Editorial

The MabuhayRadio.com Endorses Manny Villar for President of the Philippines

A ccording to Chicago-based Journalist Joseph G. Lariosa, no Filipino newspaper or magazine – or for that matter no Overseas-Filipino hardcopy or online publication – has ever endorsed a presidential candidate in the history of Philippine politics. The MabuhayRadio.com now officially endorses the candidacy of Manny Villar for President of the Philippines. This may, therefore, be a historic endorsement.

Editor’s Note: Joseph G. Lariosa is the dean of Filipino correspondents in the United States. To read Mr. Lariosa’s piece on political endorsements, please click this hyperlink,

Should RP Newspapers Endorse Candidates?

H ere are at least ten reasons why we are urging our readers and the Filipino electors, especially the Absentee-Overseas Filipino voters and their kin, to vote for our endorsed candidate, Manny Villar, and elect him the next President of the Philippines:

1.—Experience in Government. When elected President of the Philippines on May 10, 2010, Mr. Villar will be the only Head of State who has been Speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate President. He will join William Howard Taft as the only persons to have headed two branches of a presidential form of government. Mr. Taft was a U.S. President and then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

2.—A Talent to Form a Ticket of National Reconciliation. Mr. Villar has forged a national slate under the Nacionalista Party (NP) that looks like a “rainbow coalition,” to borrow the term of Black-American political activists. It is a slate that presents in one “unity” umbrella diverse factions of Philippine society. Mr. Villar has done the unthinkable – the first step in shaping national reconciliation that can result in the healing of ideological wounds and scars.

3.—A Business-like Approach. Mr. Villar possesses a track record like no other in the Filipino business world and in government service. To borrow Mr. Villar’s own words, he “understands very well the challenges – the ups and downs – of setting up and running a business in this country.”

4.—A Man of Action. The current crop of presidential candidates – with the exception of Manny Villar – failed miserably to demonstrate competent leadership during the recent Ondoy-Peping calamities.

5.—Track Record as a Builder. Remember the Lions Club’s Code of Ethics? The last line says, “To build up and not destroy.” He can be a real “Lion of a President” – just like the “Lion of Judah was the symbol of the Israelite tribe of Judah in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible.” The Filipino nation needs a “Lion of a Builder.” Manny Villar is the only 2010 presidential candidate – or for that matter the only national leader today – with a proven track record of building more-than 250,000 private homes, condominium units and offices. Perhaps it is time to put a man who has not only the vision but also the experience of a real builder of edifices cum real-estate developer and housing entrepreneur. The country will have to build millions of homes and infrastructures to prepare for the coming Climate Change (Global Warming).

6.—Right Moves for Mindanao. We rate as excellent Manny Villar’s decision to invite to his Table of National Unity pro-people, decent and dedicated clans in Mindanao like the Pimentels, the Tamanos and other well-meaning families. Mr. Villar will be able to usher in more cooperation in Mindanao by building classrooms and public infrastructures, aside from helping construct more permanent homes for the war refugees and displaced settlers. We think that Manny Villar will not emulate former President Joseph Estrada and President Arroyo, as represented by her then Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro, who adopted a hard-line policy of an “eye for an eye” in fighting the Muslim rebels and destroying Muslim military enclaves like Camp Abubakar. If a President Villar can do the suggested “Build and Not Destroy” program, there will be more peace and progress in Mindanao.

7.—Manny Villar Is Beholden to Nobody. Because the Villar Couple is independently wealthy, Manny Villar does not need to beg the taipans, landed families and vested interests for campaign funds. This writer has explained this point in this article,

How Manny Villar Is Proving Wrong the Adage that “Money Is the Root of All Evil”.

8.—Only Manny Villar Is Receptive to a Bigger Role for Overseas Filipinos in Nation Building. Our Southern California-based coalition actually sent through channel to almost all of the presidential slates our ideas of how the Overseas Philippine Nationals (OPEN), can help a new President. We sent our proposals of how the OPEN can help a new President “reinvent” government and accelerate progress in the homeland through more investments and the fielding of a service corps of retired Overseas-Filipino executives. We even proposed to run the Presidential Calamity Fund – without any government funding. Only the Villar Camp responded to us by letting three U.S.-based Villar kin talk to us way back in October 2009 and up to now. It helped of course that Senator Pimentel is our coalition’s political mentor. We are still negotiating with the Villar emissaries the contents of a “Covenant with the Overseas Filipinos” that we suggested a President-elect Manny Villar formally sign with established OPEN and OFW groups.

9.—A Realist and a Simple Honest Man. In his own words, Manny Villar said to the Makati Business Council: “I cannot promise no new taxes as the next administration will inherit empty coffers.” He could have told a while lie by emulating then presidential candidate George H. Bush, who proclaimed, “Read my lips: No new taxes.” It took a lot of guts on the part of Mr. Villar to tell the Business World that increased taxes may be needed to pull off an economic recovery, promote better law and order and have an effective government. A Villar presidency will bring bottom-line realism and honesty to the government, aside from observing the business tenets of accountability and transparency.

10.—Cynthia Aguilar Villar. She is the personification of the adage that says: “Behind every successful man stands an equally-successful woman.” We predict that the wife of Manny Villar will turn out to be the best First Lady of the country. For a start, Mrs. Cynthia Villar is not a prima-donna type of a public figure. While she is a billionaire in her own right and an incumbent member of the House of Representatives, she stayed in the background during the 2005 Kalayaan Grand Ball in Los Angeles, California. In fact, she had to be persuaded to join her husband in several photo opportunities.

H ere are amplifications of the above-stated reasons:

1.—Experience in Government. When elected President of the Philippines on May 10, 2010, Mr. Villar will be the only Head of State who has been Speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate President.

To our limited knowledge, Mr. Villar may become the only leader to have headed two branches of government in democratic nations that practice the presidential format with a bicameral legislature. This is a rare achievement for the Philippines, which will bolster positively the image of the Filipino national leadership. Becoming Speaker and Senate President requires tremendous executive talents and more importantly the attributes of a successful coalition builder.

Two other presidential candidates (Gibo Teodoro and Noynoy Aquino) have been congressmen like Mr. Villar but they never became the Speaker. Four other presidential bets (Noynoy Aquino, Joseph Estrada, Richard Gordon and Jamby Madrigal) have experience in the Philippine Senate but none of them became their peers’ President.

It is true that Mr. Villar and all of his fellow presidential candidates should bear some form of responsibility for the government’s failure to solve many of the social cancers that ail the country because they have been elected as public officials. But “the buck never stopped at Mr. Villar’s table,” to use President Harry Truman’s dictum. Mr. Villar – for all his good intentions, warts and all – did not have the final say. A Speaker or a Senate President can only do so much with so little in actual power. This is why Manny Villar needs to become the President of the Philippines, so that the man can be given a chance to do and implement with accountability and transparency his vision for the nation.

2.—A Talent to Form a Ticket of National Reconciliation. Mr. Villar has forged a national slate under the Nacionalista Party (NP) that looks like a “rainbow coalition,” to borrow the term of Black-American political activists. It is a slate that presents in one “unity” umbrella diverse factions of Philippine society. Mr. Villar has done the unthinkable – the first step in shaping national reconciliation that can result in the healing of ideological wounds and scars.

Mr. Villar has brought to one table not only Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., but also other senatorial candidates representing the right and left wings,  the liberals and the conservatives. He has obtained the support of the Philippine Guardians Brotherhood, Inc (PGBI) under the leadership of Sen. Gregorio B. Honasan, III, and the Social Democrats of Sen. Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. Mr. Villar has chosen as his vice-presidential candidate Sen. Loren Legarda, who used to be his bitter foe in Senate politics. Senators Pimentel, Legarda and Honasan have no love lost for Mr. Villar but they have been persuaded by the presidential nominee’s platform of government and socioeconomic plans to join a 2010-2016 movement for national reconciliation and unity. Mr. Villar’s presidential and senatorial line ups bode well for “unity in diversity.”

The selection of Senator Legarda proves also that Mr. Villar does not entertain any rancor for former adversaries for as long as they can share one table of cooperation for the public good. Mr. Villar may as well be the Filipino equivalent of a great American President Ronald Reagan, who never turned his adversaries into enemies. Time will tell if a President Villar can come close to Mr. Reagan in reaching out across the political aisle, building national consensus and in communicating effectively with his constituents.

3.—A Business-like Approach. Mr. Villar possesses a track record like no other in the Filipino business world and in government service. To borrow Mr. Villar’s own words, he “understands very well the challenges – the ups and downs – of setting up and running a business in this country.”

Mr. Villar has demonstrated a proven record of “‘knowing’ what has to be done, and actually being ‘able to do it’ and satisfy the needs of his stockholders. If Mr. Villar can run the country even half as successfully as he has managed his real-estate firms, then he can turn the economy around, minimize corruption and start the making of a Filipino Dream for a better quality of life. Mr. Villar possesses the talents to make not only the government but also the national economy of the people (read, stakeholders), by the people and for the people (common good).

4.—A Man of Action. The current crop of presidential candidates – with the exception of Manny Villar – failed miserably to demonstrate competent leadership during the recent Ondoy-Peping calamities.

Then Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. (as head of the Philippine National Disaster Coordinating Council) and Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) head honcho Richard Gordon failed to deliver organized-and-effective relief when it was needed most. There was a catastrophic failure on the part of the Gloria Arroyo Administration and the PNRC to alleviate the suffering of the disaster victims. The other presidential candidates were mostly singing the sounds of silence, as best exemplified by Sen. Benigno C. Aquino, III, whose political handlers justified his impotency in leadership by saying that when the typhoon struck, he was in a religious retreat. On the other hand, Manny Villar’s companies delivered truck loads after truck loads of disaster-relief supplies without much publicity and without even being asked.

5.—Track Record as a Builder. Remember the Lions Club’s Code of Ethics? The last line says, “To build up and not destroy.” We are not sure if Manny Villar has ever joined any Lions Club but he can be a real “Lion of a President” – just like the “Lion of Judah was the symbol of the Israelite tribe of Judah in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible.”

Because of the threat of Global Warming (Climate Change), the Philippines needs to relocate hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of families in low-lying areas to more-secured locations. Then the country needs to build so-many classrooms and other badly-needed public infrastructures – which many of the Filipino Presidents, especially the incumbent one, “constructed” only in press releases. The country has to secure its sources of clean water for drinking and irrigation by building reservoirs, mini-dams, sewage-treatment plants and what not.

The Filipino nation needs a “Lion of a Builder.” Manny Villar is the only 2010 presidential candidate – or for that matter the only national leader today – with a proven track record of building more-than 250,000 private homes, condominium units and offices. Perhaps it is time to put a man who has not only the vision but also the experience of a real builder of edifices cum real-estate developer and housing entrepreneur. Send Manny Villar to Malacañang and all the builders, construction companies, realtors and private developers will rally to their comrade and leader. Can the country afford not to put Manny Villar in the driver’s seat insofar as meeting the challenges of building needed infrastructures to mitigate the effects of Global Warming?

The selection of Sen. Loren Legarda as the NP’s guest candidate for Vice President again shows the vision and direction of a Villar presidency. Mr. Villar and his real-estate companies have planted more-than one-million trees (and counting). Senator Legarda is the number-one advocate in the country of protecting the environment. Putting a Vice President Legarda in charge of the Filipino contribution to the international fight against Global Warming shows the wisdom of Manny Villar. He did not choose Ms. Legarda for her good looks or because she is the only woman vice-presidential candidate. We think that Ms. Loren was chosen for her advocacy for the ecology, among her other accomplishments in public service.

6.—Right Moves for Mindanao. We rate as excellent Manny Villar’s decision to invite to his Table of National Unity pro-people, decent and dedicated clans in Mindanao like the Pimentels, the Tamanos and other well-meaning families. And we think further that Mr. Villar will be able to usher in more cooperation in Mindanao by building classrooms and public infrastructures, aside from helping construct more permanent homes for the war refugees and displaced settlers. We think that Manny Villar will not emulate former President Joseph Estrada and President Arroyo, as represented by her then Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro, who adopted a hard-line policy of an “eye for an eye” in fighting the Muslim rebels and destroying Muslim military enclaves like Camp Abubakar. If a President Villar can do the suggested “Build and Not Destroy” program, there will be more peace and progress in Mindanao.

We reiterate that Manny Villar has the foresight of inviting Nene Pimentel as one of his advisers for his “national ticket of reconciliation.” Senator Pimentel commands so much respect among the Muslims, the Lumads and the Christians in Mindanao. Mr. Pimentel, whom this writer has dubbed the “Moses of Mindanao,” can help a President Villar finally bring peace and progress in Southern Philippines.

7.—Manny Villar Is Beholden to Nobody. Because the Villar Couple is independently wealthy, Manny Villar does not need to beg the taipans, landed families and vested interests for campaign funds. This writer has explained this point in this article,

How Manny Villar Is Proving Wrong the Adage that “Money Is the Root of All Evil”.

In fact, the Villar campaign organization in the United States declined our Southern California-based coalition's offer to help raise funds for the Villar candidacy. We said that our supporters who would have financed this writer’s (aborted) candidacy for governor of Sorsogon Province could be persuaded to give their financial help to Manny Villar. But the Villar people said, 'Thanks but no thanks.' We were told that Manny Villar has saved for his presidential campaign and has enough resources to mount an extensive national campaign.

Editor’s Notes: Caution: The views and opinions expressed in this Editorial do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the other columnists and writers of this website. This editor-in-chief encourages our writers, especially our columnists, to write their endorsement of Manny Villar or for that matter, any other presidential candidate and we will publish them without any censorship or correction. – Bobby M. Reyes

8.—Only Manny Villar Is Receptive to a Bigger Role for Overseas Filipinos in Nation Building. Our Southern California-based coalition actually sent through channel to almost all of the presidential slates our ideas of how Overseas Filipinos, especially Overseas-Filipino workers (OFWs), can help a new President. We sent our proposals of how we, Overseas Filipinos and OFWs, can help a new President “reinvent” government and accelerate progress in the homeland through more investments and the fielding of retired Overseas-Filipino executives. We even proposed to run the Presidential Calamity Fund – without any government funding.

Only the Villar Camp responded to us by letting two Villar cousins and a nephew (who are all based in the United States) talk to us way back in October 2009 and up to now. It helped of course that Senator Pimentel is our coalition’s political mentor. We are still negotiating with the Villar emissaries the contents of a “Covenant with the Overseas Filipinos” that we suggested a President-elect Manny Villar formally sign with established Overseas-Filipino and OFW groups. A separate report will be written about the said “Covenant” when its details can be leaked out to the public. Mr. Villar understands that the Overseas Filipinos and the OFWs are badly-needed major components of the solutions for the socioeconomic problems that ail the homeland. We trust that a President Villar will not follow in the footsteps of his predecessors, who actually paid mere lip service to their overseas constituents.

9.—A Realist and a Simple Honest Man. In his own words, Manny Villar said to the Makati Business Council: “I cannot promise no new taxes as the next administration will inherit empty coffers.” He could have told a while lie by emulating then presidential candidate George H. Bush, who proclaimed, “Read my lips: No new taxes.” It took a lot of guts on the part of Mr. Villar to tell the Business World that increased taxes may be needed to pull off an economic recovery, promote better law and order and have an effective government. A Villar presidency will bring bottom-line realism and honesty to the government, aside from observing the business tenets of accountability and transparency.

Then there is a little-known incident in June 2005 that demonstrated the simple life style of the Villar Couple. Then Senate President Villar was the guest speaker of the 2005 Kalayaan (Philippine Independence) Grand Ball in a four-star hotel at the Universal Studios in Los Angeles, California. Our Kalayaan Executive Committee offered the Villar Couple the traditional presidential suite in the hotel venue. Mr. Villar declined, as he said that he and his wife always stay with friends whenever they were in Los Angeles. The only other Kalayaan keynote speaker who also declined the use of a complimentary hotel room was then Senate President Nene Pimentel. He refused our offer for the use of a free hotel suite in June 2001, as he said that he always stayed at the modest town house of his daughter, who is a public-school teacher in Southern California.

Webmaster’s Notes: Bobby Reyes was the 2005 Kalayaan vice chairman and incoming 2006 Kalayaan overall chairman when Mr. Villar spoke at the Philippine Independence Grand Ball. He was also a co-chairman of the 2001 Philippine Independence Ball., when then Nene Pimentel was the guest of honor.

10.—Cynthia Aguilar Villar. She is the personification of the adage that says: “Behind every successful man stands an equally-successful woman.” We predict that the wife of Manny Villar will turn out to be the best First Lady of the country – just as we have said that the husband can become the best President, as foretold in the article, How Manny Villar Is Proving Wrong the Adage that “Money Is the Root of All Evil”.

For a start, Mrs. Cynthia Villar is not a prima-donna type of a public figure. While she is a billionaire in her own right and an incumbent member of the House of Representatives, she stayed in the background during the 2005 Kalayaan Grand Ball in Los Angeles, California. In fact, the Kalayaan officers had to persuade Mrs. Villar to join her husband in several photo opportunities.

But the more-important reason why we think that Cynthia Villar will become the most-dynamic and most-successful First Lady is that she belongs to the Aguilar Clan of Las Piñas, now a city in Metro Manila. People who know the history of Las Piñas identify the town’s growth with, and its success to, the Aguilars’ and their in-laws’ (like Manny Villar’s) performance in local government, congressional representation and business development. The Villars’ and the Aguilars’ exemplary public service and their honesty in government and business dealings are legendary. And they have three generations of law-abiding Aguilars that have continued and continue to perform exemplary work in government and in the private industry – without commingling public interest with their private interests. No one can pin any financial scandal on the Aguilars in Las Piñas.

It is safe to say that if Manny and Cynthia Villar and their kin will do to the Philippines what they have done successfully for the people of Las Piñas, then a Villar presidency can never go wrong. And people in Las Piñas can bet their houses on that – even if they did not buy their homes from the Villar-Aguilar real-estate companies. # # #

Caution: The views and opinions expressed in this Editorial do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the other columnists and writers of this website. This editor-in-chief encourages our writers, especially our columnists, to write their endorsement of Manny Villar or for that matter, any other presidential candidate and we will publish them without any censorship or correction. – Bobby M. Reyes