Senator Manny Villar with 5th district representative Carmen L. Cari and former Leyte governor Matin Petilla.
BAYBAY CITY – Senator Manny Villar said that the only other presidential candidate that he considers as a real contender is Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino Jr., and even so, he has already eclipsed him in the latest surveys.
Villar said this when asked whether he thinks former Pres. Joseph Estrada would continue to pursue his candidacy. Estrada also counts as his bailiwick the vote rich Tondo, where Villar comes from. “Huwag na nating pagusapan ‘yan, si Noynoy na lang”, he said, in an exclusive interview over lunch at the house of Rep. Carmen L. Cari (Lakas) in Baybay City.
Villar, who dropped by to greet Cari who was celebrating her birthday that day, February 23, also took his lunch there and took the chance to meet with the fifth district mayors and other guests.
Villar had just come from a short handshaking trip to Ormoc and a meeting with Sabin Larrazabal at the Sabin Resort Hotel. He also visited the Visayas State University where teachers and students greeted him warmly. Villar’s wife, congresswoman Cynthia Villar, is the chair of the committee on education and is a board of trustee of the university.
The senator said that the country has so many problems that “we do not need a greenhorn to lead us”. Unfortunately, he said, Aquino hasn’t have had a “leadership” responsibility bestowed on him when he was congressman and senator, and is ill equipped to run the country.
He added “what we need right now is a good manager”, “one who can manage the country well”. He is that man, he said, with his long experience in management and turning around his own life, from being a slum boy to one of the country’s richest men.
Asked how he proposed to do away with the country’s increasing poverty, Villar reiterated that what the Philippines needed was to do away with corruption. Once corruption is minimized, if not eradicated, he said, the Filipinos can start expecting a more decent life with improved living standards.
He added education is one of his topmost priorities, saying that it was the very tool that saved him from poverty. A Tondo boy but a consistent honor student, he refused to be defeated by poverty and found his ticket out when he got a scholarship from the University of the Philippines. He then became a Certified Public Accountant. He said nothing was impossible when one is well educated, and determined.
Meanwhile, Villar maintained a “mysterious” stance when asked who his leaders would be in the region, or in Leyte province at least. So far, in the fourth district, there are only two distinct parties – Lakas and the Liberal Party.
The same scenario prevails at the 5th district, where the ruling class are with the administration party Lakas.
Villar smiled mysteriously and said, “malalaman nyo lang ‘yan baka by March or April”. He added that he was not without friends, adding “you must remember I was Speaker of the House and Senate president. I have many friends”.
As for the acceptability of a Gloria Arroyo speakership, Villar did not say categorically what his stand was but said that history would show that the House Speaker was usually the president’s man, or woman for that matter.
However, he hinted that he did not believe that Arroyo would be as powerful as congressman, than she is now as president. He said he was a pragmatic man, and knew that in politics, leaders amassed a lot of friends when they are in power. “But when you’re out, they also leave you”, he said in Tagalog.
Villar said that knowing this, his only driving force once in Malacanang is to serve the people and turn the country around. He said he’ll encourage investments which will give people jobs and food on their tables, and enough money to educate their children.
He also pooh-poohed the notion that Aquino was the candidate backed by the powerful Catholic Church. Villar said that he had many friends in the Catholic Church and has the support of many bishops being a member of the Couples for Christ movement for 12 years now.
In fact, he said, he is the only presidential bet who has made a clear stand on the Reproductive Health issue. “I am not in favor of the RH bill”, he said, because it becomes a law instead of a choice. “It becomes mandated”, he said, and when it becomes a law, it becomes something that should be followed.
He believes in leaving it to the couples to make a choice, as reproductive health services are readily available in the country. By Lalaine M. Jimenea
