Senator Manny Villar’s stand on environmental issues and other concerns

Posted by Ganns on Jul 17th, 2009 in 2010 Elections, Filipino Environmentalist, Politics | 8 comments

Author’s Note: Ganns Deen welcomes invitations from Filipinos seeking national office to sit down to discuss issues on environment, education, and family issues, including health care. All political features on GannsDeen.com are meant to inform the public about these public servants’ stands on this blogger’s personal advocacies. In no way are these features intended to be endorsements for any public servant.

Earlier today, I had the opportunity to sit down with Senator Manny Villar to discuss his stand on environmental issues and other concerns. Senator Villar, who has already declared his intention to run for president in 2010, was gracious and open enough to answer many of my questions, the answers to which are provided in summary below.

General Environmental Stand: Senator Villar has a long history of legislative support for environmental issues. If you visit his website, under the Records section, you will find a substantial list of the acts he has filed in Congress, an overwhelming majority of which are related to either environmental or education concerns. He hesitates on calling himself a Filipino environmentalist, preferring instead to just focus on doing the environment well, and leaving the technical know-how to his colleagues who are experts on those subjects. Ganns’ note: A follow-up question, regarding how many of these acts were actually signed into law, resulted in a promise to update his website with information on precisely that.
Urban greening programs. Senator Villar claims that, through his terms as congressman of Las Pinas City, private real estate developer (Camella and Crown Asia), and senator of the Republic, he has been involved in the planting of more than a million trees. There were no trees in Tondo, he says, but when he pursued a college degree at the University of the Philippines, he was awestruck by the greenness of the campus. “It was paradise,” he said, “when you come from Tondo.” He loves gardens, apparently, and would support initiatives to beautify urban jungles with the development of inner-city parks and recreational areas for the public; he notes that it increases people’s positive perceptions of their neighborhood. He suggests encouraging volunteer or minimal pay schemes to encourage people to invest in building a local environment in which they would be happy to live; said environment would also promote eco-tourism. (Las Pinas has a bamboo museum.) Ganns’ note: While eerily along the lines of Imelda Marcos and Lito Atienza, I’m inclined to agree with him. Give the people a stake in their surroundings, you give them ownership of the area, and they then become shareholders in the clean vision of and for their homes and workspaces. By encouraging his constituents and making it an integral part of his business, Senator Villar puts his money where his mouth is.
River rehabilitation. Senator Villar claims a personal stake in the ongoing river rehabilitation in Las Pinas. He says it is the most successful local river rehabilitation in the country thus far. While he wishes it could support life, i.e. fishes and other marine life, it isn’t at that point yet, but he believes it will soon arrive at that point. Ganns’ note: Sen. Villar spoke of the utilization of a unique fishing barge that scooped out waste from the rivers in Las Pinas; I can’t help but wonder if said barge, if combined with an effective information program that stopped Las Pinas residents from dumping their waste into the river, is truly responsible for the river rehabilitation. If so, the folks responsible for the Pasig River rehab may want to sit up and take notice.
Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Senator Villar does not support any efforts to revive the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, largely because it is a moot point. We cannot afford the maintenance of the plant and the infrastructure of Bataan isn’t ready to support it. He then expressed a desire to focus instead on urban management, noting that when one develops the countryside, one declogs the urban areas and therefore reduces urban energy expenditure. This, in turn, spreads energy consumption over a larger area and causes less stress on already overworked urban infrastructure and resources. Ganns’ note: I initially assumed Senator Villar was giving me a runaround when he asked me about the BNPP’s viability; he later expressed a personal take in the issue: his mother hails from Bataan.
Urban Waste Management. As mentioned earlier, Senator Villar supports projects to develop outside the metropolis, therefore moving more people away from the cities and reducing urban waste across the limited space allocations for said cities. He co-sponsored and lobbied for the Clean Air Act, much to the dismay of former president Joseph Estrada. Villar claims most members of the majority coalition at the time did their best to block the Clean Air Act (which would result in significant losses for public transport that was non-compliant with the law, as well as oil companies who would otherwise benefit from a Clean Air Act-less society. Ganns’ note: the Clean Air Act has its own Achilles heel: it has resulted in higher urban waste production, a necessary byproduct of our departure from the use of incinerators to deal with garbage. To date, Sen. Villar admits, they are searching for alternative urban waste management solutions. His closest solution: countryside development to reduce urban waste production.)
Hybrid cars. Senator Villar does not support moves to exempt hybrid cars from taxes if imported into the country. Instead, he advocates the pursuit of local technologies that would reduce local transportation’s dependence on oil and production of air waste, in turn reducing our carbon footprint. He says the technology for electric cars will be a reality sooner or later; he advocates the local production of said forms of transportation once the technologies are more affordable. Ganns’ note: Senator Villar made no bones of it: only the rich would benefit from tax exemptions on hybrid cars given the high cost of these cars in the first place; they can afford to pay the taxes.

With regard to other issues of importance:

Senator Villar advocates healthy competition. He believes it mandated and acceptable to offer rewards and incentives to top performers across all levels of civil society, from sports to businesses t0 education.
He does not support RH Bill 5043.
He would prefer the other Manny staying away from politics. (Y’all know which Manny that is.)
He denies any wrongdoing in the alleged C5 double-entry issue. (More on that in Noemi Dado’s post here.)
He believes Noli de Castro’s housing program is “good.” He says we should not suffer a real estate collapse like the United States because we aren’t sub-primed. (Whatever that means.)
As of this writing, he does not have the means nor has made the decision to accept campaign contributions. He says the law compels all candidates to disclose the list of who contributes to their campaign kitties.
He feels the need to advertise simply because his name does not elicit the same kind of recognition afforded other aspirants to the presidency, many of whom have storied careers in media to ensure their higher name recall. His latest series of advertisements, he claims, were unscripted and shot at his ancestral home in Tondo. (The outside of his home was not shown, he says, because the MMDA had apparently painted it pink and written “Metro Gwapo” on its walls.)

Quotable quotes:

“Puno lang ng puno.” So simple, so true. One of the best ways to reduce global warming, from a man who put his money where his mouth is.
“Entrepreneurial revolution.” Senator Villar believes a long-term solution to our ecoomic woes is to encourage more people to set up businesses. Despite the government’s rather inept system for business registration and maintenance, he says people looking to succeed as entrepreneurs need to move despite the obstacles. (The good senator has obviously never read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers; he owes his success to a lot more than just a killer work ethic).
“Develop the passion. Masarap ang may business!” Some people may not be cut out to become entrepreneurs, but the man thinks like one and believes the country should be managed like a corporation.

My personal takes on Senator Villar as a person:

Senator Villar spoke largely in Taglish, even to primarily English-speaking me. He did not use flowery language. He spoke directly and to the point.
He dressed simply. If he had any bodyguards, they did an excellent job of staying incognito.
He made it a point to throw in personal anecdotes or points of conversation that would resonate with the “interviewers” present. When asked about comics, for instance, he went into how he would borrow books from a nearby public library, and used that as a stepping stone to talk about the need to globalize our arts and culture scene.
His three children joined him for the interview. They struck me as personable, with good heads on their shoulders and a diverse set of interests. Paulo, in particular, engaged me in a discussion on my pet project, urban green roofing as a solution for city warming and flood prevention via runoff reduction, and promised to research more about that with his brother Mark. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Camille. (I usually don’t get to talk to pretty ladies, except to gawk and emit strange noises.)

My thanks to Senator Villar’s team for extending me the invitation to chat with Senator Villar. You may also read about other bloggers’ advocacies in their interviews: Chuvaness weighs in, as does Jude Turcuato, Sonnie Santos, and Jonas Diego. Did you enjoy this blog post? Please read about green roofs.

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8 Responses to “Senator Manny Villar’s stand on environmental issues and other concerns”

jayvee f. says:

July 17, 2009 at 10:49 am

sat in one of these before during the senatorial elections and he had camille there as well. she’s really nice!

Her brothers were equally articulate and charming. Quite a family, I have to admit.

Thanks for swinging by, Jayvee!
currystrumpet says:

July 17, 2009 at 11:27 am

“The country should be managed like a corporation.” One SEAsian country that is run like a corporation and has been tremendously successful in part because of this outlook comes to mind: Singapore.

I find MV’s view on entrepreneurship as cure-all a bit simplistic; however if he actually manages to cut down all the red tape that comes with doing business in the Phils, it would definitely benefit not just local entrepreneurs, but woo back foreign investments as well.

Hello, currystrumpet! Thank you for passing by.

There are many who believe that the Philippines should not be run like a corporation, for a variety of very good reasons, and I wouldn’t want to head into that whirlpool. I know little on the subject. I do agree, with you, however, that a country run like a corporation, such as Singapore, is a strong example and model that may not hurt us to emulate on a variety of platforms and degrees.

I can safely assume his economic plan is a lot more complex than he would make it out to be. I haven’t seen it in its entirety, and were I to actually see it, I certainly would not claim to fully understand it. (That I got a B+ in university economics is still a mystery to me.) Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, as I mentioned earlier, attributes success to more than just a killer work ethic, and yes, I think entrepreneurship is not the cure-all.

(When I brought up that government bureaucracy makes it difficult to start a business, he said “do it despite the government.” I was a bit turned off by that reply, not because of its “suck it up, poop happens” mentality, but because it seemed to almost support the labyrinth of red tape & difficulty that comes with starting up a business. Small wonder the underground economy that doesn’t declare it exists, thrives. I know a true entrepreneur perseveres despite the difficulties; it seems a little cold-blooded, however, to not even hint at possibly setting up one-stop places for starting a business. Yes, that’s too simplistic. Je suis simpleton.)

However, I am inclined to agree with him that it is high time we work within our own localities to pump prime our own economy. We are so dependent on external factors – income generated from jobs from abroad, primarily – that it leaves us at the mercy of global economic whims. If national self-sufficiency is one of the greater goals, I think a steady push from personal job and income generation would be a good step in the right direction.
ella says:

July 18, 2009 at 1:18 am

he does appear to be nice in these interviews but one reason i am iffy about him is his anti-obscenity bill

this thing probably began with good intentions but ended up becoming a badly written bill.

there is a clause that bans what they term offensive material (ex: depictions of sexual acts, showing nude human bodies) regardless of the motive of the author. again, regardless of the motive.

this will basically render medical books that show human anatomy bannable material. amorsolo’s nude paintings, again, bannable material.

john silva explains the point best here.

Hi Ella! Thanks for swinging by.

I’m surprised I forgot to mention that! He actually talked a bit about that bill. In a nutshell, he acknowledged that act was not written well. He sponsored it when it was brought to him – many bills that senators sponsor are actually presented to their offices – but when he submitted it, he realized how constraining it was. Pati siya, may mga paintings siya that would be banned under its provisions.

Basically, he abandoned its pursuit. I don’t think it will be signed into law without its main proponent championing it, and without any other senator seeking to pursue it (or modify it), I doubt it’ll pass. I’m sure it was a lesson to him – and his staff – to take a closer, less haphazard look at the materials they present to Congress.
wilson chua says:

August 6, 2009 at 10:38 am

I respect that you support manny villar, although his brother is a friend of my dad and some of my relatives are also friends of the aguilar clan (my aunt’s husband is a relative of cynthia aguilar), I was truly not impressed on how he handled his senate presidency. At a huge amount of expenses he has during this campaign, many believe that he will eventually get back this amount of money if ever he wins. Many businessmen in the real estate industry and political commentators believes that his company will surely benefit from the “murang pabahay” project and that “ghost biddings” be the way of his government to make money. Especially that he has been implicated in the C5 project insertion to benefit his company in the right of way issue, many more will surely hound him. I also am not sure if his real estate developments will benefit more filipinos especially that the environment will be sacrificed. I saw some places in which his company cut down long standing trees to make way for subdivisions that are until now still uninhabited. Many also fear that the philippines will be a “country of concrete” (subdivisions) but can no longer feed itself since agricultural lands are converted to private properties. Kung sabagay….marami naman daw syang friends who will benefit since they are involved in importation of rice and other food products. We will end up being the No. 1 food importer in the world. He also dindnt have a good stand in population control and I am not sure on whether he has submitted a bill to improve education. I am not expecting you to post this nor delete it but we are happy to state our point. But to balance the equation, I support his crusade to promote entrepreneurship among the youth and being a good friend to people who knew him personally.

Hi Wilson,

Thank you for your comments; I appreciate them very much. Let me make myself clear: I have not indicated my support of Manny Villar for president. I am merely reporting to you the results of my talk with him at Bo’s, when I discussed with him some environmental issues that were close to my heart. I have not yet decided who to support for president. Senator Villar is one of two political aspirants with whom I’ve met; the other is Senator Kiko Pangilinan, although I did not meet him in the context of candidate as much as it was in the context of blogger to blogger shooting the breeze.

I think a lot of what you’ve mentioned is, to be honest, hearsay. We assume he will make his money back in corruption if and when he is in power (as if he needed to, being one of the Philippines’ top billionaires). We assume we will end up being the No.1 food importer in the world because you assume he will support his friends who import rice and other products. These doomsday predictions are, quite frankly, gossip; they’re based on assumption and third-party information. Unless these “many people,” these “businessmen in the real estate industry” and elsewhere are willing to step forward and accuse Senator Villar in a public arena, I’d prefer to give Senator Villar the benefit of the doubt.

I am hoping other presidential candidates will give me the opportunity to meet with them so we can discuss their history of support for the environment. As far as Senator Villar is concerned, he has indicated that his company makes it a point to plant several trees for every tree uprooted for his pabahay projects; there are government laws that require these housing companies to plant trees to replace the ones destroyed in the course of “urbanization,” and I think he abides by these laws. He has also filed several education-based bills, all of which are available on his website. (I’ve asked his web team to update it to indicate which of these bills have actually been signed into law.)
hxayin laisium says:

January 11, 2010 at 8:30 pm

no,,, i wont vote manny villar bec. i know that he currupt all the people that living here,,, which his commercial..he only do that so all people will vote him ,, but me i will not vote manny villar.. i know that he is not good to ba a president…. i know that the best and good person taht can be sit in the president.. is only “NONOY AQUINO”

Okay. It’s Noynoy, by the way.
rosing says:

January 13, 2010 at 9:21 am

how could he manage the whole country when he’s not able to do it in his own company…a lot of occupants in his developed??? subdivision complained for such a long time about flooding, insufficient water supply…substandard materials being used…etc…and yet no actions taken…magtanong kayo sa mga naninirahan sa kanyang subdivision …bigyan namang pansin kahit ang maliit na bagay na ‘to..

I’m a tiny little blog. Buti kung dumaan dito si Manny Villar.
alyssandra g. acayen says:

January 23, 2010 at 12:14 pm

VILLAR ANO PO BANG GAGAWIN NYO ?PARA SA MAHIHIRAP REPLY NYO PO

Hi, Alyssandra, I’m sorry, pero hindi po ako si Manny Villar. You can reach him through his official website here.
honey grace says:

February 1, 2010 at 1:19 pm

hi,
kumusta ang buhay ng mayaman na manny villar…………………… ikaw ay isang manloloko sabi mo sa kanta mo na tunay kang mahirap pero mayaman ka pala. pag may project mayroon kang 10% sa ilang projects sa government

Hi Honey Grace! Hindi po ako si Manny Villar.