Filtered By: Topstories
News

We started poor, Villar insists, denying that he faked poverty


We started poor, Nacionalista Party standard bearer Senator Manuel Villar Jr. said, denying accusations that his family was not as poor as he claimed to be. He also denied using his deceased younger brother to advance his campaign. “Ngayon may mga grupo na nagtatangkang guluhin at siraan ako na hindi daw kami mahirap dati. Nais kong ulitin noong araw, ako po ay ipinanganak…kaming lahat na magkakapatid, dun kami sa 500 Sta Maria, Moriones street, kanto, at dun po kami, 9 kami na isang banig, isang kulambo. Nagtitinda kami ng nanay ko ng hipon," the senator told reporters. (Now there are groups out to malign and destroy me by saying that we weren’t really that poor. I just wish to repeat that I and all of my siblings were born at 500 Sta. Maria St. at the corner of Moriones. Nine of us shared a native mat and mosquito net. At that time, I was helping my mother sell shrimps.) An email sent by "Truth Be Told" enumerated a summary of the accusations why Villar cannot claim he was poor. The message contained a copy of the Transfer of Certificate of Title of the Villar's house at Bernando Street, San Rafael Village, North Balut, also in Tondo, which indicated that Villar's family owned property. The message also contained a death certificate of his brother Daniel who died of leukemia in 1964 and a copy of the column of Winnie Monsod which saw print in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Villar said his mother was never a wholesaler or broker of shrimps but a simple vendor. He explained that because of their condition, his father Manuel Sr., a government employee, decided to secure a P16,000 loan with the Government Service Insurance System, (GSIS) to buy a lot at San Rafael Village in Balut, Tondo in 1962. He said the place then was still undeveloped. “Nakalubog yung subdivision na yon. Nung dumating kami dun, halos mga lima, ang bahay dun, baka sampu…hindi yun first class. Doon kami lumipat, unti-unti naming pinalaki ang bahay na yon, nagsimula yun sa two bedrooms (The subdivision was submerged in floodwater, When we transferred there, there were only five to 10 house. That is not a first class subdivision. We started with two bedrooms)," Villar said. The senator said his family then cannot be considered as belonging to the middle class. “Ang pinag-uusapan natin dito, kung very poor o poor lang. Pero tanungin mo ang isang empleyado ng gobyerno kung sasabihin sa ‘yo na mayaman siya…dating very poor, naging poor ka na lang, hindi po mayaman yan (Ask any government employee if he would say that he is rich. From very poor we managed to raise our level to poor, that is not considered as rich)," he said. He also denied that they bought a property in Antipolo City. Villar further said that bringing his then sick brother, Danny, to the Far Eastern University does not mean they were well-off. He was surprised the issue was being given attention now as his leukemia-stricken brother was confined at the charity ward of the hospital. He said had they had enough money that time, they would have brought him to a hospital. “Kung saan-saan lang namin dinadala. Nung mamamatay na ang kapatid ko ay napilitan kaming dalhin sa ospital. Nangutang kami ng pera, at sa charity (ward) pa (We brought him elsewhere, we did not immediately brought him to hospital. When he was already dying we decided that we should seek treatment at the hospital. We borrowed money so we could bring him at the charity ward)," Villar said. Danny, 3, died 13 days after being brought to the hospital. He explained: “Dadalhin mo sa ospital ang bata, bahala ka na mangutang. Pag mamamatay na ang mahal mo sa buhay, basta bahala na. Dalhin mo sa ospital, tsaka ka na mangungutang ng perang ibababayad (When your loved one is dying, you would bring him to hospital no matter how much the cost would be)." The senator said his brother was serviced by Funeraria Paz because that was the only funeral parlor available at that time. Asked why the issue was being thrown at him, he said his campaign message is getting through so some people would want to justify why they are supporting the candidacy of a hacendero, apparently referring to his closest rival, Liberal Party standard bearer Senator Benigno Simeon Aquino III. Aquino’s family owns the Hacienda Luisita, a sugar plantation in Tarlac province. “Sa tingin ko nakikita nito na tumatalab naman yung isyu na tayo ay galing sa hirap, kaya nire-raise nila... Siguro para ma-justify kung bakit haciendero ang kanilang kandidato bilang pangulo (I think they are seeing the effectiveness of our campaign message, that I was able to rise from poverty. Maybe they just want to justify the hacendero they are supporting)," the senator said. - GMANews.TV

LOADING CONTENT