OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar It is true what Indian writer Anita Desai once wrote: “Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” Going to other places are not temporary destinations where you merely stop and go. They stay with you — the beauty and the...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar A statement released by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and picked up by various news organizations has stirred the pot among Filipino netizens online. In the statement dated July 9, 2021, the DTI’s Bureau of Philippine Standards...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar In my column last June 16, 2021 entitled “Can elections be meaningful in a pandemic?”, I discussed the imperative for our election officials to learn from the lessons of countries who decided to push through with democratic elections...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar I express my condolences to the Aquino family and the entire Filipino nation on the demise of former President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino, III who died and was buried last week. As I said in the statement I issued to the press, I admired the...
OF TREES AND FORESTS Former Senate President Manny Villar Last week, the nation paid tribute to two great Filipinos, separated by more than eighty years, who dedicated themselves to the highest level of excellence and to serving the nation. June 19 was the 160th birth anniversary of Jose Rizal, an...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar When we organize elections, our vision has always been to make sure that they are clean, honest and meaningful. They are the benchmark of a democratic system. But given our situation today, we need to add one more: safe elections. Can we...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The coronavirus seems to be creeping outside the National Capital Region (NCR). The Department of Health has expressed alarm over the increase in COVID-19 infections in provinces specifically in Mindanao. It noted that 25% of fresh cases the...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The good news this week was that the country’s vaccination program seemed to have shifted to a higher gear with 229,769 doses administered last May 20 — the highest since we began the program in March. National Task Force against COVID-19...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar I was reviewing my new website ( www.mannyvillar.com.ph ) that we recently launched. It is a beautiful website that includes information about myself and what we have built over the years in terms of our business. It is meant to inform but...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns we have experienced for more than a year now has crippled our economy but it has also resulted to some positive changes that we can take advantage of. These are transformations that we can fully utilize...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar This was the word used by the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) to describe the growing gap between the number of vaccines available to rich countries and the measly numbers given to developing countries. The latter rely mainly on...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar As Filipinos continue to struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic, a different kind of outbreak has caused a shortfall in pork production and subsequently caused a sharp increase in food prices. While the African Swine Fever (ASF), which has...