A look back at the 'Bright Boys,' Joseph Estrada's group of young congressmen
With 254 congressional district representatives in the House, it's only expected that political cliques would form, with some built on shared ideologies and others on long-standing alliances.
One group that continues to be remembered to this day is the so-called "Bright Boys," comprised of Rodolfo Albano III, Alan Peter Cayetano, Joseph Ace Durano, Francis Escudero, Edmundo Reyes Jr., Jurdin Jesus Romualdo, and Gilberto Teodoro.
But how did that group come together, and why exactly are they described as "bright?"
Origin of the group
The Bright Boys were first formed after the 1998 Philippine general election, which introduced a new wave of lawmakers serving their first term in office into the House of Representatives.
At the time, a considerable number of the members were under 40 years of age. The group's formation also coincided with that of the "Spice Boys," an opposing group composed of Rolando Andaya Jr., Robert Ace Barbers, Michael Defensor, Hernani Braganza, Federico Sandoval II, Migz Zubiri, Magtanggol Gunigundo II, and Oscar Moreno. The group's name is an allusion to the British girl group, the Spice Girls.
The two groups were split by political loyalty: the Spice Boys were vocal critics of then-president Joseph Estrada and pushed for his removal from office, while the Bright Boys stood in defense of him.
The name "Bright Boys" was coined by Estrada himself. He chose the name after the group's elder, Albano III, described his six young colleagues as smart, with Estrada adding that they also had a bright future in Congress.
Who are the members?
Alan Peter Cayetano
Alan Peter Cayetano has been serving as a senator since 2022 and was recently designated as the Senate’s new Minority Leader in September.
The lawyer and diplomat dipped his toes into politics when he was elected councilor of Taguig in 1992 at 21 years old, all while being a college student at the University of Santo Tomas. This made him one of the youngest councilors in the country.
Cayetano later ran for the House of Representatives in 1998 and became the representative of Taguig-Pateros under the Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino. He is notable for being the youngest elected representative at the 11th Congress at age 27.
He climbed the political ladder when he won as senator in 2007 and sought a vice presidential role in 2016, but lost to Leni Robredo. He was eventually appointed by former President Rodrigo Duterte as Secretary of Foreign Affairs.
He returned as a representative of Taguig-Pateros in 2019 and was elected as House Speaker.
Francis Escudero
Like Cayetano, Francis “Chiz” Escudero has also been a senator since 2022. He became the 31st Senate President until he was replaced by Sen. Tito Sotto in September amid the flood control project scandal.
Escudero stepped into the political arena at 28 years old when he was elected representative of the first district of Sorsogon in 1998. He was also a member of the Nationalist People's Coalition, which was the second biggest political party in the country at the time.
He eventually rose as a senator in 2007 and threw his hat in the ring for the 2016 vice presidential election, but lost to Robredo.
Gilbert Teodoro
Gilbert Teodoro served as Secretary of National Defense under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from 2007 to 2009. He returned to the same post under President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in 2023.
Teodoro entered public service at the age of 16 in 1980 as the Kabataang Barangay President in Tarlac before going on to become a member of the Tarlac Provincial Board.
From 1998 to 2007, he was a House Representative for the First District of Tarlac Province and authored 106 bills.
He ran for president in the May 2010 election but ultimately conceded defeat to Noynoy Aquino.
Jurdin Jesus Romualdo
Jurdin Jesus Romualdo has been serving as the Representative of Camiguin's lone district since 2022. He began his political career in 1998, also as the district’s representative.
He continued to hold this position during the 12th Congress in 2001, the 13th Congress in 2004, and the 19th Congress in 2022.
Rodolfo Albano III
Rodolfo Albano III is currently the governor of Isabela. He was previously the representative of Isabela's 1st district from 1998 to 2001, serving in his first term as a congressman.
Prior to this, he started his political career as a KB chairman at the municipal, provincial, and regional levels from 1980 to 1985 and served as mayor of Cabagan, Isabela, from 1988 to 1998.
His last position in Congress was from 2013 to 2019, before he continued his public service as a governor in 2019.
Joseph Durano
Joseph "Ace" Durano is now working as the provincial administrator of Cebu, having been appointed to the position by the province's governor, Pamela Baricuatro.
Durano initially shared that he is enjoying his "semi-retired life," but decided to give politics one more go as the vision of Baricuatro for a better Cebu has inspired him to help in whatever way he can. With this, he is now responsible for making sure the provincial government’s policies, programs, and projects are carried out effectively and efficiently.
Before his appointment, Durano was previously the Secretary of Tourism under Arroyo and the general manager of the Philippine Tourism Authority.
He had been convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan over the development of the Department of Tourism 2009 wall calendar, worth PhP 2.7 million, without initiating a public bidding process. However, the Supreme Court has since acquitted him.
Edmundo Reyes Jr.
Among those in this list, Edmundo Reyes Jr. appears to be the one who is no longer in the political spotlight.
Reyes had served as the representative of Marinduque from 1998 to 2007, during which he spearheaded electrification projects to bring power to remote communities and strengthened disaster preparedness programs for the province.
There have been no recent political updates concerning him, aside from the 2017 charges of graft and malversation. These charges stem from the alleged misuse of P5 million in public funds related to the P728-million fertilizer fund scam in 2004.
