Villar's mother bats for son's presidential bid on 'Wowowee'

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Manny Villar’s mother made an unexpected appearance in one of the country’s most popular noontime variety shows yesterday and inadvertently campaigned for her son, who is among those expected to run for president in 2010.

Wowowee host Willie Revillame, after introducing “Nanay Curing” during the program’s Willie of Fortune segment, asked her who she would vote for, without referring to a specific elective position.

“Of course my son,” replied Villar’s 85-year-old mother, who appeared in one of his political advertisements in the past.

Nanay Curing was first seen on television as a loving mother who still insisted on running a small sari-sari store despite her son’s status as one of the richest members of the Senate.

On Wowowee, she even encouraged Revillame to vote for her son.

Revillame laughed after hearing Nanay Curing’s answers to his “political question” but laughed even harder at how she described his antics as a host as “drama.”

He then introduced other members of the audience who also belonged to Villar’s family and supporters.

Villar has been appearing in a number of infomercials for the past months. The infomercials show him helping abused overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) return to their families.

Villar himself did not join his mother in the live audience pool of Wowowee as he is reportedly in Spain to visit the cities of Barcelona and Bilbao from May 2 to 10.

Just last Saturday, Wowowee guested another presidential hopeful, Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, who publicly announced his engagement with ABS-CBN news anchor Korina Sanchez.