It was no surprise that the Villar camp would release a rejoinder to the most recent slew of attacks from the Erap camp regarding Villar's unethical dealings with the Philippine Stock Exchange. It is alleged that Manny Villar, while Senate President, blackmailed the PSE into releasing his Vista Land shares from a lock-up period to sell them for allegedly billions of pesos in profits.
But it *was* a surprise to see this response come from his mother.
"Kasi aping-api na ‘yung anak ko e [My son is being persecuted]," says Curita “Nanay Curing” Villar, when asked why she was voicing out her grief in public.
I do not doubt her sincerity and concern over her son, nor do I doubt the sincerity of Manny Villar's sisters. It is only natural for a mother or a sibling to defend their kin when threatened.
I *do* doubt, however, that they knew and understood what they were talking about.
"Kawawa naman po siya. Nagtiis na nga po ako ng hirap, naapi na ako sa palengke pati ba naman ang anak ko? Pati ba naman ang anak ko, naapi pa ngayon? [My poor son. We endured poverty. I was oppressed in the public market and now even my son? Even my son is being maltreated now]." she said.
I did read an anecdote about how they would at times get into debt and their lendor would become physical when the payment was not made on time. No one should be treated so unfairly, and Nanay Curing is right to be angry at how she was bullied and harrassed.
It's just that there's nothing similar between what Nanay Curing went through and what Manny Villar is going through. Nanay Curing did not wish to be in debt, but worked hard to get out of it; Manny Villar also did not wish to be in debt, but worked the system to pay off his debts for him, and come out ahead in the deal too. Nanay Curing worked hard for her money, to raise her nine children and to ensure a better future for them; Manny Villar duped Filipino taxpayers and invstoers of their money, to raise his own ego and to ensure a better future for his political aspirations. Nanay Curing seems to have conducted her business affairs honestly and with integrity; Manny Villar seems to have conducted his business affairs completely devoid of honesty, integrity be damned.
I guess it is just as well that Nanay Curing is blind, as I feel she would weep rivers if she saw what her son has accomplished.
Speaking of mothers, here's an apparent swipe at Noynoy Aquino and the LP:
From Inquirer: "Patay na kanyang ina, sinasama pa...Buti nga nanay ko nakakapagtanggol pa sa kapatid ko. ‘Yung ina nila patay na ginamit pa nila di ba? [Their mother is dead but they still include her… Our mother is still alive so she can defend my brother. Their mother is dead but they still use her)" said Gloria, sister of Manny Villar.
"Sino ba ang unang nanggamit? Hindi ba lahat ng posters niya? Andun ang nanay at tatay niya, so kami ngayon lang kami lumilitaw kasi sobra na, personal na [Who used their mother first? Didn’t they put their mother and father on all their posters? We came out just now because it’s all too much, it’s getting personal]," she lamented.
Ironically, this was in response to a question by a reporter, who had apparently explained that this might be a Villar stunt to use his mother to propr up his sagging campaign, and not in response to a statement from Noynoy or the LP camp.
Here's the thing, and pay close attention: There is nothing similar about how Noynoy and Villar have used the images of their respective parents in their campaigns.
Noynoy has always talked about what his parents taught him, and how he thanks them for making him who he is today. When he talks about his mother and father, he talks about how they treated other people and how they handled themselves, and by extension how he learned to handle himself and his affairs.
Villar, on the other hand, has all but maligned his own parents, blaming their poverty for the death of his brother and making them seem like poor providers, all to bolster the claim that he is a self-made man. When he talks about his mother and father... Scratch that, he doesn't even talk about them other than to reinforce the claim that they were poor, and how he didn't have "famous parents."
There's just no comparison. Noynoy knows and professes that he owes everything to his parents. Manny Villar believes and proclaims that he is solely responsible for his success, with nary a nod to the accomplishements of his mother and late father.
This is, by the way, not just some invention of a fertile imagination. These are statements and conclusions lifted from Villar's own statemens about his prior economic class and of how he "built his own name." Many a journalist have already taken notice and have dug deeper to verify Manny's dubious political ad claims. Much to Villar's chargrin, official records of a variety of shapes and sizes contradict him at every turn: He did not come from a "dirt-poor" family, but grew up in a merchant-class family; his brother Danny dies from leukemia, an incurable disease, and not from lack of money for treatment; the C-5 road, far from being above-board, is highly anomalous and disadvantegous to everyone but Manny Villar's business interests; the Norzagaray farmers' lands were illegally claimed from them by the Villars via fake land titles...
Yet in the face of the overwhelming evidence, Manny's sister Gloria still found choice words for the media:
Again, from Inquirer: "Bigyan niyo naman ng tsansa kapatid ko. Alamin niyo naman ang katotohanan bago kayo magsalita. Yang ABS-CBN na ‘yan masyadong unfair sa kapatid ko yan, Channel 7 very unfair sa kapatid ko...[Give my brother a chance. Find out the truth first before you start talking. ABS-CBN and Channel 7 have been very unfair to my brother],"she said.
"Masyado kayong unfair, you media people, you are unfair. Yang si Clavio na yan si Monsod na yan, my God, ‘di nila kami kilala para sabihin yan [You are so unfair, you media people, you are unfair. Clavio and Monsod, My God, they don’t know us for them to be able to say those things against us]," she said.
To be fair, I have no knowledge of anything that Arnold Clavio or Winnie Monsod have said about the Villar family as a whole, so I can't comment on such a matter. But the fact remains, Clavio and Monsod aren't just rumor-mongers. They have shown evidence to support their findings. They have provided Manny Villar ample opportunity to provide his side. The response? "Black propaganda lang yan." Who is being unfair to whom?
"Yang Channel 2 na yan kung apihin yang kapatid ko sa media, kung bigyan ng airtime ang kapatid ko, hindi makapagtanggol ang kapatid ko sa mga sinasabi ng kalaban e. Ang airtime ng mga kalaban napakatagal, ang kapatid ko pinapasasdahan lang nila ang mukha [Channel 2, they mistreat my brother through media. They don’t give him enough airtime to defend himself against the accusations of his opponents. The other camp’s airtime is so long while they only show my brother’s face in passing]," she further said.
So, I suppose the ad that was created out of this interview is their way of balancing the scales?
All told, I fully understand why they are angry.
What I don't understand is why they have to make a spectacle of their rage.
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