The Aguilar-Villar Dynasty of Las Pinas City supports Bongbong Marcos for Vice President.
I can't blame them.
The Aguilar-Villar Dynasty had a long history of loyal service to The Dictator Marcos.
The Dictator protected the Aguilar-Villar politics and businesses in Las Pinas until the mid-1980s when he was ousted by Edsa I.
The original Aguilar political king in the city was Dr. Felimon Aguilar.
He served as mayor for more than 25 years and congressman for many terms.
The original business of Dr. Felimon Aguilar was real estate and construction.
He taught his children Vergel Aguilar, Cynthia and Manny Villar, and Bess Aguilar-Masangkay (Muntinlupa) how to master their real estate and financial skills and how to tap their political influence to be billionaires and kingmakers.
The Aguilar-Villar Dynasty survives because it knows how to balance politics and business.
It knows how to use politics to protect its business empire.
That is, regardless of who sits in Malacanang.
Going back to Dr. Felimon Aguilar.
He is the father of Mayor Vergel "Nene" Aguilar and Sen. Cynthia Aguilar-Villar and father-in-law of ex-Senate Pres. Manny Villar.
Dr. Felimon Aguilar was a loyalist of The Dictator Marcos in the 70s and 80s.
He was a member of the monolithic Marcos party called Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) from the 70s to mid-80s.
Fast forward to the 2010 presidential election.
When ex-Senate Pres. Manny Villar ran for president in 2010, he lost to P-Noy.
He wasted billions in his campaign.
The backbone of his campaign was a chopsuey lineup.
He formed a list of candidates ranging from the ultra right (Marcos, et. al.) to the ultra left (Bayan, et. al., the legal alter ego of the communist National Democratic Font [NDF]).
The lineup was inutile.
It was delusional to expect the ultra right and the ultra left to love each other.
It was an unprincipled relationship.
its sole basis was political expediency.
The democratic centrists in the Villar lineup ultimately suffered.
It was called cognitive dissonance.
Manny Villar "acquired" the Nacionalista Party (NP) from the Laurels to catapult him to Malacanang.
The people rejected the NP's unprincipled lineup in 2010.
Today, Bongbong projects that he is a loyal NP member under Villar.
Rep. Mark Villar (son of Manny and Cynthia) calls Bongbong a "party mate" and a "family member".
The insinuation is that Bongbong's father, The Dictator, was a loyal NP stalwart from the beginning.
This is false.
When The Dictator ran for his second term as president in 1969, he did so under the NP only for expediency and survival.
His own party (Liberal Party) had rejected him. Thus, he moved to NP.
The NP was then funded by multi-billionaire Don Eugenio Lopez Sr. and his brother Fernando Lopez.
Fernando Lopez ran as the VP of The Dictator in 1969.
When The Dictator declared Martial Law in 1972, one of his first victims was the Lopez Family.
His cronies took over the businesses of the Lopezes.
In the late 70s, Don Eugenio Lopez died in California with a heart and a mind totally broken and wounded by The Dictator.
The truth is that The Dictator and his family were not genuine NP loyalists.
The Villars and the Aguilars are my friends in Las Pinas as a local Bar leader and trial lawyer.
But I do not subscribe to their unprincipled political support for Bongbong (as VP) and for the whole Marcos Family.
It seems that the Aguilar-Villar Dynasty in Las Pinas follows the belief of presidential candidate Duterte of Davao City.
Duterte, whose father was also a Marcos loyalist and cabinet official, insists that we must move on.
He argues that we must forget the sins of The Dictator and the trespasses of his Conjugal Dictatorship.
The Conjugal Dictatorship left our country in a state of total hopelessness, despair and bitterness.
How can we move on when the transgressors continue to arrogantly portray themselves as heroes and saviors of the Filipino people?
How can we forgive when the transgressors continue to maliciously revise our history to delude our young generations?
I am writing this post to advise the Marcoses, the Villars, the Aguilars, the Dutertes, and others who are similarly situated that the true spirit of human politics is stewardship.
Not power and wealth.
- Atty. Manuel J. Laserna Jr.
Las Pinas City
