Villar insists he comes from poor family

Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar Jr said his father may have earned above the minimum salary in the 1960s, but it doesn't mean that they were not poor. Interviewed by reporters at the sidelines of a presidential forum Monday night, Villar said the P448 his father was earning in 1961—equivalent to P35,392 in today’s money, based on GMANews.TV’s computation—was insufficient to cover the expenses of his nine younger siblings. "Sa kanya lang umaasa [yung mga kapatid niya] dahil siya ang pinakamatanda sa lalaki (All his brothers were dependent on him financially because he was the eldest son in the brood)," he said. Manuel Sr. was then a rising official in the then-Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

"Poorer than us" Villar added that despite the financial support, some of his fathers’ siblings were not able to finish their studies. "Siyam din silang magkakapatid at sila mas mahirap pa sa amin (My father had nine siblings and they were poorer than us)," he said. Villar, a self-styled billionaire who claims to have come from a dirt-poor family, also said that he doesn’t agree with GMANews.TV’s computation. “Hindi ako sumasang-ayon sa suweldo na yan, hindi ko malaman kung me P35,000 [yung halaga ng pera] nung mga panahon na yun (I don’t agree that my father’s salary is equivalent to P35,000 today)," he said. Villar was reacting to the GMANews.TV report that said Villar’s family, by today’s standard, can be classified as middle class. Quarrels The senator said his parents often quarreled about his father’s support to his siblings. "Madalas nilang pag-awayan yan dahil sinusuportahan pa ng tatay ko yung kaniyang mga kapatid. Siyempre humihingi kami ng para sa amin. Hindi ko rin siya masisisi dahil malaki din ang pangangailangan ng kanyang pamilya," he added. (My parents often quarreled about my father’s financial support to his siblings. Of course we wanted more for us. But I cannot blame him because his family needed the money more.) Villar also denied that their house was located in an upscale area as mentioned in the GMANews.TV report. - KBK, GMANews.TV