OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar I am glad that most of the candidates for president have expressed their willingness to continue, in one form or another, “Build, Build, Build,” which is the flagship program of President Rodrigo Duterte. There was some worry that because...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar We make choices everyday. Some of them are mundane choices — what brand of toothpaste or shampoo to use, what to have for breakfast, where to eat. Some choices are very consequential. For instance, the choice of what to major in college is...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar The ongoing crisis in Ukraine is a grim reminder of how fragile global peace is. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is making everyone jittery about the prospects of a full-scale conflict never seen since World War II. Russian forces have been...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar I was born in the year 1949 and spent my teen years during the 1960s. It was a glorious decade and for many from my generation, the Golden Age in Philippine history. The younger generation would forgive us geezers for reminiscing about the...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar I know our nation is currently faced with a tremendous challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic has been ravaging our lives and our economy for close to two years now. Individually, people are confronted with the daily grind of making sure they can...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar This has been a year of rebounds. We have survived periodic surges of the coronavirus and the ineffectual hard lockdowns that followed increases in daily infection rates. We have survived the loss of jobs and the economic downturn. Not only...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar It’s heartbreaking to see the devastation brought about by typhoon “Odette.” According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the reported death toll has risen to 31. This is expected to increase as...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar Our people deserve a Happy Christmas this year. After prolonged lockdowns, anxiety about their jobs and their future, Filipinos deserve to celebrate this coming holidays with a sense of normalcy and, of course, cautious celebration. And you...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar It is nice to see people going out again. I saw families roaming our malls again, friends chatting over coffee. Strangely, I have missed the cacophony of noises of people talking and coffee machines whirring. After months of “captivity”...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar Young people have always been referred to as the “future of the country.” And they are. At some point, those of us who have had the extraordinary opportunity to serve the country will fade away in the background, and our young Filipino...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar Ah, the twists and turns of Philippine politics. Many people watched with bemusement the events surrounding the filing of candidacy and substitution in the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Supporters of the various personalities involved...
OF TREES AND FOREST Former Senate President Manny Villar Buried in all the political noises surrounding the pre-election skirmishes among those seeking elective positions in 2022 was President Rodrigo Duterte’s participation in the 38th and 39th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)...
