A former spokesperson of former president Joseph “Erap” Estrada before he left Malacanang in January 2010 is now the campaign spokesman of administration bet Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro for this year’s election.

Lakas Kampi CMD secretary general Francis Manglapus said that lawyer Mike Toledo, former press secretary and spokesperson of Estrada, was designated as campaign spokesman of Teodoro.

“Mike is a spokesperson of the highest professional qualifications,” Manglapus said.

“His credentials make him a perfect fit for Gibo’s presidential campaign with its emphasis on policy issues and a doable program of government,” added Manglapus. “We could not have attracted a person better suited to this job.”

It can be recalled that Toledo was designated as press secretary by Estrada on November 25, 2000 at the height of the “Jueteng Scandal” based on expose of former Ilocos Sur governor Luis “Chavit” Singson that implicated Erap to the illegal numbers game leading to Edsa 2 two months later.

Manglapus said they are anticipating a “drastic shakeup” in public opinion surveys once the administration candidates led by Teodoro “leave the cocoon of their old certainties and face the glare of scrutiny by the Filipino electorate.”

Toledo has been in the board of several government-owned corporations and private firms and handled various communications requirements of US-based accounts before deciding to accept the job of a campaign spokesman.

Among other things, Toledo sat on the boards as director and/or legal and financial consultant, of various government–owned and –controlled corporations, among them the Government Service and Insurance System (GSIS), Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), National Food Authority (NFA), Philippine Aviation Security Services Corporation (PASSCOR), Food Terminal Incorporated (FTI), Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), and the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA).

He served under the administration of three presidents—Aquino, Ramos and Estrada—and worked in the office of Sen. Edgardo Angara, heading the education and health committees which the senator chaired and representing him in the committees on energy and finance.