In my over 50 years of journalism, I had one of my best interviews, for two hours, with a tycoon politician, Camille Aguilar Villar, yesterday.
Camille is my No. 1 candidate for senator in the May 12 elections. For these reasons: youth, beauty, brains, heart and experience – in public service and in building a business from scratch into multi-billion enterprise like the P27-billion AllHoldings retail and commercial arm of the Villar Group, today headed by the country’s richest Filipino, Manuel B. Villar Jr.
Youth. Camille is 40, the youngest of the 65 or so senatorial candidates. This is a batch where most of the candidates are senior citizens. The next youngest, re-electionist Manny Pacquiao, is 46. Bam Aquino is 47, and Abby Binay, 49. Yet, the senatorial frontrunners are all past 50 – Ewin Tulfo, 61; Bong Go, 51; Tito Sotto, 76; Ben Tulfo, 70; Bong Revilla, 58; Imee Marcos, 69; Ping Lacson, 76; Willie Revillame, 64; Pia Cayetano, 60.
This is a country founded and built by people in their late 20s and 30s. Emilio Aguinaldo was 29 when he became president. Rizal was a martyr at 35. Jesus Christ was 33 at Golgotha.
(I am a senior citizen). Senior citizens, those above 60, are only 14 percent or 16 million of this country’s population of 120 million and just nine million out of 66 million voters. Seniors have the benefit of, presumably, wisdom and experience. But the young have dynamism, an innovative mind and boldness (some call it recklessness) in decision-making and in seeking the unconventional to solve age-old problems of hunger, poverty, income inequality.
The Philippines has the tradition of electing senators in their mid-30s or early 40s. The minimum age for senator is 35. Ninoy Aquino was senator at 34, Ernesto Maceda and Joey Lina at 36; Manuel Quezon at 38. Manuel A. Roxas and Ferdinand Marcos, who became Philippine presidents, were senators at 42; Sergio Osmeña Sr. and Mark Villar became senators at 44. The current Senate president, Francis “Chiz” Escudero, was 38 when he was elected in 2007, No. 2 in the polls. The Philippines elects leaders who are young.
To be sure, Camille began her political career at 33, when she already had two kids, and when “I have had a fair amount of maturity (in politics).” Politics is not exactly a game for the fainthearted. Still, whenever Camille goes around, campaigning, the inevitable question asked of her is: how old are you?
The average age of the Filipino is 25. The Philippines is the youngest country in the the ten-nation ASEAN. Thailand is 41, Singapore 39, Malaysia 31, Indonesia 31, Myanmar 30, Cambodia 27 and Laos 25. Maybe, if the country were run by younger leaders, would Filipinos be better off?
Brains. Camille has a Management degree from Ateneo de Manila University and an MBA from the prestigious Institution de Estudios Superiores de la Eprese (IESE) Business School in Barcelona, which runs the third best MBA program in the world.
Beauty. This needs no explanation.
Heart. Camille is a mother of two, a boy, Tristan, age 7, and a girl, Cara, 2. She wakes up early for them and sends them off to school every morning. Being a good mother when you are a public servant (congressman for six years), a business executive (for 20 years) and wife to a lawyer husband can be challenging, unless you have a strong and compassionate heart.
As a wife, she does grocery buying so she knows that prices are indeed high and beyond the reach of millions. She will do something about it.
As a tycoon, running the retail and commercial arm of the Villar Group (under AllValue Holdings), Camille knows efficiency, cost control, marketing and producing profit from a product and service, from the palm of her hand.
As a CEO, she knows good service produces good results and consumer satisfaction. AllValue Holdings has under its wing AllHome, AllDay Supermarket, AllDay Convenience Store, Coffee Project, AllSports, AllToys, AllBank, Bake My Day, Finds Finds, Kinder City and Wake Up Café. It is now the fastest-growing full line home center in the Philippines. The Coffee Project coffee shop chain is also the fastest growing. Her vision and entrepreneurial spirit played a critical role in establishing the Villar Group’s mall and retail business.
Only a politician with a heart can feel a people’s suffering, the daily burden of barren existence.
Camille had a difficult first term as Las Piñas congressman, 2019-2022, COVID, the worst pandemic of the century. She managed the crisis with prompt delivery of vaccines and health care to her constituents.
Congressman Villar has crafted her own identity as a public servant dedicated to improving education, especially for the youth and women, strengthening entrepreneurship and supporting small and medium enterprises as effective tools in ending poverty.
Camille’s daily TV stint for one year taught her a great deal – in communicating ideas to the masa, dealing with them, exuding infectious warmth, smiles and sincerity while still protecting one’s privacy.
Finally, the Villar family has rendered a sterling record of public service and entrepreneurship unmatched by any family in the Philippines. Manny Villar is the first post-war speaker of the House who also became a Senate president. In between, he became the Philippines’ biggest home builder, a million units, including condos.
His son, US-educated Senator Mark Villar, modernized the economy with P5 trillion worth of infrastructure, the biggest and best, as the secretary for six years of the Department of Public Works and Highways. The eldest son, Wharton-educated Paolo, the president and CEO of Vista Land, is a genius at numbers and business acumen.
Cynthia’s Aguilar family built once sleepy coastal Las Piñas into a modern metropolis and focused on agriculture.
Camille Aguilar Villar. Heart, beauty and brains. Experience.
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Email: biznewsasia@gmail.com