Partylist Representative, Bayan Muna
13th and 14th Congress of the Philippines
Who is Teddy Casiño?
Social reformist and dynamic leader
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 was elected secretary general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), the largest alliance of progressive people’s organizations in the country 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 and was accorded the UPLB Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2002. Teddy also served as a commissioner in the District Justice and Peace Commission of the De La Salle Schools in 2005-2006.
Teddy is 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 and People’s Bagong TalibaFrontpage, 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.
Progressive legislator and advocate of new politics
As a Bayan Muna congressman since 2004, Teddy is proof that integrity, righteousness, competence, patriotism and compassion for the poor and oppressed still has a place in the political mainstream.
Teddy 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 people empowerment, justice and human rights, educational reform, economic nationalism, the protection of the national patrimony and the environment, and the appropriate use of information and communications technology. He has figured prominently in the impeachment complaints against Pres. Macapagal-Arroyo as well as in various House investigations on the anomalies hounding the present administration.
In 2008, he was accorded the distinction as “Most Outstanding Congressman” during the annual Congress Magazine awards.
For Teddy, public service is a public trust. In his six years in Congress, he has never figured in any scandal or anomaly. He has maintained his simple lifestyle and has never used his position to enrich himself, his relatives or his friends. He is, in fact, on record as being the second poorest member of the House.
Given the chance, Teddy vows to continue bringing the issues and concerns of the common tao into the halls of the Senate.
Dedicated family man
Teddy was born in Davao City on November 15, 1968 and is the third of five children of Atty. Amador C. Casiño of Lucena, Quezon and Lizabelle I. Acevedo of Kalibo, Aklan. He has four siblings: Fr. Peter OSA, Audie, Shana and Ria.
In November 2002, Teddy married Ruth Garcia Cervantes, herself a former CEGP president and human rights advocate now taking up law at the San Beda College. They have two sons, Elian (6) and Emilio (2).
Teddy's family is his main source of strength and inspiration. The future of his two sons is what keeps him striving for a better kind of politics and a truly just and democratic government and society.
