In Defense of the Indefensible: Thoughts on the words of Nanay Curing and the Villar Siblings

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.

Because Creativity Strikes At the Strangest of Moments

Such as when one is standing two blocks away from his home, fetching water because the piping system in their area is shot to hell.

Modified lyrics courtesy of Ian Castillo (yes, Eric, *that* Ian Castillo)

sung to the tune of "Hindi Bawal Mangarap," as used in the Manny Villar campaign ad:

Di masamang mangarap
ang Pekeng Mahirap,
Basta't may pondo ka galing sa pinahabang daan!

Di masamang mangarap
ang Pekeng Mahirap,
Basta't ang mukha mo ay makapal,
At mayroong masusuhulan!

Going Straight to the Source

Usually, when I need to find out something, I try as much as possible to go to the source of the information to make sure that what I know is accurate. For example, when I submitted my pre-enrollment requirements to UP Law, one of the items listed was a "Certificate of Graduation." The College Secretary's office was kind enough to inform me that if my transcript already contained my date of graduation, then the certificate wasn't necessary. Problem: the copy I gave them was sealed, and I couldn't check it.

So, what else do I do but troop on over the the AdMU Registrar's Office?

The lady at the Registrar's office was kind enough to even look for a sample transcript (of course, she had to hide the name portion, that stuff's supposed to be on a need-to-know basis only) to show me that my records did, indeed, include my date of graduation.

High fives all around.

~ ~ ~

What happens, then, if the source of information cannot be verified to begin with?

For example, take a look at the newest attack on Noynoy's credibility: a forged document, with the Ateneo de Manila Dept. of Psychology letterhead and the signature of Fr. Tito Caluag, claiming that Noynoy had suffered from clinical depression following a beark-up from his ex-girlfriend.

ABS-CBN was the first to break the news story, citing two officers of the Nacionalista Party who had independently (meaning, they had done so separately, and apparently without prior knowledge of what each other was doing) furnished the document. Ateneo de Manila and Fr. Caluag have both since debunked the document as a patent forgery. The statement from Ateneo is here, while Fr. Tito's statement is here.

The Nacionalista Party, of course, denies ever having released the document and has demanded that ABS-CBN divulge the names of its sources. The ABS-CBN, for its part, has opted to protect the anonymity of its sources and has declined to name them.

*Quick Aside: I find it odd that ABS-CBN claims that it must protect its news sources, as no law provides that they can do so. The closest applicable law, the Sotto Law or Republic Act No. 53, only covers print media, and not broadcast media. Although it has not come down to an actual legal challenge, once ABS-CBN is ordered by legal authorities to divulge the names, then they are obliged to do so, for lack of any law protecting their alleged sources.

And yet, even while denying that the document came from the NP, Villar is now using it as a new avenue of attack. How convenient, isn't it, that the document they deny came from them, and whose source the ABS-CBN News crew chooses not to divulge, is now the basis for this new attack strategy?

This new attack avenue may yet backfire on the NP anew. It's only a matter of time before the ABC-CBN News Center will be forced to reveal who supplied them with the fake document. And when that time comes, guess who's going to get egg in their face - again.

Random Musings on the Political Landscape - 0% Law School, 100% Elections

How quick they are to harp over fabricated issues on Noynoy, the latest being his involvement with Best Security Agency. To wit: "Senator Aquino should not try to sweep this episode in his life under the rug as if it were a small, minor thing. It is not minor. He put up a security agency while his mother was president and bagged contracts with government corporations and agencies. I don't know how he can say there was nothing wrong about it," Remulla said in a statement.

As always, the truth is easy to find:

"The truth of the matter is - Sen Aquino divested his 50 shares in Best Security Agency, worth P50,000, as early as 1987 in order to avoid any issue of conflict of interest. Its lone government contract with the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC) was obtained through public bidding and without any intervention from Senator Aquino," said in a statement.

Really, Remulla. To borrow Atty. Tamano's favorite catch phrase, "Everyone knows" that you're so deep inside Villar's back pocket, you may as well be living inside Villar's ass. People will buy that you're generally smart and possibly a good Senatorial candidate. No one believes you the moment you start talking about Noynoy and the Liberal Party. Please, get over yourself.

At the very least, Aquino's involvement in setting up Best Security Agency pales in comparison to Villar's multiple instances of using government resources to benefit his private corporations' interests. Just as Joker Arroyo - assuming he still remembers his speech back in 1998. If he doesn't remember, you can read it yourself here.

This is just anther case of the pot calling the china black.

~ ~ ~

Curious is the NP's latest accusation against Noynoy: That Noynoy, and not Manny Villar, is GMA's secret candidate.

ROTFLMAO!

First off, let's get something straight. The term "Villarroyo" is not an invention of the Liberal Party. It is the invention of Manuel Buencamino, from the group Action for Economic Reforms. This is a crucial distinction, as it is an indication that political observers, and not actual Liberal Party members, could already see the signs of the Villar-Arroyo connection as early as January this year.

Furthermore, it was not the Liberal Party who put the final nail in the Villarroyo signpost: it was Lakas insiders who confirmed that Mike Arroyo had given marching orders to Cebu lawmakers to support Villar instead of Teodoro. Surely, you don't expect us to believe that the Liberals engineered this too? Come on.

~ ~ ~

Most disturbing about a recent article on the ABS-CBN website was this quote from Manny Villar himself, in reference to Aquino's campaign spending:

"I am beholden to no one but myself because I am spending my own money."

The premise of this statement, meant to insinuate that the people behind Noynoy have vested interests, is that in the event that Noynoy wins, he is obligated to pay back the money spent on the campaign, in cash or in kind.

If that is the case, then doesn't the same logic hold for Villar's spending? Should Villar win, who's to stop him from obligating himself to pay back the only person he is supposedly beholden to?

When in Congress, he transformed small millions to large millions. When in Senate, he transformed large millions into billions.

When in Malacanang, will he transform billions into trillions?

I shudder at the thought.

Everything I know about Truth and Justice, I learned from Comic Book Heroes.

(WARNING! GEEK CONTENT! For those who might not know who Dr. Strange is, feel free to look him up here; details about the animated film can be found here.)

It was a time of crisis. A malevolent being of pure energy, Dormammu, had returned to Earth, bent on conquest and destruction. In its way stood Doctor Strange, and his contemporary Wong. Their mentor, the Ancient One, had just died in combat. Someone needed to take ownership of the Eye of Agamotto, an artifact of immense magical power, and assume the title of Sorcerer Supreme, to combat Dormammu.

"Take the Eye of Agamotto, Stephen. Take it, and become the Sorcerer Supreme."

"I do not want this power, Wong. I refuse to take it. I am sorry."

"It is because you do not want it, Stephen, that the Eye belongs to you."

These are approximately (apologies for any inaccuracies, if you happen to know the exact lines let me know ASAP) the lines from Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme, an animated film recently shown on HBO. It is a story about power and destiny, and about the fates of those who lust for power, and those who respect it enough to refuse it.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Certainly, in our world today there is no malevolent being of pure energy, bent on conquest and destruction; instead we have defiant politicians of pure greed, bent on political conquest and self-preservation. Feel free to supply names here. Of particular interest is how Dormammu gained a foothold into Earth from his otherwordly prison: using his vast powers, he lulled children to sleep, in order to create an alternate gateway between his place of exile to our world. Not unlike how some politicians have used their vast wealth and resources in churning out one political ad after another, one jingo after another, to lulling people into a political catatonia. And what better opportunity there is to steal an election: when everyone's unconscious.

Of course, one might argue that buying is not the same as stealing; in any other case that would be correct, but during elections, a bought vote is a stolen vote in every sense of the word. It is a vote that was earned by preying on the weak and taking away their only prized possession - their inborn right to pursue their own liberty and happiness by way of voting a leader who can and will help them achieve this - and leaving them with barely enough to survive the ordeal, whether it be a house and lot in some forsaken wasteland far removed from friends and family, or some piddling meal for the day. It is a violance against the Filipino citizen worse than rape and murder, it is an affront to Filipino freedom worse than unjust imprisonment, it is a slap in the face of Filipino liberty worse than torture.

Last February 25, we had given out shirts to volunteers and supporters in attendance at Araneta Center. Its message was simple: "I am a Filipino, My Vote is NOT for Sale!" Simple words, yet such a bold statement it makes. I hope we continue to spread this message of hope throughout the country as May 10 draws near.

As for Noy and Mar? Well, it's easy to see where the parallelism is here.


"Take the candidacy for President, Noy. Take it, and become the next President of the Philippines."

"I do not want this power, Mar. I refuse to take it. I am sorry."

"It is because you do not want it, Noy, that the Presidency should belong to you."


Cartoon heroes can speak the truth too. And when they do, it is indeed priceless.

Of Young and Old

Bumped into my 1st Grade teacher, Mrs. Garcia, the other day while I was doing the paperwork for claiming my academic records from Ateneo de Manila University. She was as bright and sunny as I remember her, despite having already retired from teaching. Funny, and flattering, if I may say so, that she had asked me for directions around the college campus, mistaking me for a student. (Granted, I was wearing wardrobe my son had selected while I was getting dressed, a Superman logo shirt and casual shorts - interesting how Liam has beter fashion sense that I do, at the age of two.) Surprising though that she recalled who I was just by me mentioning my nickname, a skill I unfortunately never developed during my teaching days.

I had joked that Ateneo was kicking me out, and when I saw that she thought I was serious, I clarified that I was asking for my academic credentials to be transferred to the University of the Philippines as part of my law school application - and in completing this, I could no longer request for my records from Ateneo from that point onwards.

As we went along our separate ways, I couldn't help but think on how long ago it was when I was in her classroom - 13 years! Time seems to have been kinder to her than most others.

At the very least, it's been kinder to her than to my student records. It took the Cashier's Office about half an hour to locate my info; even then they had to contact the Registrar's Office to confirm the details. Even so, I think I'll miss those moments, given the hellish stories I've heard of UP's processes.

~ ~ ~

Most certainly, time has been kinder to Mrs. Garcia than it has to Gilbert Remulla. It seems that rather than sharpening his perception of reality, time has dulled it even more. What other reason could there be, other than this, for him to persistently kick the dead horse that is the Hacienda Luisita issue?

In fact, this seems to be his campaign strategy: Bash Noynoy and hopefully look good.

The veracity of his claims aside, there's one glaring problem to this strategy: his own Presidential candidate and bankroller, Manny Villar.

To date, there are 3 major controversies involving Villar: the C-5 road extension, the landgrabbing issue in Bulacan, and a similar road extension project in Iloilo. And now there's the issue of Villar allegedly paying the NPA "revolutionary taxes" to campaign in rural areas where the NPA operate.

Where is Remulla's fiery challenges in the face of these controversies? Where is Remulla's fierce sense of justice? Where is Remulla's stinging exposes and repartees?

Wherever those things are, they're not likely sharing the same space as Villar's bottomless bank accounts.

See, Remulla, it's this simple: You fight for "truth and justice," you fight for truth and justice wherever the fith takes you. At best, you do no shy away from the fight when it takes you to where the money flows everlasting.

The words of Ernesto Maceda ring true today as they did when they wre first uttered: "So young, and yet so corrupt."

Getting Things Straight

My acceptance letter from UP finally arrived by mail last week, and so I endeavored to drop by UP and let them know I was interested in enrolling this school year (LOLZ, as if I'd pass up an opportunity like this!).

I got to the Office of the College Secretary, handed the letter (and asked them to signed a receiving copy, force of habit), then for convenience's sake, I was asked to complete a few forms. While I was completing the forms, I noticed that one of the documents I had to submit was an official transcript of records.

I asked the lady behind the counter, "Miss, didn't I already submit this before I took the entrance test?"

She checked my file, and found that my transcript had the words "For evaluation purposes" written on it, and thus wasn't acceptable; it either had to be unmarked, or had to explicitly say, "For the University of the Philippines." Good job to my alma mater for messing that up, even after I told them not to do that.

Thanking her, I gave my wife Karen a quick call, as we were supposed to have lunch before I took my pre-work beauty sleep, and she told me to get the transcript request done first. 10 minutes later, I'm staring at the Registrar's Office windows in Ateneo de Manila as they close the shutters and take their lunch break for the day - with me not getting the transcript request done.

C'est la vie.

In any case, it was good that I asked when I saw something odd. Had I assumed that my previous document was sufficient, I would have had egg in my face come April 15, the deadline for documents submission. Not the best of ways to start out a career in law. ;)

~ ~ ~


Interesting factoid: Manny Villar's campaign spending is roughly equivalent to the GDP of Niue, a self-governing nation with a free association with New Zealand. For the GDP it generates, Niue has free WiFi for all its inhabitants. For Villar's spending, we get annoying TV/radio jingles and rehashed game show segments. Something's not quite right here.

Another interesting factoid: The oft-cited Pulse Asia Survey citing Manny Villar as the "most trusted" presidential candidate is not entirely accurate; at the very least, the survey was done at the same time that a Pulse Asia survey showed Aquino and Villar neck-and-neck. Certainly that does not apply today.

Let's also consider our timelines: Pulse Asia "trust rating" survey was done Jan. 22-25. Session discussing the C-5 controversy was done on Jan. 25, with Enrile's "bribery" charge leveled on Jan. 27. Villar makes his 1-hour speech and 30-second exit on Feb 2. Seriously, with survey results so far out of the context, how can anyone take it seriously?

And now this: http://ping.fm/6ohVQ

So, let's get this straight: You want to become President, presumably to help the poor, but you're willing to dupe and lie your way to the Presidency?

Geez. The lady at the Office of the College Secretary at UP Law seems to have more integrity and desire to help than you.