Why Manny Villar?

Posted by in 2010 Philippine Elections | 93 comments


Recommend this article?

A mention of my twitter name @momblogger alerted me .

“Is it true that you have chosen Villar?” , someone tweeted.

I replied that I will neither confirm nor deny that as I have stated in my entry, My presidential candidate

It does not matter who my candidate is. As project editor of Blogwatch.ph, it is prudent that I keep that choice only to myself and my close friends, the people I trust. Certain quarters cannot distinguish me as a voter and me, as the editor. Blog Watch remains non-partisan.

You are free to speculate, of course.

Most of the comments agreed with my short list (Manny Villar, Dick Gordon and Gibo Teodoro). A few raised eyebrows “Villar?!?” as if I just uttered the devil’s name.

The skeptical often are bewildered…Why oh why is Manny Villar in your short list? That’s what I’d like to talk about. Why Manny Villar?

With the negative campaigning and half-truths being flung around, one is confused with propaganda, counter-propaganda and black propaganda.

with-presidentsI am blessed with this wonderful opportunity as project editor of blog watch where I get to scrutinize these candidates, at least seven out of the nine presidential candidates.

A rational decision based on research, intensive interviews and attendance to three presidential forums was slowly forming in my head the past months. Insights gained by this experience paved the way for my decision to include Manny Villar because of his leadership, managerial ability, experience (I wrote more about it here with Dine and Wenchie.) I believe our presidential candidate should have all three characteristics to manage the economy well enough to create more jobs and address this issue of poverty. Understanding of issues against him included fact checking and discernment.

It helped a friend vouched for Villar’s high moral standards since she worked with him in the senate for many years. ( read Pia Cayetano‘s comments on Manny Villar)

But…a friend’s testimonial, his track record, competence and platforms were not the only factors to consider in the selection process.

The way a candidate handles his campaign gives me an insight to the governance of this candidate.

manny-villar-meet-july-2009Do you know the challenges I face to get these presidential candidates? I am a virtual unknown. Blog Watch just launched on November 24, 2009. Who are we anyway?

I took my chance with Manny Villar for our first interview in December 17, 2009. An interview earlier that year left me with a favorable impression . I felt he was very open to bloggers, easy to talk to, patient, even if I had caused him discomfort with my questions on Twitter and Plurk. ( I heard he bought a laptop the next day to empower himself with the semantics of the online world). He was patient enough not to roll his eyes when clueless me asked him “what exactly are you accused of in c-5?”? I like to laugh and loved that he laughs as loud as I do (the other candidate that made me laugh so much was Dick Gordon). His three children impressed me. They are humble, simple and very loving to their father as they attentively listened to the bloggers interview him.

with-manny-villar It helped that Villar’s new media guys were attentive enough to my interview request. Sure enough, Villar agreed to our first interview and his staff, his lovely daughter, Camille were once again around to give him support. Towards the end of our interview, he acknowledged the role of new media in the presidency.

All the other candidates where Blog Watch had connections with, were easy to communicate once I was able to establish the purpose of our interview.

This was not the case with Noynoy Aquino.

My persistence to interview him before the start of the campaign period was perceived as an impolite request. Not that Noynoy himself was attending to my request. Of course, there is a campaign team behind him and though apologetic, was quite helpless in giving us a slot till 6 weeks later. I want to say more and I am being nice here when I say I don’t want to come off as “negative campaigning”. Let me just show you a friend’s article on Why Noynoy is not in my shortlist to make the long story , short.

My impression was it was not easy to communicate with Noynoy. It took an inner inner circle (whatever!) to get through him.

Why should it be difficult to get an interview schedule when all the others didn’t give us a hard time? ( I found out that even Yahoo and PCIJ were unable to get an individual interview with Noynoy)

Why should it be hard to talk to a candidate about their plans?

In the course of the campaign period, issues cropped up. If I needed to be clarified on news accounts, I often got my request either from the new media guys or Villar’s staff. I would sometimes run across Villar’s children in forums and they struck me as really nice children with impeccable manners who would approach me and plant a kiss on my cheek. Villar raised such beautiful kids. I am impressed and thought his parenting style played a role in the personality development of his kids. Even Pia agrees with me.

I know impressions can be misleading (and this is all for show as skeptics want to point out to me) but I trust my gut feelings on these encounters.

villar-meetLet’s face it, the powers of the presidency is almost imperial. The abuse and misuse of these powers is right smack in front of us for the past nine years. Do we allow this abuse and misuse to happen? The next president might also abuse these powers. If we get the right people elected, we cannot fold our tarpulins and say “phew, now they will change everything”. If we, the citizenry won’t try to know what is happening, nothing will also happen to us.

There is only one power that can face and surmount this abuse of power and that is the power of an aware, vigilant, organized citizenry.

So you ask, what am I getting at?

The fact that Villar is open to new media in a presidency is a factor crucial to a participative citizenry. The fact that he made himself accessible through his staff throughout the campaign period shows the type of organization he manages and an insight on his governance. A president needs to be open to the people and easily accessible when questions arise.

mannyvillar-and-me
In the first interview that July 2009, I asked a photo op with him as proof that I interviewed him so that I can show the photo to him when I need to follow-up on his plans.

“I will still keep my promise even if I am elected or not.”, Villar assured me.

Even after elections, I will make it a point to be vigilant as our new president grapples through the difficult transition to democratic restoration and economic recovery.

For those undecided on Manny Villar, this article, Undecided on Manny Villar? might give you insights to all the issues and controversies.

You might want to know how to go about Selecting a candidate to vote for as President, read on Why Gibo Teodoro and Dick Gordon.

source of July 2009 photo- from Chuvaness



If you enjoyed this post, please recommend to your network by adding a plus one . You can also get Email Updates of any new posts by adding your email address below:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

If you enjoyed this post, then make sure you subscribe to my RSS Feed.

The comments posted on my blog are moderated. I reserve the right to remove comments, words or phrases that are defamatory, abusive, incite hatred and advertise an email address or commercial services or just plain spammy. I also reserve the right to remove posts that to my opinion are off-topic, irrelevant, ad-hominem, personal attacks and or just plain rude. (January 16, 2009)
← Older Comments
  • janus

    Manny Villar is an inspiration.

  • janus

    ok, i read the TRANSCRIPT: NP Presidential Bet Sen. Manny Villar on Karen Davila’s Headstart. Before Manny Villar could explain anything about his brother, i already knew the answer. kasi ganun po talaga kaming mga mahihirap. I don’t wanna explain any further, coz i know yung mga detractors ni villar wala ring sasabihing maganda. and i wanna say, pag sinabing mahirap hindi ibig sabihin pulubi ka. mahirap si Villar na nag-sipag at tiyaga kaya siya umangat sa buhay. kami man po ay ganun din ang ginawa kahit hikahos na hikahos sa buhay. nagsumikap para makaangat mula sa kahirapan. uulitin ko po, isang inspirasyon at testimonya si Manny Villar. He is my candidate.

  • Andres

    Check Krisna siya ang sagot ng kahirapan,Manny Villar

  • HUNGKAG

    Ms. Noemi,
    Thank you for your reply and your reference to the entry on Character as one of your citeria.

    “Character, competency, coherent platforms and clear vision are the criteria that I look for in the presidential candidate.”

    In your article however you did not discuss the character issue. I will be very happy if you write an article dwelling on this issue because for me this is the most critical and important issue to be dealt with. The character issue is an either-or criteria. Either a candidate has it or not. Other criteria like competency, skills, potential, etc. are measurable and can be ranked accordingly.
    I will accept your definition of “CHARACTER” and from their, test the candidates based on this definition.
    On competence, all candidates are competent in varying ways and can be ranked accordingly and from there it is very easy to choose the highest ranked candidate but for character it is an either or situation.
    In the past presidential elections except during marcos vs. cory the test on character were all based on the “least evil” proposition because all candidates had shaded “character”.
    BTW i appreciate your openness in engaging in fruitful exchange of ideas as i read your blog.

  • Leo

    Voting for Villar is ridiculous. You keep saying that the allegations against Villar are unproven and unfounded. The facts have been laid out to the public by prominent leaders such as Jamby Madrigal regarding C5 and it is clear that he earned tens of millions of dollars out of it at the expense of the Filipino people. Yet when asked to defend himself against the accusations all Villar will say is that it’s all politics and does not give any details. Ever since he became elected congressman he never divested from his
    business interests and as a result his personal wealth grew exponentially. Yet people continue to turn a blind eye and instead are swayed by his charisma. People like you are hopeless and one of the main reasons why the Philippines has not improved because of either your inabilty to see corruption or acceptance of it as part of Philippine politics that will never go away. People like you are enablers of corruption and ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

  • http://aboutmyrecovery.com Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

    How do you know it is charisma ? This is a personal blog so I touch on human aspect. It shows candidates are human too.

    We have written extensively on Villar in Blogwatch.ph when it comes to platforms and issues so go there for more details.

    What makes this country hopeless is for people like you judging based on allegations of a person interested in the same position. I discovered all of these allegations came shortly after Villar announced his plans. Now if charges were filed by Jamby, and there is a court ruling, then that’s when I will believe these alleged facts.

    Until then innocent until proven guilty. Imagine if anyone can just accuse you based on set of documents that may not be complete (which a court of law should ascertain the authenticity.)

    The problem with anti-villar people is they will believe anything against Villar. No other explanation is acceptable so let it be.

  • janus

    bravo and amen to that ms. noemi. kay Villar pa rin kami! kay Villar tayo!

  • http://aboutmyrecovery.com Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

    i will write as soon as I get done with my backlog. thanks for your inputs.

  • HUNGKAG

    Greetings!

    Ms. Noemi,

    Please give your comments on the Vistaland-PSE Issue?

  • http://aboutmyrecovery.com Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

    It baffles me that it is brought up just two weeks before election day when this happened 3 years ago. I do not have enough facts to make a conclusion. Let’s just wait what the court will say on the issue.

    Like I said, innocent until proven guilty, If we don’t follow this, society will be in chaos.

  • mp3addict

    i would like to ask villar one simple question “How do you intend to get back the billions you have spent on your campaign?”

    its like gambling and loosing of billions and no plan of getting it back “He is a saint if he just spent such huge amount just to win and to make the Philippines and better country.”

  • http://aboutmyrecovery.com Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

    see his video at http://akalamo.com

  • SEL

    this is a free country we are free to choose our candidate…if one believes in what he/she stands for there’s no need to be bothered by other people’s opinions. Let us vote freely and we do not need to bully other voters by who they want to vote..i strongly agree with all you’ve written here ma’am this is your vote no one has to bully you on who you choose..

  • Fe

    Ms. Noemi,

    At this point in the campaign period, I am for Villar. He may not be perfect–no one is!–but I believe he is “the right guy at the right time,” so to speak, and your blog entries have strengthened my conviction. But that is not the main reason for my writing this note.

    I usually don’t post comments in blog entries. But I am violating my self-imposed rule for now. I just would like to commend you for the way you’ve handled yourself in dealing with those whom you don’t necessarily share the same thoughts on certain issues or candidates. I am also a mom, and I can only hope that I will continue to learn how to deal with those whom I disagree on certain matters and hope that I will be able to teach my son how to do so, too.

    And so, yes, I agree with Iman Flores, I also admire you “for responding to negative feedback and sometimes STUPID [I apologize sa mga natatamaan--I hate what you do, not you yourselves] comments with wisdom and finesse.” ;)

    More power! And to the rest, let’s just “agree to disagree” (again, so to speak). Alright?

    More power, Ms. Noemi!

  • HUNGKAG

    BTW, i have read your Voting Matrix using KT and in one of your must criteria “not tainted by corruption” Manny Villar, Dick Gordon and ERAP fail this test. Why will i agree with you to vote for Manny Villar if he is also tainted with corruption? In KT if a choice faills to meet the must criteria, there is no reason to rank him in the wants screen since KT is a go-no go method on the must screen.

  • HUNGKAG

    Agree(innocent until proven guilty). As GMA kept telling us for nine years.

    You are correct. This happened 3 years ago but it is only now that Estrile got hold of PSE minutes that Manny Villar as private citizen-businessman(not wearing his hat as Senate President cum Senator of the Republic) appeared to say hi and hello to the PSE Board most likely to talk about the “progress” of Vistaland shares.

    But, the charge is not illegal conduct but unethical conduct. What court can he be charged for illegal conduct?

  • http://aboutmyrecovery.com Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

    When I wrote on this voting matrix, I failed to place that the corruption was not proven. It was just alleged corruption.

  • http://aboutmyrecovery.com Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

    Villar faced them during the senate investigation on finance, and faced it as a senate president. When he was about to face the Ethics committee, he discovered that they had the decision even before the hearing. If the chairman of the ethics committee was the accuser himself, he felt they should just file a case in court. Check his transcript when interviewed by Karen davila

    http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=407314499121&id=262155953790&ref=mf

  • http://www.topazhorizon.com Topaz Horizon

    I don’t understand this Jesus Naz. Why does he talk about us Filipinos like that–”You Filipinos…”–na parang hindi siya Pilipino. So I thought he’s Spanish maybe or some foreigner kasi his English naman is bad. Then nag-Tagalog din. Pinoy ba siya or magaling lang siya mag-Tagalog?

    Kasi kung Pinoy siya, sana hindi siya magsalita na parang ang tanga-tanga ng Pilipino, kasi parang sinabi na rin niya yun tungkol sa sarili niya.

  • http://www.topazhorizon.com Topaz Horizon

    Naku, basta si Jamby ang nagsabi, hindi na ako maniniwala. I say this with completely no malice–that senator is ignorant. Nakahiya yung mga ginagawa niya sa senado.

    Ako naman, I’m not for Villar talaga. Gibo!!! But, like I said, if he wins, then he wins. Even Gordon, kahit na mukhang mainitin ang ulo, kung manalo, I’m fine. Kahit si Bro. Eddie pa nga! After all, the last time we had a non-Catholic as president, naging okay ang Pilipinas! It’s when Noynoy wins that I will seriously be afraid for my countrymen.
    .-= Topaz Horizon´s last blog ..My Evita Peroni prizes from Daphne’s Diary =-.

  • http://www.topazhorizon.com Topaz Horizon

    I also don’t understand why people bring up the issue of Villar spending a lot for the campaign, and then the belief that he will steal it all back from us if he wins. Uh, I spend a lot on the stuff I like and I also spend a lot on my family but it never occurs to me to steal money kasi malaki nagastos ko. Napaka-illogical niyan.

    My thinking is if Villar will look for ways to get back his investment, he will protect businessmen because he is a businessman. So he might make/approve laws that will lower taxes for entrepreneurs, for example. I’m cool with that!!!
    .-= Topaz Horizon´s last blog ..My Evita Peroni prizes from Daphne’s Diary =-.

  • http://www.topazhorizon.com Topaz Horizon

    Correct! Ayoko ng presidente na takot sa Catholic church!

    And Villar also authored the bill for Anti-Pornography… sounds great except that the bill says “anything that causes arousal is pornography.” That’s just too broad and vague for me. A lot of art, movies, TV, books, magazines have images and descriptions that MIGHT cause arousal. If this bill passes into law, we’ll all be plunged into the dark ages again!
    .-= Topaz Horizon´s last blog ..My Evita Peroni prizes from Daphne’s Diary =-.

  • Pingback: On the Anti Villar mob & No to Noynoy Aquino | A Filipina Mom Blogger

  • krissy

    Actually, “feeling” lang sya. Iyon lang. He’s one of those people who just whine and complain about the world happening before their eyes without doing anything help it progress. He just sits there whining na parang hindi sya miyembro ng pagsasamahang sinisiraan niya. When you destroy the organization you belong in, you destroy yourself. The Filipinos are not perfect. But his criticisms were not constructive. He merely generalized. And that’s what idle and lazy minds do: generalize. And judge easily. The brain is a muscle. Exercise your brain – don’t slack off. =)

  • krissy

    walang ba ditong “click to LIKE”??? I super like. =)

  • m

    Dearest Noemi,
    i admire your courage, strength and intelligence to share to all of us your views on candidates of our nation and i am glad we are on ” the same boat”.. our hearts are for manny villar… you explain eloquently to people in the internet and elsewhere, mostly “intelligent voters,” while i have to explain my views and facts to rice and coconut farmers and laborers in the simplest way i can. some does not know what “alleged” means thinking and believing that all issues thrown on candidates from abscbn are true.

    have you seen the interview of karen davila on erap… her questions were leading to destroying villar (and manny villar’s mom), then last night i watched erap’s documentary on ANC… sus, grabe talaga!!! poor erap. feeling ko para bang pinapakain muna ng masarap then biglang pinatay.
    i think manny villar’s documentary will be next. i am sure tatadtarin nila si villar ng husto. aabangan ko.

    here’s my personal view on the presidency… if manny villar will be picked by our brothers in INC and brother Mike Velarde, villar will surely win. but if our brothers in INC and brother Mike velarde picks gibo or erap or noynoy or gordon, noynoy will win.

    thank you so much of your time. God bless you.

  • g.estephan

    how much did manny villar pay you. did he pay you with a condo unit or a property in one of his subdivisions?

  • http://aboutmyrecovery.com Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

    MR Estephan from California. Yes I can trace your narrow minded logic all the way from the Philippines. You are so ignorant and dense just like the rest of the anti-villar mob…but perhaps I should give you some slack because you have a tiny brain and can’t comprehend that there are people who actually like to talk to Manny Villar. Your mind has been poisoned by the anti villar mob.

    I am not surprised you are using that old line..how much did he pay you? Because the anti-villar mob are rabid, foaming in the mouth ready to attack any good word said on Villar
    Excuse me I don’t need condominiums or property. I am very blessed. Too bad you are not.

    I am placing your comment here because I love to collect samples of anti-villar people like YOU.

  • Heather

    Dear Ma’am Noemi, Thank you so much for this article. I admire your courage for writing this. Tama po kayo, Villar is innocent until proven guilty. Let’s ignore the rabid yellow army and stand up for who we believe in. In my case, it’s Villar. He may not be perfect (who is anyway?), but he’s the best candidate we have at the moment.

  • Pingback: Yes, Manny Villar is in my shortlist | The D Spot

  • Lyn Ruth

    I agree, Ms. Noemi. Thanks for your articles on Manny Villar.

  • http://pinoywordofmouth.blogspot.com pinoy word of mouth

    I’m pro-Villar. I believe in his achievements and potential.

    I bumped into your blogsite thru technorati.

    You might be interested in Pinoy travels, please do explore my blog – http://pinoywordofmouth.blogspot.com

    Thanks!

  • Riza

    My thoughts exactly. We’ve also been involved in doing campaigns and it’s really not a pretty good picture. There were shaking of hands and the voter would say “may sakit po ang anak ko” and what does the candidate to do? he has to prove himself to this one vote.

  • Cel

    Well said. I will definitely vote for Villar!

  • andrei de guia

    Please people do not be misled by subterfuges that candidates try to show you.

    In response to SEL here’s my answer: Land Grabbing. I will generate more jobs by land grabbing farmlands and converting it into my own development. Since poor people make up 75% of our country, what better opportunity to turn them into laborers and foremen for my growing real estate empire. For 50 pesos per sqm, I can give those poor farmers descent homes or at least enough to buy them a descent roofing material.

    Villar will do all his best to win the Presidency including using his own mother. Madrigal is doing a good job of persuading people not to vote for VIllar.

    Gibo is your best bet. Next in line would be Gordon. I’d stay away from Noynoy and his henchmen and Villar and his schemes.

    Wake up countrymen!

  • andrei de guia

    Noemi you are very good. Tell me about yourself and your business relationship with Villar.

  • C. Vista

    Noynoy is not clean, he smoke 3 packs a day and loves to go nightclubbing. Thats why he’s single and never been faithful to any woman, afraid to have his own family. I believe he’s papers and documents in the congress and senate are clean because there is nothing on it, not a single bill or “zero” performance in other words, ano ang ginawa niya sa billiong pork barrel niya?

  • C Vista

    mp3addict, that question has been conditioned to the minds of many Filipinos already. Does not apply to him because he budgeted for that already… corporate minded siya…..hindi naman sasabak yan kung walang budget, in otherwods matalo manalo wala effect sa kanya lahat yan. mas matakot ka kay Noynoy if he wins, because its his payback period in terms of opportunities and undeserving positions sa mga gumastos at tumulong sa kanya…..

  • C. Vista

    Jesus, i bato mo yung concerns mo kay Noynoy not to Villar, paano na ang payback period niya sa mga nag support sa kanya? Ano pwesto ni winnie monsod at Kris Aquino if he wins. Villar has budgeted all his expenses already, wala ng bawian yan……matalo o manalo

  • http://aboutmyrecovery.com Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

    you know what Andrei, I have no business relationship with Villar and related companies. Shame on you. If I were you, hire a detective and you will find nothing . My real estate dealings are with Ayala Land, Alveo etc. because properties bought by family members are from the Ayala Land group.

  • http://aboutmyrecovery.com Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

    Andrei de Guia thinks just because I write about Villar I have a business deals with Villar etc. She is malicious and illogical.

  • janus

    where is noynoy’s conscience? he uses his dead father, dead mother… but why can’t he use his brain? A: because it’s dead also :D

  • Pingback: My shortlist of Presidential Candidates « Eat My Chalk Dust

  • c vista

    Noemi, Am I ban here? Why can’t I give my comments?

  • undecided
  • baycas

    Never fret. Manny can take defeat…

    MANILA, JULY 6, 2008 (STAR) PEOPLE ASIA

    “There’s no such thing as on the top of the world,” he quickly points out when I say, glancing at the view from his elegant home, that he seems to be really on top of the world. “There’s always a place higher than where you are.”

    For one, he wants to be Commander-in-Chief in 2010.

    “I’m not going to wait for another eight years and then win or lose… if you win, win. If you lose, try to move on. I adjust fast. If it isn’t meant to be, then just adjust and move on,” says Manny, who garnered the highest satisfaction rating among public servants in a recent opinion poll.

    He has never experienced political defeat in all his forays into public office — starting in 1992 when he ran as congressman of Las Piñas. He won as speaker, then as senator and then senate president.

    “And that’s why you have to enjoy the climb. You continue the climb until you die. I’m enjoying the climb and I want to enjoy life,” he says.

← Older Comments

Switch to our mobile site