubtedly contributed to their attractiveness as leaders. The presidency makes you old. The long hours, the stresses, the relentless reading to study up on issues. Do before and after photos of American presidents and you can see the toll they pay.

Vigor. Youthful vigor. It's a job qualification, I think.

But there are other advantages to having a young president than simply energy. There is the marketing advantage, the "presentation" of the nation to a world that has long looked at the Philippines as a hamstrung disappointment, an underachiever locked into the dysfunction of strife and inefficiency.

Today, for this time in history, the Philippines needs to project its youth to the outer world. It's vibrancy, its new blood, its vigor, its brains.

It needs to make a statement. We are the future. Here now. Fresh. Clean. Young. Ambitious.

No longer tied to the past. No longer muddled in confusion and coups and corruption.

It continues the breakout for honest values, purposeful work and achievement. Begun by Noynoy Aquino, carried forward by the young, the capable, the intelligent and the good.

That's why you will find that JoeAm assigns an advantage to youth as he works to identify First Class presidential prospects.

photosources: gulfnews