MANILA - The rumored administration bet in the presidential elections next year met with United States officials in Washington on the eve of the 8th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro talked with his counterpart Robert Gates at the Pentagon, and with Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta.

Harvard-educated and licensed to practice law in New York, Teodoro has roots in the US.

"My great grandfather came from here and helped build what is now Baguio City in the Philippines. My own grandfather, my father’s father, was among the very first Filipino scholars to graduate from a United States college,” Teodoro said.

Teodoro said terror groups in Mindanao are on the retreat. This early, Teodoro is eager to sound tough. He signaled he's ready to keep US troops in the Philippines because they force China and "threat groups" to behave.

If he becomes the administration's presidential bet, Teodoro will be running against his cousin, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. Their mothers belong to warring Cojuangco clans.

"Because of the peculiar situation of our families, knowing that we consciously uphold our being relatives and friends," he said.

From Washington D.C., Teodoro traveled to New York to talk about sending Filipino peacekeepers to the Golan Heights.

The Philippines already has over 600 troops stationed in the world's hotspots. Reports from Ging Reyes, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau chief, Rodney Jaleco, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau correspondent and TV Patrol World