Teodoro Casiño

Infobox Officeholder
honorific-prefix =
name = Teodoro A. Casiño
honorific-suffix =


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small

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office = Partylist Representative
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birth_date = November 15, 1968 (age|1968|11|15)
birth_place = Davao City
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nationality =Filipino
party =Bayan Muna
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spouse = Ruth Cervantes
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children = 2
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alma_mater =University of the Philippines, Los Baños
profession = Writer/journalist|

Teodoro A. Casiño (born 15 November, 1968) is a Filipino partylist representative, writer and journalist. He is a member of the House of Representatives for Bayan Muna in the 14th Congress of the Philippines.

Born to middle class parents, Teddy finished elementary education at the De La Salle University (DLSU) in 1982. He continued his high school studies at La Salle Green Hills, where his stint as a volunteer for the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) in the 1986 snap elections swept him into the politics of People Power via the EDSA 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, plus the harrowing stories about hunger in Negros, moved Teddy to forego a DLSU scholarship to study agriculture in UP Los Baños, where he became an activist in his freshman year. 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 chose to delay his thesis requirement to work full time for the CEGP. He eventually graduated from UPLB with the degree of AB Sociology in 1993, with his thesis bringing him to faraway Pamplona town in Cagayan Valley, where he studied the impact of Church activism on rural communities.

After his stint in the student movement, Teddy joined the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU - May First Movement), where he deepened his commitment to serve the people, especially the working class. His childhood ambition and his father’s wishes for him to become a lawyer gave way to his activism. In 1996, he entered the UP College of Law only to leave it three days later when it interfered with his work in the KMU.

After four years in the KMU, Teddy 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.

Teddy was appointed commissioner of the EDSA People Power Commission but was removed for constantly being critical of the current administration. He had a short stint in ABS-CBN’s Hoy Gising and The Correspondents. In 2002, he was accorded the UPLB Distinguished Alumni Award for Extension.

Teddy is also an accomplished writer. He was a regular contributor to the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Youngblood column from 1994-1996. In 1995, he became a regular columnist for Business World, one of the most respected business newspapers in the country. 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 May 2004, Teddy was elected as Bayan Muna’s representative in Congress, where he, as neophyte legislator, made waves as an advocate of the oppressed and marginalized sectors. With the re-election of Bayan Muna in the 2007 partylist polls, he continues to prove his mettle as a lawmaker.

At the House of Representatives, Teddy helps spearhead the cause of progressive legislation along the lines of good governance, accountability, transparency, strengthening democratic institutions, education reforms, protection of the national patrimony and the environment, and appropriate use of information and communications technology.

Oil Industry Reform Legislation

Bayan Muna warned the Big Three oil players – Pilipinas Shell, Chevron Philippines [formerly Caltex] , and Petron – to stop deliberately withholding vital information from policymakers in Congress or else face sanctions from Congress.

The House Energy Committee is in the process of gathering information on the frequent and steep oil price hikes; transfer pricing and other unfair practices of the foreign-dominated oil cartel and the inability of the government to protect the people from the rapacious oil cartel. Shell, Chevron and Petron must provide Congress with all the information regarding its pricing mechanisms and the sourcing of its crude and finished products to aid us in crafting policy reforms aimed at protecting the consuming public.

At the Energy Committee meeting last Wednesday (August 20), public relations officials of the three oil firms refused to answer queries from House members regarding their pricing mechanism or who their foreign suppliers were. The House Energy Committee will continue its consideration of various bills reforming the oil industry on Tuesday.

Since oil deregulation in 1996, there have been at least 81 rounds of oil price hikes. Prices have definitely risen by some 400%. Since Mrs. Arroyo came to power, prices have increased by 275%. For the June 2007 to June 2008 period, average pump prices of unleaded gasoline and diesel have increased by 47% and 52%, respectively. This has jacked up prices of food, rice and public transport fares that are heightening the sufferings of the people. The oil companies continue to rake in profits at the expense of every Filipino. Congress would like to know the mechanics of how they procure their supplies and peg prices in order to legislate appropriate measures to afford the people immediate and medium term solutions to oil price hikes.

The Fortune Magazine Global 500 [http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2007/full_list/index.html [ reports that Royal Dutch Shell, the mother company of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., posted a net profit of $31.3 billion in 2007, making it the world's second most profitable company next to oil giant Exxon Mobil. Chevron Corp., mother unit of Chevron Philippines, posted a net profit of $18.7 billion in 2007, 9% higher than a year earlier, making it the eighth most profitable company in the world. On the other hand Petron's former partner, Saudi Aramco, posted profits of around $15 billion in 2007. This only shows the oil companies have long been deceiving Congress and the general public through the malevolent practice of transfer pricing to deflect criticisms of their gargantuan windfall profits. The oil companies should reveal their pricing mechanism/s and tell Congress why it immediately hikes pump prices but takes very long in lowering the same.

Foremost among the bills are House Bills 1724, 3029 and 3030 – measures filed by the militant bloc in Congress led by House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, Casiño, Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano and Gabriela Reps. Luz Ilagan and Liza Maza. [http://bayanmuna.net/ps.php?subaction=showfull&id=1219634068&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&] [

Impeachment complaint

On September 27, 2007, Iloilo Vice Governor Rolex Suplico filed a 64-page impeachment complaint (3:00 p.m.) against Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos, Sr. before the House of Representatives regarding the ZTE national broadband network (NBN) deal. It was endorsed by Representatives Teofisto Guingona III of Bukidnon and Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna (People First), and Zamboanga City Representative Ma. Isabelle Climaco. Affidavits of Romulo Neri and Jose de Venecia III supported the complaint. [http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=91083 Inquirer.net, Impeachment raps filed vs Abalos at House by Iloilo vice gov] ] [ [http://www.gmanews.tv/story/62200/Impeachment-raps-filed-vs-Abalos-over-ZTE-controversy GMA NEWS.TV, Impeachment raps filed vs Abalos over ZTE controversy] ]

External links

* [http://www.congress.gov.ph/members/search.php?id=casino Teodoro A. Casiño, Bayan Muna, at the House of Representatives]
* [http://www.bayanmuna.net/reps.php?subaction=showfull&id=1216464624&archive=&start_from=&ucat=28& Teddy Casiño, Bayan Muna]
* [http://www.bayanmuna.net/ Bayan Muna]

References