VILLAR VISITS KASIMANWAS IN ILOILO
Urges Ilonggo graduates to work hard and persevere to succeed in life

Senate President Manny Villar, President of the Nacionalista Party, who traces his paternal roots from the province of Iloilo, has devoted the whole of Friday (March 23) to go around the province of Iloilo. Villars father, the late Manuel Montalban Villar, Sr. hailed from the town of Balasan. It always feels good to be with my kasimanwas and visit places in Iloilo once frequented by my father. As much as possible, I always find time to attend events or engagements in this province, says Villar.

Villars first stop en route Iloilo is the neighboring Roxas City where he will continue his widely anticipated palengke tour. After which, he will be the commencement speaker in graduation ceremonies in four colleges in the province.

Mr. Sipag at Tiyaga will impart his guiding principles of hard work and perseverance to the graduating classes of Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College in Batad, Leon Ganzon Polytechnic College in Balasan, Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College in Estancia and the Iloilo State College of Fisheries in Dingle.

According to Villar, I owe the good values I have to my parents who have taught me the lifelong value of sipag at tiyaga. They have always instilled in me to brave the odds of poverty and make a name for myself through perseverance and hard work.

At a young age of 11 years old, Villar was his mothers helper in selling shrimp and seafood at a public market in Divisoria. Until now, Villars 80-year-old mother, Nanay Curing, still mans a sari-sari store beside her house in a subdivision in Las Pias.

My mother is used to hard work. That is why even in her twilight years, she still wants to be what she refers to as productive. It is her wish to have a store that will keep her busy everyday. So, as her doting son, I have to give in to her wishes. She is a living example of sipag at tiyaga, cites Villar.

Villar went several times in Iloilo last year particularly when his daughter Camille, the reigning Jaro Queen 2006, turned over her crown to the new queen and when he did an ocular inspection of the Guimaras oil spill, the Ilonggo senator pushed for the inclusion of a rehabilitation fund for Guimaras in the approved 2007 national budget.

Villar was also warmly received in the other towns and cities that he visited in the Visayas as part of his campaign trail particularly in Bacolod, Leyte and Negros Oriental.