What if Villar won in 2010

Until I stumbled upon his column in a business newspaper, I didn’t realize how diverse the endeavors of Senator Manny Villar had become since his unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2010.

 I knew he had devoted a large part of his time, money and energies into a foundation that specifically means to help OFWs. I occasionally receive press releases from his office regarding activities of that foundation.

 But I never imagined he would go into business and economic writing, the fact that he is one of the country’s richest businessmen being widely known notwithstanding. Even more surprising is that he writes well enough.

 Yet the thing that really struck me was the simplicity and clarity of his proposition, at least in the article that I stumbled upon. And that got me into thinking about how things would have been different had Lady Luck smiled upon him in 2010.

 Villar was writing about the ongoing tensions in the Spratlys and other contested areas in the South China Sea west and how he felt Philippine foreign policy was being carried out based on the wrong perceptions.

 According to Villar, he does not see the Philippines going to war or China waging any serious armed conflict with other claimants beyond a few skirmishes that could not be helped. To him, the larger interests of China lie with economics, not belligerence.

 I do not know if I can agree with his observation that China has never been known as a conqueror, considering the fact that a great part of its long history deals with great divisions and infighting among several kingdoms before eventually getting unified.

 But I certainly concede that trading makes up a huge part of the Chinese psyche, and that if they can look at us as a market for their products instead of being at the business end of a gun, then that should be the same way we should regard them.

 Everything boils down to the economy, Villar said, and that is a very neat observation considering that whether in times of peace or in war, economies can thrive if handled properly and made to work for whatever they are worth to the world’s nations.

 But the part about what Villar wrote in his column that, to me, really stood out, was his call to all Filipinos for them to take a united stand and speak with one voice “in support of our president’s stance on the issue.”

 I know Villar was the first to concede in 2010. But I did not expect him to rally behind the man who deprived him of the chance to lead this country. Frankly, given our kind of politics, his graciousness in defeat leaves me a little disconcerted.

 By pushing for unity, Villar departs from the ordinary, and that is extraordinary. Most people would have expected relentless sniping among political adversaries, which in fact is what constitutes the main complaint against the sitting president.

 Maybe it is the pragmatic business-oriented mind of Villar that allows him to get over his lost political opportunities and move on with the bigger business of life which is, you guessed it, business. 

 “It all boils down to the economy. We must focus on growing our economy because, in the end, a nation that has a strong economy will have a more credible independent stance in the global arena. 

“A strong economy creates advantages that come together — it provides resources to build up and maintain an adequate armed force, improves our competitiveness in a global market that is increasingly being dominated by China, and gain for us the respect of our Asian neighbors.”