Some 31 percent or 372 of the 1,200 respondents said they will vote for Noynoy Aquino while 24 percent or 288 respondents said they will go for Sen. Manny Villar.

Former President Erap Estrada who has manifested his desire to reclaim the presidency from which he was ousted but who remains popular among the masses, improved to 19 percent while former Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro benefited from the positive reviews that the Center claimed he has been generating from the spate of public debates among the presidential aspirants. The survey showed that Teodoro has climbed up to double-digit figures with 10 percent.

Sen. Dick Gordon who seemed to have clinched a potential winning tandem by pairing himself with former MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando has also begun to make his presence felt with an 8 percent rating, Malay stated.

Although Aquino has been seen to participate in these presidential debates, the survey also found that the debates have not done Aquino any good, with the Center’s analysis saying that “voters have begun to doubt (Aquino’s) capacity to lead the country out of the political and economic disequilibrium” along with news columns and blind items adverting to his state of health, which have “started to take its toll.”

Malay said the drop in the survey rating of Noynoy Aquino can be explained in many ways:

one is that it is difficult to sustain the euphoria associated with the death and burial of the late President Cory Aquino as well as the young Aquino’s attempt to ride on the popularity of the 1986 People Power Revolt because these two events are now being offset by what we call as ‘the negatives’ or the chink in his armor such as the Hacienda Luisita massacre a few years back, the newspaper columns and blind items pointing to Noynoy’s state of health, and what has been reported as the circumvention of the Agrarian Reform Law when the then Aquino administration approved the stock swap option giving farmers in Hacienda Luisita stock certificates instead of the pieces of land they were supposed to acquire under the law.

On the vice presidential race, the Center’s analysis said that “What was once billed as a sure victory in the vice presidential race is fast turning into a mound of problems for Mar Roxas (28 percent) who now has to contend with the imponderables that continue to hound his vice presidential bid, one of which was his decision to marry television host Korina Sanchez as his campaign appears to have run aground, with Sen. Loren Legarda (25 percent), moving up to narrow the lead of Roxas to just 3 points,” the survey analysis said.

Again this is significant, according to Malay, because the 3-point lead is just like not having any lead at all especially if we consider the margin of error of +.8% and this could go either way. How Mar Roxas and Loren Legarda will pursue their respective campaign will decide who between them will be sworn in on June 30, 2010. Both are acknowledged as veterans of past political wars with Legarda topping the 1998 senatorial polls at a time when Mar Roxas was into his second term as congressman representing Capiz and being recruited to become the Trade and Industry Secretary of the Estrada administration.

“Roxas made an about face in 2001 and joined the People Power II revolt that ousted Estrada and installed then Vice President Gloria Arroyo to serve the unfinished term of Estrada. Roxas then ran under the pro-PGMA administration ticket in 2004 and topped the senatorial elections of that year while Legarda who ran as for vice president under the opposition lost in the national elections that was marred by allegations of fraud. Legarda then ran for senator in 2007 and topped the senatorial elections making her the first woman in Philippine political history to have topped two senatorial elections. It is possible, however, that Erap diehards may still be harboring some resentment toward Roxas who dumped Estrada in 2001 in the face of a growing mass at Edsa.

What bears watching, however, are the ratings generated by Makati Mayor Jojo Binay and former MMDA chair Bayani Fernando who have moved up to third and fourth, respectively, behind Roxas and Legarda with Binay garnering 16 percent and Fernando moving up to 10 percent. Again, just like Roxas and Legarda, how Binay and Fernando will assemble their campaign team and chose their respective political agendas will determine their chances in the coming vice presidential elections.

The Center also predicted a tight race among Villar, Estrada, Aquino, Gilbert Teodoro and Richard Gordon.

“What appeared to be an insurmountable lead and a sure victory at the polls following the outpouring of sympathy with the death and burial of the late President Corazon Aquino has now turned into a myth as the double-figure lead of the young Aquino has now dipped into a single-digit with only seven points separating Aquino (31 percent) from former survey race leader Sen. Manny Villar (24 percent) in the latest monthly tracking survey conducted by The Issues and Advocacy Center (The Center) from Dec. 2 to 6, 2009 with 1,200 respondents pro-rated to the number of voters in the 2007 mid-term polls.

The survey also said that the Noynoy-Mar, Villar-Loren are now running abreast of each other, as imponderables continue to hound Mar Roxas.

It added that the “wise use of logistics will spell difference in the 2010 campaign.”

Malay said the Center earlier already noticed a “stationary dive” in the case of Noynoy Aquino when its survey figures from its last survey conducted on Oct. 19 to 26, 2009 exposed the so-called Noynoy bubble as prone to being pricked even at a time when the other political parties and groups still have to get organized.

He added that his survey outfit decided to conduct its tracking survey on Dec. 2 to 6, 2009 since this is the time when all the certificates of candidacies (CoCs) for all the national positions to be contested shall have been filed. With all the CoCs in, Malay said the list of candidates was not just pruned down to its realistic level but that “we have already removed the ifs and buts as we can now start generating an accurate assessment of how the Filipino public appreciates the value and worth of the presidential aspirants.”

Using a sample size of 1,200 respondents that were distributed proportionately to the electoral base of registered voters in 2007 and with a margin of error of + 2.8 percent and a confidence level of 95 percent, the respondents were asked “Who would you vote for from among the list of 9 presidential aspirants (Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Erap Estrada, Gibo Teodoro, Dick Gordon, Bro. Eddie Villanueva, JC de los Reyes, Jamby Madrigal and Nicky Perlas) if elections were to be held today?”

http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/20091214hed3.html

The search is on for the Movement for Better Values (MBV) Idol through a videoke singing contest nationwide with P200,000 grand prize at stake for the winner.

The MBV, a national movement of small entrepreneurs, students, workers, young professionals and urban poor, said the MBV Idol will be launched in barangays nationwide where local MBV chapters are present and with the support and approval of barangay officials.

Exequiel Villacorta Jr., MBV Chairman, said the activity will also serve as the venue for the entrepreneurship forum at the barangay level in a bid to address the nagging issue of poverty and social injustice.

The activity likewise is aimed to create awareness and enlighten residents particularly the youth to elect officials with integrity to lead the people out of poverty; provide protection to overseas Filipino workers and entrepreneurial opportunity to urban and rural poor, in the upcoming May 2010 elections.

The Movement recently issued its parameters in choosing candidates in the 2010 national and local elections citing those criteria. It added the country’s new leaders must not be elected on the basis of their lineage, color or the euphoria surrounding their circumstances.

It wants leaders who are committed to give equal opportunity for all in the pursuit of quality and affordable education, economic advancement and social justice. The MBV believes Nacionalista standard bearer Senator Manny Villar possesses the values of fortitude (sipag at tiyaga), bayanihan spirit, and committed and transparent governance.

The group said the MBV Idol is open to all bona-fide constituents of the barangay to join the videoke singing contest. Applicants to the contest are required to fill up the form before deadline.

Contestant is required to bring at least 15 barangay mates to the contest venue. The contestant with the highest score wins. Score is based on the videoke unit scoring, according to the MBV Idol organizers.

MBV Idol organizers explained that contestants who tie for the winning spot must be made to sing again a song that will be picked randomly by the contest organizer. “Isang kanta lang ang kakantahin ng nag-tie na contestants. Para mas madaling ibreyk ang tie,” the organizer said.

MBV Idol winner in the barangay level will receive P5000.

Winner will upload his contest video on YOU TUBE as his entry to the national search for MBV Idol. Contestant takes care of his own video equipment.

MBV Idol organizers said the search for national winner will be based on the highest number of text votes. The MBV will provide the technology for text voting.

Venue of the contest is held in barangay covered court, barangay hall or any open space within the barangay.

For the months of November and December, the MBV Idol search have been launched already in several barangays in the National Capital Region and Luzon. In Metro Manila, these were in Manila (Moriones, Tondo), Pasay (Maricaban), Pasig (Manggahan), San Juan (Corazon De Jesus), Marikina (Tumana), Navotas (NBBS), Mandaluyong (Addition Hills), Commonwealth, Tatalon and Holy Spirit in Quezon City, Valenzuela (Gen. T. de Leon), Caloocan (Dagat-Dagatan), Las Pinas (Talon), and Malabon (Longos).

Outside NCR, the video singing contest was held in Bulacan (Malolos), Cagayan (Tuguegarao) and Quezon (Lucena).

More Barangay Idol searches are forthcoming in Laguna (Calamba), Pampanga, Batangas, Davao, Gen. Santos City, Zamboanga and Cagayan de Oro.

he oathtakers were led by former Gov. Armando Sanchez, 18 incumbent and aspiring mayors, 18 sitting and aspiring vice-mayors, and 140 incumbent and aspiring councilors who were mostly from Kampi.

“We welcome our fearless Batangueños to the Nacionalista Party, which is undeniably now the most stable, organized, and committed to the advocacy of fighting poverty suffered by most of our people,” Villar said.

Villar’s leadership is likewise exemplified in the way NP currently maintains its stability and strong organization, strategically widening its membership base.

The mayors underscored that they represented the genuine grassroots support of Batangueños, backing the leadership of Villar based on his sterling track record and achievements unmatched by other presidentiables.

The defection in Batangas came a day after the oppositionist Kilusang Bagong Lipunan led by Ilocos Norte (2nd district) Rep. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. coalesced with NP, strengthening the party base in Northern Luzon.

Accompanying Villar in Batangas were Marcos, Rep. Justin “Timmy” Chipeco, former Rep. Gilbert Remulla, and Atty. Adel Tamano.

Sanchez was a two-term mayor of Sto. Tomas, Batangas, and one-term Batangas governor, when he also served as treasurer of the League of Provinces of the Philippines. An engineer by profession, he is married to Sto. Tomas Mayor Edna Sanchez, with whom he has three children. Among his projects during his term was the beautification of Batangas Capitol grounds. The governor facilitated the relocation of national government agencies and squatters who occupied a portion of the grounds.

Sanchez survived an assassination attempt on June 1, 2006 when he was able to get out of his Hummer H2 that exploded while he was boarding it. His driver and bodyguard was killed during the explosion.

Batangas, with a voting population of 1.2 million, is subdivided into 31 municipalities and three cities. The oath-taking turnout showed remarkably significant support for Villar’s NP among the opposition parties.

There are two things that may come as a surprise about Cynthia Villar, the woman most likely to become first lady in the next presidency (her husband’s biggest rival is unmarried).

One is that it wasn’t her money that built her husband Manny Villar’s real estate empire as is widely believed about the country’s richest senator. Congresswoman Cynthia Aguilar-Villar actually comes from humble beginnings as well. Her grandmother Manuela Aguilar Riguera sold betel nut in the public market of Las Piñas but managed to send her son Filemon Aguilar, Cynthia’s father, to med school. Later, he quit his practice, went into business, and then became a politician.

Second is that for someone who’s the other half in a partnership that has built close to 200,000 houses for all income classes of Filipinos, Cynthia still prefers to stay in the same property that they purchased 34 years ago — a two-bedroom house in Las Piñas on a 280-square-meter lot. Over the years, of course, the house has been remodeled, renovated and reconfigured many times, one room added here and there — until Cynthia last year got tired of its “train-like appearance kasi dugtong-dugtong,” and did a major renovation to standardize the spaces and make them cohesive. Through three decades, the property has expanded to 5,000 square meters and also now houses a structure they use as an office.

For the past 18 years that she has been a congresswoman, Cynthia’s projects have focused on the environment and livelihood for women because if there is one thing she believes women should have, it’s financial independence. And what’s more, she has combined these two pressing issues into projects that answer both, like keeping the Las Piñas River clear of coconut husks and water lilies by turning these into nets to cover the slopes of Las Piñas’ hills, blankets, slippers and hampers. The livelihood projects are self-sustaining, started from Cynthia’s initial seeding. That’s how a businessman would do it and that’s how she did it.

Though she admits that she’s had a difficult life and would not want to go through her childhood again, she didn’t have to look far for role models when she was growing up because the women in her family fulfilled that role. “All our mothers and grandmothers are role models,” Cynthia says.

Ever since she was young, her working days have been 16 to 18 hours long, and she gets by with only six hours of sleep, and relaxation is a massage and watching TV.

Every day, she says, she prays for the happiness of her children Paolo, Mark and Camille, and says, almost wistfully, “I hope that they find happiness in their married lives like I did.”

Then there was another role model in her life: Manny Villar, son of a market vendor, who was her classmate at the UP College of Business Administration, later her friend and then her husband. He whom she describes as “a visionary,” a strategist, a man who managed to raise capital each time a financial crisis threatened to dissolve their businesses, and expanding their companies by getting them publicly listed.

And to think that for two years of attending the same college in UP, she did not even notice him. In their third year, they became friends and when both were 25 years old they got married.

She knew he was the one when her father, former Las Piñas Mayor Filemon Aguilar, told her: “He will grow old with you and he will take care of you as you grow old.”

Right from the start Manny struck her as a dependable man. “I’m not a weak person, but I always see that he’s even stronger than me. He’s willing to swallow all his pride just to survive. It’s a very good trait — to be humble and not be proud. He has demonstrated leadership all his life because he was elected House speaker and senate president. It’s easy to be elected by ordinary people, much harder to be elected by your peers. At the same time, he has the character. Remember, he was born very poor.”

Manny really wanted to be an entrepreneur, according to Cynthia. His first business was delivering seafood in Makati but when his biggest customer couldn’t pay him he became a salary man again, which he didn’t like. Then he discovered that the canteen that owed him money was operating the canteen at his office. So he negotiated a debt restructuring of sorts: “food chits” in exchange for his receivables.

“The canteen owner probably thought that it would take Manny forever to consume the food chits. But he was very creative. He sold the food chits at 20 percent discount and when he had enough money, he resigned.”

His next business was delivering gravel and sand. They had two trucks and then it hit him: Why not build houses himself? The Villar couple took out a seven-year loan from a rural bank that offered low interest. And that was how the Villar empire was born: on a four-hectare property. Total number of houses by the Villar companies to date: almost 200,000 units, ranging from the high-end subdivision that is Portofino to Brittany Bay to Camella Homes.

“After 20 years, the company was publicly listed,” Cynthia says. “That was how the company got to be big, from the first IPO. Manny did that three times. The biggest adversity was the 1997 financial crisis, when we saw that our whole life’s work might go down the drain because of the economy. I don’t think the presidency will match that. When you don’t become president, you don’t lose everything. During that time, we might have lost everything.”

Cynthia looks at her husband’s candidacy for the presidency with as much practicality as a businesswoman: “It’s just a race. You try to do your best, they try to do theirs. Nothing personal about it.” But she also believes that “public service is really service to the people, especially in a country where 92 percent are poor. The eight percent should not complain anymore.”

On the role she will play should her husband win, she says, “I don’t relish the thought of being first lady or Manny being president. We don’t even know what will happen to us there. I said, ikukulong yata nila kami doon. I think I will enjoy more being an ordinary person. But as I’ve said, opportunities are being open to you, and you must take them. Otherwise at the end of your life, you will always ask yourself if you made the right decisions. That’s a very difficult position to be in.”

In the Villar equation, it seems that Cynthia always takes the backseat, the figure behind the man, the wife, the mother — instead of the entrepreneur or the hard worker who built her wealth from scratch. But she was and is one hardworking entrepreneur — she was not the moneyed one that financed her husband’s business, as many people believe. She doesn’t like this myth about her because she thinks that it robs poor people of the dream that it is possible to become big out of nothing. She wants them to know it is possible even without a financier.

That she remains practical and grounded is perhaps because she was the other half that built the company, that managed the books and the day-to-day operations, that made quick decisions when needed, that attended the PTA meetings of the children and accompanied tem on field trips, and pushed her two boys to study in one of the best business schools in the US.

Here are excerpts from the exclusive Philippine STAR interview that followed a luncheon hosted by Ricky Reyes:

1. What are you most looking forward to if your husband becomes president?

Working on the country’s health problems. Senators and congress people have endowment in hospitals. If you want to help a person who is sick, you write to the hospital. It’s not that big. Like about 1,500 people approach us every month regarding their health needs, typically dialysis and chemo. The government should b able to provide free treatments. I think this is something I can lobby for.

2. On a more personal level, what are you looking forward to?

I think it will still be work because there’s so much to do.

3. What kind of power should a first lady have?

She should be to do social work for the people. It shouldn’t be a formal power.

4. You have been to Malacañang Palace many times over the years. Do you like the place?

I haven’t been to the personal quarters of the president, only the public spaces. I would want to live in a simpler place, more pleasant. Nothing too historical.

5. Do you think there is anything you would change in Malacañang? Erap renovated the kitchen before.

He did the living quarters. He did not live in the main Palace. I think the President is now living in the guesthouse, which is more contemporary. I think that would be nice.

6. Do you have more friends now that your husband is running?

Our friends are more of volunteers now. Eventually they become good friends. My friends are still there, but many are volunteers. We have many groups volunteering. It’s impossible to centralize them and we let them work in groups because it means the individuals like working with each other.

7. Is the family ready to lose if the election doesn’t turn out in your favor?

Yes. In fact we have made plans already. We will travel and rest. Later on, Manny can continue with his advocacy. He has many things to do other than the presidency. We have worked all our lives and I have many things to catch up on.

8. You’re like the poster couple for hardworking Filipinos. Wasn’t it hard raising a family and growing a business at the same time?

No, we have always worked as a family. My children are working with us now. When they were younger, they were always in school. I wanted to give them the best education. Paolo and Mark both went to University of Pennsylvania-Wharton School of Finance, only Camille stayed here, she finished at Ateneo. Di ko siya pinaalis, now whatever she wants to do, I will let her do it kasi kawawa naman. When they were growing up, I was a model mother — I accompanied them to field trips, attended PTA conferences, I supervised them so they could go to the best colleges. I made sure they filled out their application forms and mailed them on time.

9. How would you describe each of your children?

Paolo is the most intelligent. He always had good grades, and high marks in entrance exams, but also very shy. Mark has very good people skills, and loves supporting young Filipino artists. Camille is a natural in a crowd, she likes being with people, she likes working in communications, which she does for our company.

10. Who takes after you the most and after their father?

They all take after us. Manny loves music and art, which Mark got. Nakuha ba nila ang sipag namin? Camille is a fast thinker like me.

11. What do you and your husband disagree on?

Masyado akong ma-detalye. Every morning, all the messages are written on a sheet of paper and I write down my comments so people would know what to do during the day. Manny wants to have time to discuss, to have coffee. He believes mas importante ang strategy rather than the day-to-day.

12. He’s the big picture, you’re the daily operations?

Yes.

13. Was this already the arrangement when you were starting out?

Yes. But when you’re small, there really is no big picture (laughs). The big picture is the day-to-day. What can you strategize with two trucks doing the same thing every day?

14. How did your husband pursue you?

We were classmates in UP, then we became barkada. Mas maganda yata yon, it’s more stable rather than love at first sight.

15. Sino ang mas matalino?

In college, I didn’t want to study a lot. I had been studying very hard in grade school and high school. I just wanted to pass in college. Manny wasn’t the studious type either; he was a very practical person. I don’t think we really excelled in UP, but we were excelling in our earlier years. I guess we were good in different ways. He really is a visionary. To be able to grow a mom-and-pop operation into a publicly listed company takes vision.

16. Who handled the money in the beginning?

I did. But now it’s the company’s money. At home I was the one who did the budget.

17. You got married at 25.

Yes, when we met we were about 18, because we were in third-year college. That’s why he keeps saying 40 years na daw kami. Sabi ko, 34 years pa lang tayo. Huwag mong saabihin yan nagmumukha tayong matanda.

18. If there is one quality of his that made you fall in love, what was it?

Dependable, very dependable.

19. You saw that even when you were only 18?

Yes. It’s something that you feel about a person. Na hindi ka lolokohin.

20. You grew up in a family of politicians. When your husband first entered politics, what was your reaction?

He was forced into it because my father was going to retire as mayor of Las Piñas. Manny didn’t want to, but eventually he relented because, he said, “Nakakahiya naman baka sabihin ang yabang ko.” He tried politics and he has never left.

21. After 18 years, is there anything you will miss about being a congresswoman?

I’m on my last term in Congress, so now nobody will call me “Congresswoman Cynthia Villar” anymore. Now you become an ex-congresswoman. I think our lives will be the same. I never changed my life just because I became a congresswoman.

22. What’s your biggest frustration about politics?

The lack of idealism.

23. You never lost that in 18 years of politics?

No, never. You have to be an idealist. You will see by my votes in Congress that I tend to be a romantic idealist. My career has been full of idealism.

24. Does your husband share this?

Yes, but then I didn’t have to become Speaker of the House or senate president — for that you need to have to be a realist, you have to manage people. Me, I never had that opportunity, so I guess I kept my idealism intact.

25. What was the best advice your father gave you about politics?

In politics, he said that those who are really hospitable to people remain popular. He was commenting about the fact that I was always hosting for him when he was a mayor because I wanted him to win in the elections.

26. Do you believe in surveys?

In a certain way, yes. But you have to find also the weakness of a survey. You cannot rely on it totally. You have to take it with some consideration.

27. Does it affect you when you see your husband’s standing going down?

Yeah, of course. I’m normal. I’m human. But it’s not something that will affect me for a long time. It’s just a survey.

28. You sound very grounded and calm about a lot of things.

Of course, how can you survive if you’re not? We’ve been in politics for a long time. You have to take care of yourself also, to shield yourself. You should have low expectations so that you will not be disappointed.

29. And yet you’re an idealist still.

On issues I tend to be idealistic because I can afford to be independent. If you ask me, “Why do you work so hard all your life?” It’s so that when the time comes that I need to make independent decisions, I can make them. What will I get out of all this hard work? Di ba independence? I don’t want to be deprived of that. Even my husband feels the same.

30. As a wife, are you also independent?

I care for my family, but they should also care for me. They should let me do what I want to do.

31. When was your last family vacation?

We have one every Christmas season, from Dec. 23 to maybe Jan. 10 because Congress is out, and school is out. But we have small family vacations in between. We usually go to Los Angeles. We can just walk, go to a bookstore or coffee shop, watch a movie — nobody knows us. Except now, people recognize Manny.

32. How many personal houses do you own?

Wala yata kaming personal except the one where we live. The rest are company houses that they use for planning, etc. Yung lolo ni Manny had a small house in Bataan, which was nasisira na. Inayos nila kasi sabi nung congressman doon nakakahiya bahay ng senador ganyan ang hitsura. I think that house is in our name. It’s an old house built in the 1920s.

33. What’s your reaction to the criticism that the Villars are spending too much on the campaign, how do you hope to recover this?

As Manny says, of all the candidates, “I’m the only person who’s not in media or a relative of somebody in media.” At a disadvantage na kami, the field is not equal. So you have to make up for that. If they don’t give you free time in media, how do you make yourself known but through infomercials? Others have worked in media all their lives, that’s their investment — as we have worked for our living all our lives in business. And what’s wrong with people knowing him better? Then they can make an intelligent choice. How can they do that if they don’t even know their candidates? Do we have to recover the money? No. Even if we spend some, we earn continuously from our businesses. We have an earning company, so we can afford it.

34. What about the relief goods that had his name and face stamped on the containers?

Our packing materials are all like that. We already had them, so why shouldn’t we use them? Even companies’ packing materials are all like that. Like when I give gifts, of course, they have my name on it and even the recipient would want to know who to thank.

When we were starting in business. Manny would be angry when the packaging was shoddy. His analogy was you’re like a beautiful woman in a nice dress and then nakalabas ang half-slip mo. He would point at the packaging of the Japanese and say that it’s important how to present your gift. When it’s packed properly, the recipient feels that you went out of your way to make him feel important. That’s part of our training as good managers and business people. Even our model houses are well made. It’s part of the competition. In business and politics.

35. How does your husband relax?

He goes to the gym, we have a home gym. Before he used to play billiards, then tennis, never golf because it’s too time consuming. Ako ang may pinaka-maraming equipment in our home gym given by friends, but I never have the time to use them.

36. Who designs your formals?

Nolie Hans, who’s my cousin; sometimes Paul Cabral.

37. Do you like that part of your job, the dressing up?

I don’t mind it as long as I have the time.

38. What are people most surprised about you?

That when they meet me they realize I’m just like them. They think, Cynthia Villar, asawa ni Manny Villar, na sinasabing pinaka-mayamang senador. Sometimes they are so surprised at how simple I am that they don’t even believe it’s me.

39. Do you enjoy stumping?

When I’m not too tired, yes. Many of our campaigns are actually programs. We don’t go in and campaign and get out. Even in my district, I do not campaign, I go there to do programs.

(CRAZY QUILT By Tanya T. Lara (The Philippine Star) Updated November 15, 2009 12:00 AM)

The “Ahon sa Kahirapan,” a movement espousing for better values, believes that the political partnership of Villar and Legarda will realize the hope for real empowerment of the many less privileged in the country.

Both Villar and Legarda advocate for the protection of the environment as they vow to champion the fight against poverty and promote clean and green country.

“We believe in the platform espoused by Senator Manny Villar and Loren Legarda putting premium to our mission of fighting poverty and oppression through entrepreneurship and responsive governance,” Movement chairman Exequiel Villacorta Jr., said.

The new Movement is composed of committed businessmen, youth, academicians, and values-oriented groups driven by honesty and hard work, respect for freedom and the environment.

It was inspired by the success of Villar battle cry of “sipag at tiyaga” which speaks of his rags-to-riches story, the spirit of cooperation and aspiration to institute genuine and responsive governance.

It aims to deliver doable micro-level grassroots programs for the uplift of the economic condition of the urban and rural poor nationwide.

Without directly attacking front runner Noynoy Aquino, Villar was effective in drawing the differences between him and Noynoy on things that would matter after elections are over. Manny V simply drew on his life experience of building a business empire from scratch as he emphasized that whoever lands in Malacañang would need the kind of experience he has had to effectively run the large bureaucracy… and yes, produce positive results amidst a fiscal crisis.

We all know, Villar pointed out, that the new President must build a lot of modern infrastructure for our economy to flourish. How can a candidate credibly promise to do this competently, he asked, if he has had no experience in building a road or a bridge for his constituents ever?

The former Speaker and Senate President observed that he will make it clear on day one of his administration that he intends to be totally transparent in all government contracts. He even wants public biddings covered by live television cameras. He said he wants to deliver a strong message to the bureaucracy by setting a good example in his style of governance… as he declares an end to business as usual.

Poverty reduction is on top of his agenda and to this end, he wants to deliver an annual GDP growth rate of no less than se-ven per cent during his term to make a dent on poverty. In the meantime, he intends to alleviate the impact of poverty on a growing portion of our population who are experiencing hunger with programs that directly help the poor cope with the daily challenges of living. Without freedom of want, he said, there is no true political freedom.

What strikes me with Manny V’s demeanor during the interview is the confidence he exudes that he is not just talking and promising but he can deliver. His self confidence is not arrogant but one that emanates from his rags to riches life story and his fairly short but meteoric political career thus far. Nothing seems to faze him anymore.

And he doesn’t seem to feel the need to viciously put down anyone to support his quest for higher office. He knows the rules of the game and he is ready to abide by these rules even as he decries early efforts to taint his image with suggestions of corruption in the C5 controversy.

I agree with him on that point… the C5 controversy is really a non issue that was blown out of proportion. Whatever may have been said about it, no one has been able to prove he made money out of it. Indeed, it is even now starting to benefit commuters in that part of Metro Manila.

My friends who are running Noynoy’s campaign should watch a replay of Ricky’s interview with Villar. Right now they are running on sheer emotion. The three-minute commercial produced by Kris and her showbiz friends is fantastic but is largely an appeal to emotions. But election day is still some months away and emotions have a way of dissipating over time.

Soon there will be comparisons made between Manny V and Noynoy on such things as potential ability to deliver on the promises of a heated campaign. Projecting leadership will matter as voters worry about the future. That’s when the things Manny said in this interview and the casual way he delivered his positives have the potential of changing even minds that were earlier committed to Noynoy.

The great thing that’s shaping up in this campaign season is the return of the two party system. More and more it seems it will be a one on one between Manny Villar and Noynoy Aquino.

Erap appears destined to lose more support as the campaign deepens… simply because he looks and sounds like the tired “has been” that he is. It does not help Erap to keep on saying he wants the election to vindicate him. He fails to understand it is not about him… it is about the country and its future. We also now have a new generation of voters who probably haven’t even seen an old Erap movie… who probably think Asiong Salonga was a former Senate President.

Gibo Teodoro, on the other hand, will fail to get traction and the defection of Lakas party members to Villar’s Nationalista Party is a good indicator of that. The stench of his association with Ate Glue would prove to be too much to bear for most voters. Gibo will find out it is not enough to have the oratorical talent of a brilliant lawyer.

Compared to Gibo, Villar has the advantage of having the proven management skills which Ondoy showed Gibo simply doesn’t have. But as the majority of voters totally disgusted with Ate Glue gravitate towards Noynoy, Villar and Gibo will find themselves fighting for the Arroyo loyalists who are in fact, only loyal to anyone who can provide them with funding.

This brings me to a handicap that Manny V must address: the growing impression that he is actually the real candidate of Ate Glue and Gibo is just a sacrificial red herring who is there only to attract the most vicious of anti administration attacks and thus shield Ate Glue’s real but secret choice. The problem with Villar is his reluctance to make a definite statement that he will go after the crooks of this administration. Has he promised Ate Glue and cohorts to be lenient or worse?

Ever pragmatic, Manny V thinks he can gloss over that and not alienate Ate Glue supporters if not Ate Glue herself. Problem is… the country is no mood for compromise. The imagery of the fight between good and evil is etched in many people’s minds. Manny must choose if he is good or evil.

I must confess I have yet to make up my mind between Manny V and Noynoy. On the one hand, I think we need Manny V’s pragmatism and experience to effectively deliver on the things our country needs badly. On the other hand, Noynoy is better able to win public confidence that at the very least it seems he can be trusted not to steal, not to live a profligate life and not put the presidency in disgrace.

Is confidence in a leader’s honesty and integrity more important than demonstrated competence and real world pragmatism? I don’t know.

Manny V’s strength is also his weakness as people have become more skeptical of leaders who have become as successful as he has on matters involving money. It doesn’t help Villar that he smells like a typical politician whose moral values are adjustable. But Noynoy’s strength is also his weakness as the emotional attachments to Tita Cory’s son evaporate in the grim reality of our day-to-day lives.

I guess, for now, it is turning out to be a good fight between Manny and Noynoy. At least, I do not feel I have to choose the lesser evil. Both promise to do the country a lot of good.

Credible leadership

Here is a reaction from an economist to our column last week on our need to elect someone who can provide a credible leadership.

There’s a downside to a credible government. The exchange rate might shoot up to PHP 40 to $ 1! At least, Ate Glue is helping to keep the rate “competitive.”

Seriously, now, we should also urge the BSP to take a more pro-active stance (buying dollars aggressively) to keep the rate competitive, just like what China is doing now. The threat of inflation from monetizing dollar inflows with proper sterilization is low.

With US interest rates near zero, there’s a danger that some of that global cash will pour into the Philippines once a credible government is in place, creating a bubble that’s likely to crash. Let’s not repeat 1997.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is . This and some past columns can also be viewed at www.boochanco.com

Original article found here.

Villar: I think that’s way ahead of what I envisioned to spend in this campaign, way, way ahead. You don’t have to spend that much to win and campaign. But I gave the 6 houses, cause I really think we should help the OFW’s.  I think I would dream years to build a nation where people will not have to leave the country to find jobs. That I think should be the ultimate dream. But right now we just have to help them to the best of our ability to provide safety nets, that dream we should have in our minds. We have 10 million OFWs and many of them are suffering, we have to provide safety nets. The government has so far been unable to provide that safety nets. We all must help in providing that safety nets, meaning people who sold property, borrowed money so they can improved their lives and it’s really very unfortunate that they experience difficulties in their job. We have to bring them back.

Q: Just to clarify Mr.  Senator, what is a safety net?

Villar: Safety net to me, they should be able to go home, come home whenever they have to. Especially in the Middle East we have a lot of Filipinos there who want to go home, they experienced difficulties, their employers mistreated them, not paid properly, some are jailed, some are abused. And the government has been, so far unable help those people. We should be able to help them. We must assume that for every so many Filipinos there abroad, a certain percentage will have difficulties, a certain percentage will have problems. We must assume that, and the government must provide for that.  Every Filipino must be able to come back, whenever they experienced such difficulties.

Q: I failed to mention about your last weeks activity, when you gave away capital for small entrepreneurs. Corollary to this all candidates that you are limited to election expenses under Comelec’s rules. Will this philanthropic works will be included in the competition of election expenses?

Villar: I have been doing this actually. And I don’t think it should be, I mean, all of us should help our countrymen. Like, I’ve been helping entrepreneurs for about 20 years now and I will continue helping them till I die. I fairly believe that for us to move forward we have to create an army of entrepreneurs. We have to change the mindset of our people that we can be on our own, that we can succeed in business that we do not have to be Chinese to succeed in business.  So far Filipinos like to be employed. We study, so that we can be employed. We were told by our parents to study hard so that one day you can land a job, and you tell your children the same, and our children will tell the same thing. We have become in fact a nation of employees. But we cannot move forward if we fail to change this mindset, we can be on our own, this has got to be the new mindset now. And we have to help the entrepreneurs now, the small entrepreneurs. The vendors in the market place, we have to help them succeed, so that they can provide, they can be the inspiration to the others, so that those who are unemployed if they failed to find jobs they could try to be entrepreneurs. And to me if we fail to change the mindset of our people about entrepreneurship we really cannot push this country forward economically.

Q: For the past several weeks or months we have a guessing game here on who will be your Vice President, will you end the guessing game tonight and tell us who you have chosen as Vice President?

Villar: I wish I can, but no, not yet. We have not finalize to our vice presidential candidate will be, but the party hopes to choose its vice presidential candidate before the middle of November. The last day of filing is November 30, we feel that November 15 is a good deadline and we intend to beat that and at the same time we are also finalizing the senatorial line-up. We are very confident that we can come up with a complete line-up as early as the end of 1^st week of November.

Q: Sir, there have been reports recently that either you have chosen Loren, that was before Chiz resigned from the NPC. So can you say that you have narrowed down your choices to Loren and Chiz?

Villar: Well, it’s hard to say that. There are other possibilities. I would say though that it could be an honor for any presidential candidate to have anyone of this two as his running mate.

Q: Other possibility that you are considering another possible vice president, aside from Chiz and Loren?

Villar: That’s not probable, but that’s possible.

Q: Vilma Santos, are you really talking to her?

Villar: There is a committee that is mandated to select the vice presidential candidate of the party and they are not done yet to the selection of the VP.

Q:   Have you spoken with Chiz after his resignation?

Villar: I have not. He made the announcement yesterday and I haven’t seen him.

Q: Who would be more compatible with you as vice president between Chiz and Loren?

Villar: I don’t mind either Loren or Chiz. I mean it depends on whom the committee will choose. Either way, I think it’s okay with me. They are both very good. The vice presidential candidate should be capable also of running this country just in case.

Q: Who do you think is the man to beat or probably the best competitor you will have in the presidential race?

Villar: The man to beat need not be the best competitor. The man to beat is the most popular, not necessarily the best. But you could also be the best, of course. I’m just saying that there’s still seven months to go and a lot of things can happen. In fact, a lot of things have been happening lately with the pronouncement of Chiz, Loren and Erap declaring his intention to run. I expect some more announcements in the next few weeks. I mean, finalization for example of the slates. These are things that are very important in assessing one’s chances. Also, by November 30, all of the locals will have filed their certificates of candidacies. My view is that politics will shift to local, primarily be local after November 30. They will know the organizational capability of each candidate by then.

Q: With you in the Top 3 of surveys are Sen. Noynoy Aquino and former Pres. Joseph Estrada, between the two who is more of a threat to you in the coming race?

Villar: That’s not a fair question. I consider every candidate as a threat. Certainly, the more popular you would consider as the bigger threat. But there is always the matter of time. In April, President Erap might be the bigger threat, we don’t know that. Things can change, things happen.

Q: Some critics are saying that your popularity is heavily anchored on your infomercials and without these, you won’t stand a chance in the presidency?

Villar: The infomercials merely mention what I have done. Nothing there was untrue. For example, that I was born in Tondo, that I used to sell shrimps. In fact, the infomercials so far have failed to state exactly all my accomplishments. But to be fair, I’m up against people who have been in the showbiz for a long time, either married to, related to or an actor himself. The infomercials are just my way of leveling the playing field. That is the only way. And this is the only way that I wish I could tell people what I have done. I think it is very important to inform the people who you are, what your experience is, what you are capable of doing and why you can run this country better. We owe it to our people.

Q: Some people are saying they will not vote for Sec. Teodoro because of the Arroyo corruption allegations, what do we expect from Mr. Manny Villar if he gets the presidency in regards to the Arroyo Family’s corruption allegations?

Villar: I will not lift a finger to defend the Arroyo Family. I will let justice take its course. It is very important to say that under our system, the Judiciary is not under the President. The president is the head of the Executive Branch. If people will file cases against President Arroyo, then they will have to defend themselves. By the way, I also would like to talk about corruption. To me, it is also important to talk about corruption. When you talk about eradicating corruption, it is very important to establish that you are capable of doing it. Have you done anything in the past that will show that you are capable of doing something as difficult as eradicating corruption? Because otherwise, it will just become an empty platform, an empty claim. You must show that you in the past have done something, have made a decision that make you capable of doing something as tough as eradicating corruption. You must have a game plan, not just say that you will not be corrupt, or you have never been accused of that. You must be explicit about how exactly you’re going to do that. I can. Year 1, month 1, you must show that your term will not be characterized by corruption. You open all the bids, televise it, and invite everybody to examine all of the projects to be bided out, let them scrutinize everything, ask questions and then on television, open the bidding. Invite all investors. Because you first must establish, year 1, month 1, that your term will not be characterized by corruption. You must set the example as president. And we should be asked exactly how we are going to do these things. We must be able to explain this in detail and show that we are capable of doing this. Otherwise, it will just be an empty statement.

Q: You said a while ago that you intend to keep the Filipinos in this country. How about those who are living abroad, we know there is a recession in the US. There are many Filipinos who would like to come home.

Villar: It should be our ultimate objective for people to have a choice. They can come here or they can stay there. But when they come here, they must be able to find jobs. They must be able to go to business, they must be able to have opportunities here. If they want to stay abroad, they can or if they want to stay here, they can. It’s not that I want to keep them here. I think most of them don’t want to leave the country but they have no choice. They have no jobs here. That is a dream. I have to say that it is going to be extremely difficult to achieve that in six years because the first thing that we must to is to provide enough employment to absorb our graduates and all of the unemployed here before we even talk about bringing home the 10 million overseas Filipinos. But that will be a good start. That should be the objective; we must start a sustainable economic growth for our country. 7 to 8% I think is a decent objective consistently in maybe six years. To me, it can be done. Other countries have done it. Why can’t we do it? We have been mismanaged all these decades. I submit that this country have not moved forward because we have been mismanaged. We have never used leadership and managerial ability as basis for electing a president. Our presidents are always been chosen on the basis of popularity purely and on emotions. Why is leadership important? Leadership is important because there are so many institutions in this country; you have media, the church, the AFP, the Congress, the local governments, the judiciary. You must be able to persuade all these institutions to move towards one direction, without declaring Martial law of course. If you have no leadership, you cannot do this. How do you show the people that you have leadership, you must at least have been elected, once in your life or so many times in your life you must have been selected by your peers.

Because if you have never been elected or selected by your peers, you have never been a president of the homeowner’s association, what makes you think you can run this country?

We need leadership. That is the reason why we are chaotic. This might be self-serving because I have been Speaker of the House, Senate President and a leader in the housing industry but I think that is very important. When you hire a CEO, you ask this question, his leadership capability because he will lead the company. Managerial ability is a must. Our economy has been mismanaged but why are we surprised that our economy has been mismanaged when we never ask, we never use managerial competence as a basis for electing our president? Why are we surprised that our economy has been mismanaged all these decades? It is high time that we stop this incompetence for the sake of our people. We must use these two.

Q: Do you think Noynoy is incompetent?

Villar: I’m not saying that. I will not comment on that.

Q: Can you give us an idea of your ideal vice president?

Villar: The vice president should subscribe to the objectives of the president and the objectives of the party. This is a Nacionalista-led coalition and our primary objective is to get this country out of poverty. The focus would be on achieving prosperity.

Q: What would be the role of your vice president in your government?

Villar: Luckily all of the possible vice presidents are very capable and very clearly can become members of the Cabinet.

Q: Can you give us an idea what Cabinet post would you offer?

Villar: Certainly their preference. That is, if their preference is environment.

Q: The Senate reporters are telling me you are pro-environment?

Villar: I like the environment. I’ve never claimed to be an environmentalist but I have planted more than a million trees in my lifetime. I’ve been planting trees for the past 25 years and as of my latest count, I have crossed the million mark. I like trees because they beautify the surroundings. I started planting trees even before we started talking about global warming.

Q: But Puno have already withdrawn from the race. So that qualifies Loren?

Villar: There are other environmentalists.

Q: You have built 250,000 houses here, you have planted one million trees, you build a $1 billion enterprise from scratch and that is competence?

Villar: I have achieved a lot of dreams. But the one dream, the ultimate dream of bringing this country out of poverty that is what I want to achieve.

Q: Noynoy has never planted one million trees, 250,000 houses has not built any kind of enterprise outside of selling Nike shoes and shorts in his younger days and he has not been Speaker of the House or Senate president. Just to clarify, your choices for vice president are A. Loren Legarda, B. Chiz Escudero and C. Other unnamed people.

Villar: The unnamed people are also very competent.

Q: Can you name some of the letter C?

Villar: No. Let’s just leave it at that.

Q: At this late a stage, I think you can’t pick out someone from nowhere to be your vice president. Raul Roco did that and he was defeated.

Villar: Yes, that I understand very clearly.

Q: So you are back to A and B?

Villar: (laughs)

Q: By the time you assume the presidency, hopefully for you on June 2010, the global financial crisis might have settled a little bit down already. Can you give us an idea of your formula for bringing back the Philippine economy back on its track?

Villar: We have to consider the fiscal crisis; the next president will be facing a very serious fiscal crisis. Right now I’m looking at P300 billion, possibly it could hit P325-350 billion. It’s coming from less than a hundred last year. That is a very serious one especially if nothing is done, the next year could even be worse.

That is why I said the next president should be able to manage this country from Day 1 because if we will have an OJT or an on-the-job trainee, the fiscal crisis is something that could deteriorate. Our country could really be facing very serious economic problems. Our tax revenues have gone down, deficiency from a high of 17% during the time of FVR to 12% right now. That 5-percent drop translates to about P300-P350 billion and that’s a lot. The next president should immediately give the highest priority to this, of bridging this gap. We are recovering from the economic crisis yes and no but the next president has no time to practice. He has to start; he has to hit the ground running from Day 1. He must know how to manage the country.

Q: The deficit will be P300 billion next year, how can you achieve 7 to 8% GDP growth per year to create enough jobs for people to be employed and attract those people who are abroad?

Villar: Next year will be tough, achieving that will be tough. I don’t think we can pump prime the economy right away. But there are some areas that can immediately be improved. The collection, for example can be improve. We can persuade Congress and this is where our advantage, having been a former Speaker and Senate president, will come in, they can be persuaded to have some tax measures, rationalize fiscal incentives. When you take over a government, or any company, there are normally inefficiencies that you can immediately address and this is your source of spending money. If you have no leadership, you have to buy loyalty. This is what is happening now to our country. Loyalties of congressmen and local government officials are being bought through projects. This is a tremendous waste of limited resources. If this is not done at the first year, this gives us a lot of savings. This is probably an area where we can draw some spending leeway. But 7 to 8% of course, admittedly, will be tough in the first year.

Q: Gong back to the environment and the trees, you said you like them and Loren is running on a green platform. Does that give her an edge?

Villar: To be fair, environment is a very serious, very important objective. But that is not the only objective. Capability as a president is also very important. I will not immediately rule out the other possibilities.

Q: Should Chiz Escudero subscribe to your goals, would you still accept him for VP despite what he has said about you?

Villar: To be fair, he is not applying. I can work with anyone of them.

Q: Do you still expect any surprises from the administration, which could derail the holding of the elections as scheduled?

Villar: Automation. It’s not fair for me to say that that will be a problem and I’m worried about it.

Q: You are worried because it’s new?

Villar: It is new and one cannot be sure that it cannot be…

Q: Also because you could be cheated?

Villar: Yes, I’m more worried about the second one.

Q: What is your back up system?

Villar: We are trying our best to come up with controls, we have our own computer experts but then again we realize that it’s going to be tough.

Q: By the way, the Comelec is brand new. They have never managed an election. The Chairman and the commissioners, they are all new.

Villar: Actually we have not computerized anything before as big as this.

Q: In connection with your fears about the automation, do you think there is the possibility of failure of elections?

Villar: If it breaks down, it could be failure. But we cannot go around and spread this that we are going to have failure of elections because we want everybody to campaign to discourage anybody from tampering the election results or trying to stop the elections. It is important for the process to continue. It is important that people campaign and people guard their votes so that the system will work. The more difficult it is to tamper, the less is the probability that there will be tampering.

Q:  Is it necessary that your VP will come from your party?

Villar: It is not necessary that he or she come from the NP. What is important is that he subscribes to the objectives of the party.

Q: The NP is the oldest party, and Amang Rodriguez once said politics is addition. There have been a lot of defections to your party.

Villar: I have been talking about what I have built in the past and they form part of my credentials. But the one credential that I have done which shows that I can build. I’m building the party from practically nothing. When I took over the party, there was no elected member.

Now we have more than 2,000 elected members. Just in the last month, we have more than 150 municipal and city mayors that joined us. Many governors have joined us in rapid succession. There are congressmen who joined us and committed to join us. More governors have committed to join us; hundreds of mayors have committed to join us. We are confident that we are ready. One thing that I am proud of is that I think at this point we have rebuilt the NP. This is the party that fought for our political independence. Now, after a hundred years, this party is fighting for our economic independence. We have successfully rebuilt this party and we are all set to reclaiming the leadership of this country.

Q: What is your edge over them?

Villar: There is this unique advantage of having experienced poverty, having come from a poor family. I’ve experienced what I have been preaching, sipag at tiyaga. At the same time, I can present my credentials as an experienced person. I can show my experience and say private sector leader, I rebuilt from nothing my business which became the largest, became Speaker of the House. These experiences are not easy to do. I don’t know anybody in the country who has had that kind of experience from the private sector and became Speaker of the House and Senate president. That to me is an advantage. I don’t want to brag about these things. I’m just saying, that combination is something that I’m very proud to show our people. I firmly believe that many candidates in the past can only talk about one or the other. My advantage is that I have both.

Q: You are saying you a success in business and you are a success as a political leader.

Villar: That’s what I’m saying and also I have experienced poverty and I have experienced entrepreneurship. These are the things that I have been espousing.

Q: What makes you more profound than the others?

Villar: When you have experienced it, it’s something else. Experiencing hunger, for example, is something. Experiencing not knowing whether or not you will have something to eat the following day, not knowing where to get money to go to a doctor, seeing a loved one unable to get good medical treatment because you have no money, not knowing where to get the next matriculation fee. These are things that I have experienced. When you talk about choosing a president, when we make mistakes that are all right we don’t feel it because the A will still eat. But the people, we have to realize that in any mistake that we do in electing a leader, it’s the poor people who suffer. This spells whether they will eat or not, whether they will be getting medical treatment or not, whether they will get jobs or not. That is why I feel that we have no room for just using emotions here.

Q: Every candidate has an audience that they claim to have for the election. Does Manny Villar have a specific region, provinces or sector that you can call your own?

Villar: The Ilonggo. My father is from Iloilo. I normally get very good score in Visayas. My mother is from Pampanga but traditionally I get extremely high votes from Region 6, Ilonggo speaking regions. And some parts of Mindanao.

Q: They say in the past elections, only four places decided the president, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Iloilo and Cebu. Are you no.1 in those places?

Villar: Pampanga, I’m not sure but Iloilo, yes. I get very high votes from Pangasinan. Metro Manila, not so.

Q: What do you think about moves to change the Constitution, is there any chance?

Villar: Amending the Constitution is something that people should decide it should not be the leader. But I am not afraid of any Constitutional change or amendment. It is just the Constitution. For me, what is important is the leader and personally, I can work with a parliamentary or a presidential or a federal. I don’t think it’s that important.

Q: How do you alleviate poverty when you yourself said the deficit next year would reach P300 billion?

Villar: 70% of the poor in the country are in the agriculture sector. If you want to very quickly address poverty, you must focus on agriculture. It is also one of the most corrupt departments. So if you can focus on addressing that problem, then you will have some excess to spend on agriculture. I am looking at repairing first the irrigation systems instead of coming up with new ones. We can immediately jumpstart the agriculture. This is what I call agricultural renaissance because I really feel that agriculture should be given a second look now with the changes in the commodity prices. And we have no choice, 70% of our people are in it. We are to address poverty immediately despite our increase in fiscal deficit; the agriculture should be given highest priority.

Q: You said that it only takes P80, 000 to rehabilitate per hectare of irrigated land. How much money will you devote to irrigation?

Villar: Using the budget of agriculture should be enough. Actually, right now there is the AFMA Law that gives P20 billion more to agriculture that has not been implemented. I think we can squeeze another P20 billion to implement the AFMA. Although maybe even half of that should be enough for the first year. Because to me, just maximizing the budget of DAR and the DA, if you rationalize these two departments, and add maybe about P10 billion, we should be able to jumpstart our agricultural renaissance.

Q: What is your foreign affairs policy?

Villar: Our foreign policies, they have not changed in the last few decades. We have not really incorporated the changes in the world order, for example, the growth of Russia, China, Brazil, India. There is a very clear change that is happening now. This is a movement away from the US, calls for currency other than the US, calls for more representation from developing countries led by these nations. The growing strength, the growing economy and influence of China, India in Asia. All of these must be taken to consideration but we should not also forget that we are a nation with 10 million overseas Filipinos. They must be incorporated in our foreign policies now. We must be very active in negotiating bilateral treaties or agreements with other countries for the protection of our overseas Filipinos and for the improvement of opportunities there. Right now we are not proactive. The location of our embassies must be altered taking into consideration the new realities of the world. In terms of manpower allocation, I guess we just have to allocate more to countries where there are more Filipinos to be taken care of. DFA can play a big role in economic development also. For example, there are some countries where we must be very active in getting investments for example, from China, Taiwan. US are very far and there is really nothing wrong with looking at the new possible sources of investments. I think that this can be done without hurting our relations with the US. It is very important for us to maintain an independent foreign policy. I think we can regain more respect from US, China and all other countries if we maintain an independent foreign policy.

Also, we must consider that we will be given the importance in this area only if we are also important economically.  That is why I think our big population is something that can really make us even a great nation. It is not a liability. If we can push our economy to have 7 to 8% growth in six years, average, with this kind of population, we can be respected; the other countries will start listening to us. With the kind of economy that we have, with the kind of problems that we have, whatever we do, we will not be given the importance that we like to get from them.

Q: Our country with a population of 90 million, we are no. 12 in the world.

Villar: In fact, if we can significantly increasing the purchasing power of this 90 million people, we will have a huge market.

Q: As a group the OFWs remit more money than all foreign investors combined in a year. They remit $17 billion, the biggest that we have had for foreign investment is $2.5 billion.

Villar: This is also an area that has to be addressed. We need to be consistent in the application of our rules. We have to improve infrastructure. We have to extend the NLEX to Rosario, La Union. We have to extend the SLEX to pass Lucena. We have to connect SLEX to NLEX. These things have to be done very quickly so that we can impress the foreign investors and show them that things are happening in our country very quickly. We must be able to impress them Year 1. And also we must inspire our bureaucracy Year 1.

Q: What are your views on the VFA?

Villar: It can be reviewed but you cannot have a unilateral review. An agreement has to be reviewed by both nations. Nevertheless I think negotiations can be done with the US govt for the improvement of the interpretation of this agreement. Scrapping this immediately is not necessary at this time. It needs improvement.

Q: You said one of the challenges of genuine leaders is how to beat the popularity syndrome. Is this the reason why you are with showbiz folks like Willie Revillame to foil the Kris Aquino and Boy Abunda team? Do you ever consider Willie to be VP?

Villar: To be fair to Willie, he has not applied. It never entered his mind to enter politics. I think he is doing quite well in Wowowee. But this is the game; this is precisely the system now. To me, if you want to reform the system, first you have to be elected. Otherwise, you can just dream. But you have to do something about that dream, and to do something about that dream you have to first get elected.

Q: FPJ had 30% advantage over GMA. By the last week of election campaign, that was even.

Villar: I’m just saying here that none of the other candidates is Fernando Poe and I’m not GMA.

Q: Do you intend to give your reply on the double insertion issue?

Villar: I am very happy to report to you that all of the witnesses that they invited, all of them said, not guilty or the accusations were simply not true.. That is why it is now established that;

1. There is no double entry; it’s not possible to have double entry

2. There is no realignment because there are two roads and,

3. There is no overpricing because it’s based on the zonal value.

I am very happy that the witnesses all cleared me because this is the only issue so far raised against me. I am very proud of this road because this shows that I am capable of building this kind of infrastructure. I have not made a single peso from this. I would like to make that clear. In fact, if you will review all the records you will see that the only people who made negative comments about C-5 are all presidentiables.

Q: And some of them will become your VP.

Villar: Because they called for an investigation. But they heard the witnesses and a lot of them have changed their minds already. Somehow the issue has become clear to them that there is nothing wrong with that project and I am not guilty of anything. In fact, I’m very proud of that project.

Q: What role do you intend for Cong. Cynthia to take in your administration?

Villar: I’ve always considered my wife as an equal. I’ve always respected her views. My wife is very competent and she would know what to do. I don’t have to tell her.

Q: What do you attempt to achieve in your first 100 days?

Villar: First is to establish that this term will not be a corrupt one, at least, the Office of the President. Then there are a lot of things that can be done in each department. That is why it is very important that the next president will be capable of multitasking. You cannot be addressing one issue and say ‘okay, I will address education first, then after that I will address the Mindanao conflict, and then the health problem next.’ You cannot do that. You got to address all. In fact, I would want as many projects that can be finished in the first 100 days. It is very important to perform well in the first 100 days in terms of all areas. There must be visible improvements in all areas of government because it is very important to inspire the bureaucracy. Once you fail to inspire the bureaucracy, your term will have failed. Not only the first 100 days. The first 100 days is the first milestone, the first year is the second milestone. Hopefully you can bid out already some very important projects on television, transparent, to establish the trend. There are so many things that can be done. Competitiveness, for example very quickly, you immediately must create a competitive environment. In all of the heads of departments, you have to tell them that you have to compete. You have to tell college presidents to compete using quantifiable basis.

For example, you have to tell them you have to be rated according to how your graduates perform in board examinations… You as president must be prepared to be rated, compared with other presidents of the region. If I make it as president, I would be willing to be compared with the presidents of other countries. It is important that the president agrees to be rated.

There are so many indices abroad, the Human Development Index, Competitive Index, Corruption Index; we must aspire to improve our standing in all of these indices. These are the things that foreign investors will look for. If they see dramatic improvements in all of these indices then they can see that the country has suddenly become competitive. 100 days you cannot accomplish all this but you can lay the groundwork.

Q: What are the weaknesses of Manny Villar?

Villar: I’m not perfect. What I am just saying here is for all of my inadequacies, inefficiencies, I have a lot of failures in life, I have experienced difficulties. But when you look at me, you are looking at Manny Villar, what you see is what you get. You’re not looking at my mother, my father or the tycoon behind me. You are looking at Manny Villar.

Q: Are there more houses and lots to be given away?

Villar: I actually give houses and lots from time to time. I have been doing this for the past 10 to 15 years now. I will continue doing that probably for the rest of my life. If I make it as president when I retire, I will continue doing this kind of work. If I lose, I will continue doing this kind of work.

Q: What step will you take to ensure that your real estate empire will not benefit from any government policy of protection?

Villar: We have laws on this; divestment etc. and they will have to be followed. But to me, everything will be transparent. It is important for things to be transparent to avoid these kinds of problems.

Q: Your son Mark will be running for Congress, if he wins will he be another Mikey or Dato?

Villar: I don’t want to comment about Mikey or anybody but I am saying that I am very proud of my son. He is a very hardworking son.

The message of Ondoy and of other weather disturbances is simple: in times of crisis one cannot afford to be inexperienced or unprepared. Every second counts. Any hesitation on the part of Government and on the part of leadership can be fatal for so many.

Our country faces a far bigger problem than preparing for annual weather disturbances. That bigger problem is the continuing poverty of millions of countrymen, a level of poverty that remains unaddressed year after year after year.

Why?

Because for a long time we have not had leaders who genuinely understood the plight of the poor man – not because they were not intelligent enough, not because they did not care enough, but simply because they were never genuinely poor.

If a leader does not know how it feels to worry about food for tomorrow; if a leader does not understand the stress of having to live under a roof that could be carried away by the next typhoon; if a leader cannot genuinely say that he has felt the pain and even the indignity of being poor in this country – then how can he genuinely work for the interests of the majority of our people?

This reminds me of a movie of years ago, where a white man pretended to be black in order to understand the plight of the black people of America. After he had enough, he reverted to being white and begun championing the cause of black people.

But he was put in his place when one day a black man confronted him with these words: “you can not say that you genuinely understand the plight of us blacks because you still had that option to return to being a white man. We who are really black don’t have that option. The reality of being black is with us day and night.”

It is easy for anyone to say he understands the plight of our poor – but only those who lived as a poor boy can truly grasp the full burden of poverty.

I am not embarrassed to say that I was born poor and lived as a poor boy for the early part of my life.

Some people say that I cannot genuinely claim to be a poor man because I am not dark skinned. Well, not all dark skinned are poor, and not all poor are dark skinned. In my case, I had to go to the market early, before the sun was even up – and therefore rarely had to be baked in the sun.

And so as a young boy born poor it became my first dream to get out of poverty. The greatest opportunity for me came when I was accepted at UP, and education became for me the great leveler. This is why, over the years, I have always felt that one of Government’s primary responsibilities is to provide every Filipino with the opportunity to fulfill his God-given potential. And education is the key to that.

While the world was now opening up to me – and the beauty of a tree-lined campus leaving its mark on the mind of a poor boy accustomed to the slums of Tondo – the reality of my poor roots continued to pull me back to the complication that poverty brings: the loss of human dignity that further hinders the fulfillment of one’s potential.

Thinking back, I now realize that one of the most difficult aspects of life of a poor family is the absence of a decent home, an abode where family can gather together as one and bond.

How does one bond in a shanty? How does one come together and grow together when the roof of your house can be blown away by the next typhoon; when your walls too thin to keep some noises in and others out; when your living quarters are so compressed that when a neighbor sneezes the whole neighborhood catches the cold?

More importantly, how do you teach important values to the next generation when everything around you – your house, your relationships, even life itself — is so impermanent?

This is not to say that it is impossible to do so even under conditions of poverty; I am proud of how my parents were able to raise us with the proper values. But it is a struggle that many others fail at, and when they fail the impact is felt by society as well.

This is why, when I had the opportunity to launch my dream business, I chose to go into housing. And not just any type of housing, but specifically low cost housing. Housing that was affordable to those who, like me, understood what poverty entailed, but with a quality to match those offered by higher priced shelter programs.

And so long, long before I entered public service I was achieving another of my dreams: I was building houses and helping create homes. And in the process we were boosting the dignity of those who could now live comfortably in a place truly their own. And who now began to cultivate important values such as thrift and investment.

And because people now had decent shelter, they became decent to each other – the most important ingredient in building communities.

I am not embarrassed to say that my housing business was built around my dream of providing affordable quality housing for the poorer segment of our society, with the byproduct of uplifting the dignity of homeowners and creating communities.

Before long I was being touted as the first local Filipino billionaire and the king of the mass housing market. Yet I didn’t – I couldn’t – stop dreaming.

As a student at UP, as a young employee in Makati, and then as an entrepreneur, another stark reality hit me: that the best Government is a Government that facilitates – that allows resources to match needs, that provides opportunities, that protects the weak and encourages the diligent and rewards the hard working. When Government is not these but is a stumbling bloc to progress, then it fails in its most basic of responsibilities and loses its reason for being.

This is why I entered government service.

But my experience in public service also taught me one important lesson: as a facilitator, Government need not dictate. In fact, more often than not, Government is more effective when it resorts to promoting dialogue between stakeholders and finding the acceptable compromise that leaves all parties better off in the end.

Indeed, more is achieved when Government gets parties to sit down at the negotiation table and trade interests, than when they stand on opposite sides of a dividing line and trade accusations.

Which is why I now find myself on the edge of striving to achieve my ultimate dream: that of putting together all the elements of my life this far and offering it to our people as the sum total of what I as a leader am and will always be.

Because I was born poor, I dreamt of breaking free from the bonds of poverty with the help of quality education and the opportunity to maximize my potential.

I dream that every Filipino similarly situated as that poor boy from Tondo will also have that same chance, thanks to quality public education and opportunity for all.

When that day comes, the need for our countrymen to seek greener pastures abroad will become a thing of the past.

Because I understood how having no permanent roof over your head to call your own robbed me and my family of the basic dignity, I dreamt not only of building a roof over my head but of helping provide others the chance to own a house they could call their own.

I dream that every Filipino will have access to decent housing that will allow him to nurture his family, respect his neighbors and in the process help build communities.

When that day comes, the complaint that we Filipinos have no sense of community and of country will be a distant echo.

And because I have seen how Government at its best can match resources with needs as it provides the minimum conditions for individuals to achieve their potential, I have continued to dream of a National Government that facilitates rather than hinders, that creates opportunities rather than stumbling blocs, that encourages rather than discourages, that acts rather than speaks, and that is focused less on what is and more on what could be.

When that day comes, Government will be an entity that is respected, not cursed, and the description “public servant” will be an honorific to be sought by many.

But all that I have achieved would be nothing if at the end of my public life I would not have been able to translate my own success into the success of our people.

This is why I stand before you here today, the genuine poor boy from Tondo, armed with 20 years experience as a public servant and 30 years experience in the private sector, ready, willing and able to serve as President of the Philippines from Day One and lead our country in facing whatever storms lay ahead.