The other Aquino, the other Villar

No, I am not talking about Noynoy Aquino, heir to the heroic image of his parents who both earned an honored place in this country’s pantheon of heroes.

Neither am I talking about Senator Manny Villar, currently the leading bet, according to Pulse Asia, for the coveted Malacañang seat and sure to be fielded in next year’s presidential contest by the Nacionalista Party that he heads.

The Aquino that I am referring to is “Butz” Aquino, the acknowledged busybody of the cooperative movement in the Philippines who refused to live a life of ease after he completed in 1995 his second term as Senator of the Republic. He is brother to the martyred Ninoy, brother-in-law to the iconic Cory and uncle to the famous Kris Aquino of the entertainment world.

And the “other Villar” is really Finance Undersecretary Antonio “Bebot” Villar Jr., a former town mayor in Pangasinan who supposedly engineered a zero vote in his town for the late Fernando Poe Jr. during the 2004 presidential contest. This feat catapulted him from virtual obscurity to national prominence after President Arroyo named him as head of the currently embattled Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG).

Butz Aquino, Bebot Villar - two contrasting personalities who have been thrust into the public view on account of the positions they hold.

One is a private person trying to whip up national enthusiasm for the cooperative movement that he deeply believes could be an effective instrument for the deliverance of the poor from a state of want. The other is a controversial figure besieged with accusations of abuse of authority arising out of what, his critics say, is overzealousness and misplaced efforts in the fight against smuggling. 

But let’s take the coop whiz first.

The supposed clamor for Senator Noynoy Aquino to run for President made me take notice of Butz Aquino — as a point of comparison. And this came out of my view that at this time, it may be inappropriate for Noynoy to seek higher public after serving less than half of his six-year term, and as a neophyte Senator, to boot.

There are also well meaning criticisms of his allegedly undistinguished record as a three-term congressman of Tarlac. (Same point I hold against Chiz Escudero). They feel that Noynoy may need to acquire a good measure of political maturity first before he considers running for president. 

My view From the Stands is that if there is an Aquino who should benefit from the renewed public adulation for this revered name, perhaps it should be Butz Aquino. The former senator is reportedly being considered by some parties for inclusion in their senatorial ticket.

Since leaving the Senate, Butz has been traveling throughout the country, rather unobtrusively, preaching the virtues of cooperativism. For his untiring labor, people in the coop movement elected him as chairman of the Cooperative Center of the Philippines. He is also serving, concurrently, as chairman emeritus of the National Cooperatives Movement.

He was a street parliamentarian during the Martial Law years and played a crucial role in the EDSA Revolution of 1986, together with the other officers and the members of the August Twenty One Movement (ATOM) which he co-founded after the assassination of Ninoy on August 21, 1983.

Among the significant bills he authored as senator from 1987 to 1995 are the Cooperative Code of the Philippines, the Magna Carta for Small Farmers and the Seed Act. He persevered to keep a clean record in public office and up to this time, his name has never been associated with any anomaly.

It is perhaps a measure of the respect he earned from all sides of the political spectrum that although he belongs to the political opposition, the government asked him to represent the country in the funeral and memorial service for the late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who died last week at age 85.

Kim Dae-jung became a close friend of Ninoy when the two of them were living as political exiles in the US. Hence, in attending the funeral, Butz was also representing the Aquino family.

Should he succeed in returning to the Senate, Butz would be continuing the family’s long record of service in that body. His grandfather, Benigno Q. Aquino Sr. was a member of the Senate from 1928 to 1934. Ninoy was senator from 1967 until 1972 when the late President Marcos declared martial law and had him arrested and jailed. His sister Tessie Aquino-Oreta was also senator from 1998 to 2004.

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As for that “other Villar,” politics may also be his recourse after he leaves the PASG. As a presidential appointee, his position is deemed co-terminus with that of President Arroyo whose term ends in June 30 next year. With this inexorable reality, the betting is that he will most likely decide to go back to Pangasinan politics rather than wait for another appointment from the next administration, which is unlikely.

But like the presidentiable Manny Villar who is being accused, unfairly it seems, of graft before the Senate Ethics Committee in relation to the C-5 road project, Bebot Villar is hard put trying to ward off a slew of charges related to his job. For almost two months now, there have been cries from six organizations of legitimate port users for his ouster — and for the abolition of the PASG.

For sure, these charges are being fueled by parties who are being affected by his group’s operations. And by a turf war between his agency and Bureau of Customs personnel who complain that Villar and his men have been performing functions and intruding into an area exclusively reserved by law, for the BOC.

But the Customs zone being what it is, it would be plain naiveté to think that all these allegations against the PASG are groundless.

The PASG head will be the first to admit that as in any government office, there are scalawags in his agency. This much he acknowledged last July when he ordered the grounding and investigation of 19 PASG operatives in connection with the disappearance of replicating machines and other items they confiscated in a raid of a facility engaged in the production of pirated CDs and DVDs.

Villar’s action was an offshoot of his dispute with the Optical Media Board and its chairman, Edu Manzano. In that verbal tiff with Manzano, he had the misfortune of going up against a public official who was not only popular but had also managed to maintain a persona largely considered as being beyond suspicion.

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My email: [email protected]