Villar’s anchor’s campaign on anti-poverty platform

The saying  “It takes one to know one” can very well apply to the anti-poverty campaign of Nacionalista Party president Senator Manny Villar whose rags-to-riches ascent from the slums of Tondo has inspired many poverty-afflicted Filipinos.
In the just-concluded GMA 7 sponsored presidential forum aired on the network’s radio DZBB, Villar scored points with the audience when he spelled out his anti-poverty plans and platform for the country.
“From the very start of my political career, my vision has been to deliver our countrymen from poverty. Katulad ng lagi kong sinasabi, yan ang pangarap na nais kong matupad. Sa kasalukuyan, 90 porsyento ng ating mga kababayan ay naghihirap. Magawa ko lang itong kalahatiin ay masaya na ako. Pero kung mas mapaliit ko pa sa kalahati ay mas maganda syempre,” Villar said in the forum.
Topmost in Villar’s presidential platform is the eradication of poverty in the Philippines. “Providing a lasting solution is a vow that I intend to keep. I want to end the vicious cycle of poor Filipinos getting poorer.  I have a doable plan to make that happen,” Villar has earlier said.
Intensified job creation, entrepreneurship, and agricultural development are among the key approaches that Villar said would help alleviate poverty in the country. “Dapat seryosohin natin ang kampanya laban sa kahirapan. Kulelat na ang ekonomiya natin sa rehiyon at kulelat pa rin tayo sa pagresolba sa problemang pangkahirapan. Lalong dumarami ang bilang ng mahihirap sa Pilipinas.”
A recent study by Asian Development Bank (ADB), ‘Poverty in the Philippines: Causes, Constraints, and Opportunities’,  cited that the Philippines’ yearly poverty reduction rate of 0.47 percent between 1990 and 2005 was slower than in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.  The poverty incidence in the country, cited ADB in its report, will still be in the range of 21.1 percent to 28.7 percent by 2020.
Villar’s credibility is unquestionable when it comes to addressing issues related to poverty. The poor boy from Tondo, having experienced poverty first-hand, can easily relate and empathize with the concerns and plight of the poor. The poor kids in one of his campaign ads asking people if they have experienced poverty at its worst are truly a reflection of Villar, the poor boy from Tondo.  pr