NACIONALISTA PARTY (NP) standard-bearer Sen. Manuel Villar arrived in Hon Kong Saturday afternoon to meet with Filipino migrants and influential lay Catholic leaders, including Bro. Mariano “Mike” Velarde of the charismatic group El Shaddai.
Villar was to meet with Couples for Christ leader Frank Padilla and other CFC elders Saturday night. On Sunday he is to attend the Chinese New Year celebration of El Shaddai’s Hong Kong chapter.
Shortly before she herself flew to the former Crown Colony, Villar’s running mate, Sen. Loren Legarda, said the two of them were “the only ones invited by Brother Mike.”
Legarda told the Inquirer by phone that Velarde had personally extended the invitation to her and Villar to attend Sunday’s gathering in Hong Kong, which hosts nearly 100,000 Filipino voters.
The gathering is to be held on Chater Road at the central business district, where Filipino domestics congregate on Sundays.
Politicians running for national or local posts always seek the support of religious groups such as El Shaddai and Iglesia ni Cristo, which is known to vote as a bloc during elections.
Long friendship
On the phone with the Inquirer in Manila, Velarde’s spokesperson Mel Robles confirmed that among the presidential candidates, only Villar was invited by the El Shaddai leader to join him at Sunday’s gathering.
Robles, who was also in Hong Kong to take part in the Chinese New Year celebration, left it to Velarde to say whether he would endorse Villar and Legarda.
But he confirmed that among the candidates in past and coming elections, the NP standard-bearer was the closest to Velarde.
Robles, the administrator of the Light Rail Transit Authority, also chairs Buhay, the El Shaddai party-list group.
“Their friendship goes a long, long way. Compared to all others in the past, this one has the longest friendship with him,” Robles told the Inquirer on the phone.
According to Robles, Villar has enjoyed Velarde’s support since he first ran for congressman up to the time he became Speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate President.
Explaining the friendship, Robles said Velarde was one of the pioneers of mass housing in the country, and Villar used to supply sand to his business.
Velarde reportedly ventured into the residential subdivision business in the 1980s after graduating from the University of the East with a degree in geodetic engineering.
Like Villar, Velarde’s property was also deemed to have benefited from the controversial C-5 road extension project. But the Senate decided not to include the politically influential church leader in its investigation.
Verbal, nonverbal clues
In a statement sent to the Inquirer through Robles later Saturday, Velarde confirmed that Villar was the only presidential candidate invited to join him at Sunday’s gathering.
But when asked if he was supporting Villar’s candidacy over the others, Velarde merely said: “We go a long way back and we’re very close friends.”
Short of confirming that his boss was inclined to back Villar, Robles said the invitation for Villar to join Velarde in an El Shaddai event was “out of the ordinary.”
But he added that as a matter of policy, Velarde did not openly endorse candidates but merely gave verbal or nonverbal clues for his flock to “discern” during El Shaddai prayer rallies in Parañaque City close to Election Day.
Robles also said that if there was someone Velarde was “openly and wholeheartedly endorsing,” it would be the Buhay party-list group, of which his son Rene is a representative.
Villar arrived on board a Cathay Pacific flight at around 2:40 p.m. with his wife, Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar.
The senator is expected to attend Mass at the Church of the Annunciation in Tsuen Wan district before having dinner with Padilla and other CFC leaders.
He is to also meet Sunday with leaders of the militant group Migrante before attending the El Shaddai celebration.
Villar’s NP has allied with the militant Makabayan alliance, which has a strong presence in the Filipino community in Hong Kong.
According to Migrante, Hong Kong has one of the highest number of registered voters among overseas Filipino workers, and had the highest voter turnout overseas during the 2004 and 2007 elections.
Loren’s adviser
Legarda disclosed to the Inquirer that it was Velarde himself who had advised her to run with Villar.
“I was consulting him last year on who to run with after Chiz (Sen. Francis Escudero) bolted the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC),” Legarda said.
“Chiz is gone,” she quoted Velarde as saying. “Don’t look too far. You should be with Manny (Villar).”
Escudero had earlier been groomed to be the NPC’s standard-bearer, with Legarda as his running mate. But he backed out at the last minute.
Legarda said she and Velarde meet for lunch almost every month.
“The last time we had lunch together, he was with his daughter and son,” she said.
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