The appointment of Lorenzo Gadon, or notoriously known as Larry Gadon, by President Bongbong Marcos (BBM) as his Presidential Adviser on Poverty Alleviation is both logical and inconsistent. Just for the record, the decision of the Supreme Court to disbar Gadon stemmed from his actions of supporting Marcos in the last elections where he hurled profanities and explicit language against a female journalist who wrote that BBM was a tax evader.
Prior the controversial appointment made by Marcos, he appointed Gibo Teodoro as secretary of the national defense. He silenced his critics since the unexpected appointment showed the consistency of the president in making amends with the past and redeeming his family name by way of working with people who are qualified to do the job regardless of their backgrounds.
Teodoro earned his bachelor’s degree at De La Salle University and law degree at the University of the Philippines. He topped the 1989 bar examinations with an 86.18 bar ratings. He then obtained his Master of Laws degree at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and passed the State Bar of New York. He served as member of the House of Representatives from 1998 to 2007 and was appointed as Secretary of National Defense in 2007 to 2009. He was chairman of the National Disaster Coordinating Council.
He also appointed Ted Herbosa as secretary of the health department. Herbosa earned his bachelor’s and medicine degrees at the University of the Philippines. His international diploma course in emergency and crisis management came from the University of Geneva and finished his post graduate studies at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Tel Aviv University in Israel. Herbosa served as undersecretary of the Department of Health from 2010 and 2015 where he got involved in the formation of the Hospital Accreditation Commission and the modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center.
Then there was Gadon.
Gadon obtained his bachelor’s and law degree from Far Eastern University. He served as member of the legal team of then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He ran for the senatorial race in 2016, 2019 and 2022. He lost all. His name got too noisy when he filed an impeachment complaint against former Supreme Court Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno in 2018 that resulted to the latter’s ouster. In 2016, he proposed to set on fire all Muslims in Mindanao including children in order to resolve the armed conflict in Southern Philippines. In 2018 he flashed a dirty finger towards the direction of a pro-Sereno protesters. In 2021 during a radio interview he declared that former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino died of HIV infection. Aquino died of renal failure secondary to diabetes. Also in the same year, he made offensive and swearing rants against journalist Raissa Robles who described the then presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos as a tax evader. He is famous for his live television rant “mga bobo!”
Looking at the crystal clear disparity of qualifications with the other appointments made by the president, one can seamlessly see the inconsistency. With no background in poverty alleviation and perhaps would have no idea on the prevailing poverty incidence in the country, Gadon was appointed by Marcos. Monthly, he will be receiving an enormous salary of P278,434.00 as presidential advisers are under salary Grade 31. It’s an insult to the poor Filipinos whom an inexperienced and unqualified Gadon will be serving.
The big but though, his appointment by BBM is only logical. President Marcos in boosting his credentials in the last elections claimed that he earned a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University in 1975 to 1978 and a master’s degree in business administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1979 to 1981. Both educational institutions denied BBM’s name in their list of graduates.
Talking about appointments and mirrors.
