Rep. Teofisto de lara Guingona III is the son of Teofisto Guingona, Jr., the 13th Vice President and former Senator of the Philippines, and Ruth de Lara , former Governor of Misamis Oriental and currently mayor of Gingoog City.

Born on April 19, 1959 in Manila, “TG” is married to Ma. Victoria “Marivic” Garcia, herself a lawyer. They have a son, Bobby.

TG spent his entire student life at the Ateneo de Manila University where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1981 and completed his law degree in 1985.

Prior to assuming his congressional post, was an active mover in addressing our country’s housing need.  For the past twenty years, as a developer of mass housing projects, his company has completed some 25 housing subdivisions located all over the country, in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

His main legislative advocacies are better education and health services for all Filipinos.  He has sought as well to advance food and energy security for the country through self-sufficiency. He continues to craft legislation to reform the budget process to ensure that the nation’s financial resources, as well as, the plans and programs that underpin them are directed, first and foremost, towards building a healthy and educated citizenry

Moreover, he promotes increased preparedness for disasters and, to this end, has co-authored the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Bill of 2009. He believes that we need to invest in disaster preparedness and shift from our current reactionary paradigm to a culture of DRRM. He believes that we must empower our communities to build their preparedness against all disasters, both natural and man-made, because they are the ones directly affected.

TG is a staunch advocate of good governance. As a Kaya Natin! Champion, he has spoken to many groups about the need for it. Kaya Natin! is a national movement that aims to promote good governance, ethical leadership and support effective and ethical leaders in government. It seeks to promote genuine and lasting change in the government by promoting transparency, social accountability, people empowerment, and electoral reforms.

In line with his legislative advocacies, TG made sure that projects implemented in his District will impact a greater number of constituents and provide significant effect in improving their quality of life. To this end, 

He was also was able to push for the passage of RA 9456 during the 13th Congress which converted Bukidnon State College into a State University, making it now the Bukidnon State University.

TG represents a Mindanao constituency in the House. His objective with respect to Mindanao is to ensure that its issues are integrated into the framework for national legislation as opposed to just crafting local bills with only limited value. He has co-authored and is working strongly towards the passage of HB No. 5255 establishing the Mindanao Economic Development Authority (MEDA), which seeks to centralize development planning in Mindanao and coordinate the implementation of these plans. With the creation of MEDA, the region is given greater autonomy and responsibility over its own economic destiny. This will foster unity among Mindanaoans regardless of culture, language, or religion and it will do away with regionalism and coordinate a Mindanao-wide initiative to create a Mindanao that is managed, preserved, developed and nurtured by Mindanaoans.