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It's Kumpareng Manny Villar who should submit a psychiatric report
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star 2010-04-11
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Veteran ad man Greg Macabenta wrote in his March 31 AD LIB column (“Murphy’s Law and Manny Villar”) in Business World how the media campaign of my Kumpadre, Manny Villar, backfired and worked against him. Greg also provided Villar with suggested recourses for the downward spiral of his ratings.
Greg Macabenta was my senior at the old AMA (Advertising and Marketing Associates) which was founded by the late Antonio (Tony) R. de Joya — a Philippine advertising titan. Your Chair Wrecker was an Account Manager when Greg was already a young Assistant Vice President leading the ad agency’s premiere Filipro Account Group (Nestle, Milo, Nido and so forth). In between his AMA commitments, Greg wrote scripts for Filipino movies.
Greg opened his column with this: “There’s an axiom in advertising that says, a great campaign can expose a bad product faster — because it persuades people to try the product sooner and to find out how bad it is. It looks like this axiom is being proven true in the case of would-be-president-of-the-poor Manny Villar.”
Greg went on to express appreciation for the media campaign strategy Villar has employed — the “sipag at tiyaga” (diligence and patience), “galing sa mahirap” (rose from the ranks of the poor) claims and catch phrases that were designed to create empathy with the poor. Greg noted though that the campaign execution went overboard and was easily turned around to score against Villar.
The “sipag at tiyaga” handle was punned as “C-5 at taga” (C-5 is the controversial road project Villar was accused of pushing for his personal gain while “taga” is Filipino for cut or extortion). The “galing sa mahirap” handle was debunked, especially Villar’s claim that his brother Danny died because they had no money for proper medical care.
Further damage emanated from Villar’s scandalous campaign spending in the billions which many folks feared he will try to recoup with interest if he wins. And the coup de grace, per Greg, was the “Money Villarroyo” issue — people’s belief that Villar is the secret candidate of Madame Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA).
Greg offered the following recourses for Kumpareng Manny to consider:
“OPTION ONE: Fire his creative brain trust. In fact, burn them on a stake for not allowing facts to get in the way of their fiction.
The trouble with that is, Villar can’t be sure that the replacement will be better. In fact, at this stage of the campaign, all the creative brains-for-hire in Manila are already busy on the campaigns of other candidates.
OPTION TWO: Fire the columnists, newscasters, and commentators in the Villar payroll. Apparently, these folks have lost all credibility and anything they say FOR Villar is taken AGAINST him by the public.
The trouble with that is, these AC-DC journalists (attack-and-collect, defend-and-collect) will probably be merrily writing for another batch of presidential candidates the next day. Maybe, Villar should just pay them to STOP WRITING and STOP TALKING.
OPTION THREE: Resurrect Garci and Lintang Bedol and bring back the Hamburjer Man into the Comelec.”
The way the Villar camp has been acting like a mortally wounded tiger lately would appear that they’ve not read the lessons offered by Greg Macabenta. They don’t seem to realize and understand that they’re suffering from a loss of credibility which Villar’s rating erosion in all socio-economic classes would indicate.
We know that the “Money Villarroyo” issue is lethal after seeing it destroy the chances of Gilbert Teodoro to become president. Both the Philippine Daily Inquirer and ABS-CBN, citing reliable sources from the administration party who wished to remain anonymous, ran news stories about First Gentleman Mike Arroyo’s reported campaigning behind the scenes for Villar.
It is doubted if the “surprise” visit of Madame Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) to the Lakas Kampi CMD Executive Committee meeting last Tuesday and her reported order for the party to go all out for Gilbert Teodoro swayed those who are already convinced that Manny Villar is indeed the secret candidate of GMA. To “Mike Villarroyo” believers, the GMA action was intended to protect her secret candidate.
How did the Villar camp attempt to deflect this “Mike Villarroyo” issue? They claimed that it is actually an Aquino-Arroyo alliance as supposedly proved by the number of Noynoy Aquino’s relatives — two Aquino aunts and an uncle — working for GMA.
The Villar camp assertion disregards the fact that Cory and Noynoy Aquino were vigorously at odds with GMA ever since the Garci scandal exploded, after Cory consequently asked GMA to resign. While Villar’s companies were never touched by GMA, Hacienda Luisita has long been the target of GMA reprisal.
This Aquino-Arroyo gimmick also proves that Villar is willing to desecrate the memory of a Philippine national treasure whom the world had hailed as an “Icon and Saint of Democracy” after she died. Cory Aquino had admitted many times that she had never experienced viciousness in attempting to defame her and her family – not even from Marcos – compared to what she experienced from GMA.
Does that desecration of the memory of a good person like Cory Aquino surprise you – considering how Villar used the circumstances of the death of his brother to promote his presidential ambition? What else is Villar willing to desecrate and defile in order to attain his ends?
Then there is this fake Ateneo psychiatric report about Noynoy Aquino which coincided with Senator Alan Cayetano’s TOPAK (mental instability) spiel during a presscon. The report was immediately denounced as a fake by the Ateneo University and Fr. Tito Caluag, the supposed psychologist.
ABS-CBN’s Maria Ressa confirmed that the fake report was furnished ABS-CBN by two people from Manny Villar’s camp at a time when it was not even posted yet on the internet. Exposed for being the source of a fake report, Villar’s camp denied that they furnished it. Between a highly respected broadcast journalist like Maria Ressa and Manny Villar, whom would you believe?
Despite the fact that the report was a fake, Villar had insisted in his DZMM interview yesterday that Aquino should submit a full disclosure on his physical and mental health. That for one tends to corroborate that the fake report did come from Villar’s camp. He still pursued a non-issue, the mark of a desperate man resorting to desperate measures.
It is Kumpareng Manny Villar who ought to submit a psychiatric report on his mental health. He has consistently displayed an inability to grasp reality and the truth.
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