Congressman Teddy Casiño is a genuine social reformist and one of the most dynamic young leaders in the country today. He was first swept into the politics of change when, as a high school student in La Salle Green Hills, he volunteered for the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) and took part in the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution. The experience changed him so that since then, his life has been characterized by a conscious choice for the road less traveled.
The EDSA experience moved Teddy to become an activist in his freshman year at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños (UPLB). He became editor in chief of the student paper, The UPLB Perspective, from 1989-1991 even as he consistently made it to the honor roll. In 1991, Teddy was elected national president of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), an alliance of over 700 student publications nationwide. He graduated from UPLB with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 1993.
After his stint in the student movement, Teddy joined the labor movement as part of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), where he deepened his commitment to serve the people, especially the working class. Teddy later joined the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), the largest alliance of progressive people’s organizations in the country. He was elected secretary general in 1999 and was catapulted to national prominence in 2001 as one of the youngest leaders of EDSA 2. He was appointed commissioner of the EDSA People Power Commission from 2001-2002. In 2002, he was accorded the UPLB Distinguished Alumnus Award for Extension.
Teddy is also an accomplished writer and journalist. After being a regular contributor to the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Youngblood column, he became a regular columnist for BusinessWorld, from 1995-2004. He also wrote columns for the tabloids People’s Bagong Taliba and Frontpage, the OFW weekly Pinoy Gazette and the online magazine Bulatlat.com. In 2002, he had a short stint in ABS-CBN’s Hoy Gising and The Correspondents.
As a Bayan Muna congressman since 2004, Teddy is proof that integrity, honor, competence, patriotism and compassion for the poor and oppressed still has a place in the political mainstream. He has proven his mettle as a progressive legislator, spearheading the fight against corruption and government abuse and pushing for fundamental reforms in the areas of good governance and justice, educational reform, the protection of the national patrimony and the environment, and the appropriate use of information and communications technology.
In his six years in Congress, Teddy has never figured in any scandal or anomaly. He has maintained his simple lifestyle and is, in fact, on record as being the second poorest member of the House. For him, public service is a public trust that should not be used to enrich oneself, one’s relatives or friends.
Teddy is married to Ruth Garcia Cervantes, herself a former CEGP president and a human rights advocate now taking up law at the San Beda College with whom he has two sons, Elian (6) and Emilio (1). They are his main source of strength and inspiration in striving for a better kind of politics that gives rise to a better government and society.
Given the chance, Teddy vows to continue bringing the issues of the common tao – youth and students, workers and employees, professionals, small and medium-scale entrepreneurs, and environment advocates – into the halls of the Senate.
reposted from http://teddyforsenator.blogspot.com
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