Credibility

by Ducky Paredes
from MALAYA

“By wildly lashing out at the three, Villar puts his credibility on the line against that of Gordon. Enrile and Erap.”
– Ducky Paredes

Manny Villar’s problem has always been that the image of himself that he has been projecting has always been too good to be true – a slum kid who swam in a sea of garbage whose parents were so poor that a brother died because they had no money for medicine, gets to be a multi-billionaire and now wants to be President so he can get the poor out of poverty.

Now, with rumors and open accusations of attempted bribery, Villar says his opponents are ganging up on him in a supreme effort to destroy his public image, the better to diminish his chances in the presidential derby.

Villar charged conspiracy after Senator Richard Gordon publicly accused him with this offer: Gordon withdraws as a presidentiable and helps to unseat Enrile as Senate President. In exchange, Gordon gets back all of his campaign expenses and has a reserved cabinet post in the Villar government. Who talked to Gordon for Villar? An emissary but not a senator, according to Gordon..

Was Gordon telling the truth? He dared Villar to join him in taking a lie detector test.

Gordon’s blast came on the heels of a similar accusation aired earlier by former President Joseph Estrada. Erap disclosed that there were feelers from another presidential candidate whom he did not name, to stand down from his presidential campaign. There was also the offer of reimbursement of his expenses.

Then, there was Enrile’s story about Villar himself asking Enrile to desist from continuing the investigation into the accusations against Villar on the C-5. According to Enrile, Villar told him, you help me now and maybe I can do you a favor when you need it.

Are all of the three (and anyone else who might come up with a similar storyline) lying? That is what Villar wants us to believe. They are ganging up on him because he is leading in the run for the presidency. They are all lying, according to Villar.

This has always been Villar’s line: That anyone who comes up with anything against him is only out to destroy him. All accusations are false and we must believe only Manny Villar.

The accusations of malfeasance in the C-5 road project may have prompted Villar to ditch his wonderful slogan of “Sipag At Tiyaga.” Cruel inventive minds converted this into a malicious “C-5 At Taga.”

In all these developments, there is a similarity and uniformity of the charges hurled against Villar. The common thread is the offer of substantial financial inducements.

In fact, Liberal Party vice presidential candidate Mar Roxas pointed to a set pattern in the bribery attempts and reflects that “it seems to be a modus operandi.”

Expectedly, Villar denies any wrongdoing on his part and says that all these charges are part of a conspiracy to derail his presidential candidacy. Villar sees an ongoing demolition job on him and expacts that this will be sustained by his political enemies all throughout the campaign period.

Gordon’s tirade, he said, is nothing but “recycled” accusations concocted by his opponents in the Senate. He pointed out that three of his accusers – Erap, Gordon and Senator Jamby Madrigal – are all running for the presidency and would like nothing better than to see him totally discredited before the voting public.

In a recent interview, DZBB’s Mike Enriquez asked Villat if he had really tried to bribe Gordon and Villar gave a circuitous reply. Here is the transcript:

Mike: Wala kayong inaalok?

Villar: Ako nagkakampanya. Ako eto na meron na kaming plano, may plataporma na kami, may programa na kami at wala na kaming iniisip kung may aatras pa, may hindi aatras, hindi na kami nakiki-alam sa iba. ang sa akin lang assumption, lahat sila tatakbo na, at hindi naman ako yung bayad ng bayad ng ganyan. (I am campaigning. I have here my own plan. We have our own platform, our own program, and we don’t think of whether someone is backing out or not. We don’t interfere in the affairs of others.”)

He also said that he is not in the habit of buying off rivals and critics. But one wonders why he did not simply give a direct and categorical “No!” to the question.

Clearly, the critical element in all these is the credibility of the parties involved.

Vjllar’s problem is that his intro to the voter’s consciousness is a fairy tale. Did he actually swim in a sea of garbage? Did his brother die because they were too poor to afford his medication? His father was a government employee. (According to a source, Manuel Montalban Villar, Sr. was with the Bureau of Fisheries.) His mother had a thriving fish business. They had a private jeep and all the nine children never went to the public schools but instead went to parochial and private schools.

And, considering that he continued to do business (with the government and others) even when he was already house speaker and senate president, how different was he from others in government that had private businesses that their helped to grow using their government posts?

These are elements in the Villar image that need proving, now that he has been accused of unsavory behavior. For him to simply accuse Gordon, Enrile and Erap of engaging in a cabal to demonize him would be stretching credulity a little too far. Instead of helping Villar, his wild blanket accusation actually hurts Villar himself.

Remember the Buddhist saying that when you point a finger at someone, three fingers are pointing at yourself.

By wildly lashing out at the three, Villar puts his credibility on the line against that of Gordon. Enrile and Erap. Then, there is also Villar’s propensity to use money to achieve his objectives, as witness the almost indecent flaunting of his enormous wealth as an instrument to enhance his chances for the presidency. That can even be a turn-off because it shows a lack of respect for the voter – that one thinks he can buy the vote.

There are also those in the business community who say that Manny could not have brought his real estate business to such a high level of success without engaging in some kind of underhanded deals in such areas as securing permits, licenses, and approval of plans to convert agricultural lands to subdivisions. Add to that the common belief that people in government use their offices for their own interests.

Villar’s candidacy has taken a wrong turn. Now, he has us all wondering if it is true that where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

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