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Chapter 2

THE BUSINESSMAN AS POLITICIAN

MANUEL MANNY BAMBA VILLAR JR

Age on Election Day: 60 years old Birthday: Dec 13, 1949

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Party Afliation: Nacionalista Party (NP) Previous position/occupation: Senate president, speaker of the House of Representatives Strengths: Wealthy, experienced lawmaker, self-made entrepreneur-politician Weaknesses: Comfortable working mostly with trusted corporate people, shy, not too articulate Handler/Campaign Manager: Himself

Campaign Taglines: Sipag at Tiyaga; Galing sa Mahirap, Tumutulong sa Mahirap

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Review Copy
IN THE LATE MORNING of May 11, 2010, Manuel Villar Jr conceded defeat to winning Liberal party (LP) candidate Benigno Noynoy Aquino III. The rst to do so among the other contenders, he saw no need to delay his acceptance of the voters apparent choice for president. There was no time to lose as he quickly proceeded to have a lunch meeting with his corporate managers at the 48th oor of his Pacic Plaza unit at the Fort. From where he stood, he had a commanding view of towering buildings nearby and the wide expanse of land below. It felt good to be somewhere in between. To him, work was the best therapy for dealing with what he saw as early as a month before Election Day. I was already anticipating it because dehado ako. I was still hoping, but mabilis ako mag-adjust,1 Villar said. A day later, at about 9 am, his campaign spokesman Gilbert Remulla, also of the Nacionalista Party (NP), dropped by to thank his presidential candidate for the help extended to his own senatorial campaign. Perhaps half expecting Villar to be monitoring the election coverage like most politicians, Remulla was surprised with what he saw. Villars business lieutenants were huddled around a big square table. Although looking a bit tired from the beating he got from his opponents, Villar seemed more relaxed. They were already discussing the status of various real estate projects and what they were going to do next. He was neither sore nor sulking. And Remulla couldnt help but think to himself, Ang galing.2

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80 Ambition Destiny Victory

Minutes later, Gilberts elder brother, Jesus Crispin, or Boying, a member of the House of Representatives, arrived. He and Villar quickly started talking about congressional politicswho the NP would join forces with, how they would try to protect their members who won, and what agreements would be struck with the majority. Clearly for Villar, there was no need to expend energy over what could no longer be undone. Instead, it made better sense to shift to something that could still be shaped, if not created. His life, after all, was something he had created from nothing. As a young kid, he was forced to toil harder than most other boys his age. He had to wake up before daybreak to help his mother sell shrimps early mornings at the Divisoria market in Manila and then go to school once his market chores were done. Villar, the second of nine children, was used to making do with little. Having hardly enough, he was accustomed to taking small bits of food on his plate before his siblings quickly devoured what was on the table. It became a habit he would keep to this day. This would not be the only lesson that youth would teach him. Prone to picking ghts back then, he would shun direct confrontations later in his life. Wala kang maa-accomplish doon eh, he would say. Other friends remembered him telling them, Noong nakikipagaway ako, halos patayan na ehkaya ayoko makipag-away.3 True enough, he became more deliberate in his decisions, choosing to juggle studies and work while in high school at the Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT) and in college at the University of the Philippines (UP). The teenager, Manuel Bamba Villar Jr, or Bamba to his college friends (after his middle name), would excel in Accounting and at the same time nd time to help out his mother with their business. Average and low prole, he graduated two years before Martial Law was declared, armed with a degree in Business Administration, major in accounting. It would be at UP too where he would meet his future wife, Cynthia Aguilar, then a nance student from a well-to-do political family. Her father, Filemon Aguilar, was mayor of Las Pias for seven terms4 before he became congressman of the Las Pias-Muntinlupa district from 1987 to 1992. Having roots similar to Villars, Filemon was the son of a betel nut vendor who managed to send all her nine

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