Manny Villar to poll losers: Move on

ABS-CBN News

Posted at 13 May 2016 08:10 PM | Updated as of 13 May 2016 08:54 PM

Photo courtesy of http://www.mannyvillar.com.ph

MANILA - Former Senator Manny Villar has some advice for electoral candidates who lose in the elections: move on.

In his May 10 column for the Manila Bulletin, Villar, a former congressman and Senate president, said elections are "never win-win affairs" and that there are more losers than winners after the polls.

"After the dust has settled, a few will celebrate and our media will focus almost exclusively on the victors. A great majority of candidates will silently lick their wounds," he said in his column.



Villar recalled his own presidential bid in 2010, wherein he placed third behind former President Joseph Estrada and then senator and eventual winner Benigno Aquino III.

The former lawmaker said running a national campaign is no joke since it requires a vast amount of resources and can be emotionally draining. He noted, politics somehow brings out the worst in people, even among allies and friends.

"Aspirants need to endure brutal attacks against their persons, and worse, their families. You go around the country and present your plans to uplift the condition of the Filipinos and your opponents fabricate lies after lies against you," he said.

In the book "Ambition, Destiny, Victory: Stories from a Presidential Election" by Miriam Grace A. Go and Chay Hofileña, Villar ran an expensive campaign - spending an estimated P1.4 billion on print and broadcast ads for the whole of 2009. He also secured the endorsements of Manny Pacquiao, Willie Revillame and comedy king Dolphy, and his "Dagat ng Basura" campaign jingle became famous.

By January 2010, four months before the elections, the Nacionalista Party candidate was statistically tied with Aquino before several negative issues derailed his campaign.

Among the attacks raised against him were the "pekeng mahirap" tag, his alleged alliance with then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the C-5 road controversy, and alleged land-grabbing and stock manipulation issues.

In the book, Villar is described by insiders as the non-confrontational type who chose to let slide many of the attacks against him. Then-Senator Nene Pimentel Jr. recalled how Villar didn't fight back while he was harangued by Sen. Panfilo Lacson on the C-5 issue.

"He was being insulted frontally and he didn't insult back," Pimentel recalled.

In his column, Villar said he wasted no time accepting his defeat in the 2010 presidential race. He congratulated Aquino one day after the elections after the Liberal Party bet gained a four-million vote lead over closest rival, Joseph Estrada.

"When it became clear that the results would not favorable to us, I gathered my team together and discussed the situation, and I immediately called for a press conference to congratulate the eventual winner and wish the country good luck," Villar said.

"By lunchtime the following day, I was meeting with my Vista Land officers to discuss my return to the sphere I love the most: business."

Vista Land, the holding company that provided Villar the resources to seek the presidency, also registered 31 percent growth in net income by the end of 2010. Villar spent three more years in the Senate before stepping down in 2013.

Villar said it is important for losing candidates to move on.

"For the vanquished candidates, the important thing to do is to move on. Do not dwell on pain and disappointment. Conceding is a difficult thing to do for some, especially if they think they have been cheated. But the national interest is bigger than any individual interest," he said.

"It is important for losing candidates to move on. You can recoup the finances you spent. You can recuperate your aching body. You can make new allies. It’s not the end of the world."