It's Gibo Teodoro over Bayani

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., 45, was selected on yesterday to be the standard bearer of the ruling Lakas-Kampi (Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino)-CMD party, setting the stage for an underdog's uphill climb against more popular and better known opponents.

Teodoro won by a landslide against Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chair Bayani Fernando, who walked out of the party?s national executive committee meeting after his motion to defer the voting was rejected.

Lakas stalwart Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. claims his selection was done by ?an illegitimate group.?

Brickbats also started to train on Teodoro, who is at the lower rung in surveys among presidential aspirants, way behind his cousin, Sen. Benigno ?Noynoy? Aquino III, who had become the front-runner just days after he announced his own candidacy under the Liberal Party last week.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Baraquel-Hontiveros recalled allegations of election fraud in 2004 that implicated the military and President Arroyo.

?Teodoro as president may be bad news for Philippine sovereignty,? the leftist Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said, referring to his advocacy of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States.