Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro’s bid to clinch the presidency in the 2010 elections got a strong boost when 738 municipal mayors gave him their support on the final day of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines’ (LMP) general assembly at the historic landmark Manila Hotel on Wednesday.

The mayors from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, in a signed manifesto, described Teodoro, the 45-year-old 1989 bar topnotcher, as “the best man from among all the presidential candidates to lead our country in the coming years.”

The mayors said they recognized and are convinced that Teodoro is the right choice because of his “brilliance, unquestioned honesty and integrity, excellent executive ability and experience, his profound grasp of the myriad and complex economic, political, social, environmental, governance and security issues facing our country and the global community,”

“We categorically declare our unequivocal support to the presidential candidacy of Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” C. Teodoro Jr. and call on all our countrymen to elect him and to work for his campaign as we hereby, commit ourselves to do so and ensure his victory in the May 10, 2010 election,” the mayors said in the manifesto.

The endorsement gives Teodoro, the presumptive presidential candidate of Lakas-Kampi CMD, a formidable second pillar of support from the grassroots-based LGUs.