It’s all about public service

MANILA, Philippines — She is perhaps best known for her water lily or water hyacinth livelihood project that turns these river-clogging plants into apparel and other useful items. But that perhaps exemplifies Sen. Cynthia Villar’s approach to public service – practical, no nonsense, effective.

Last month, Villar received the “Most Distinguished Alumni Award” from the University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA), the latest of many awards and recognitions that the former financial analyst and college professor has received for her advocacies both in her private and public careers.

The UPAA Distinguished Alumni Awards are conferred on alumni who “have demonstrated extraordinary achievements and excellent contributions in their chosen fields that bring about substantial benefits to society and distinct honor to the University.”

Aside from Villar, Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Department of Budget and Management Secretary Benjamin Diokno also received the award. Some 20 others were named as professional awardees.

“It is not so much about our achievements per se as individuals, but how our efforts have benefited others and have done this esteemed university proud,” Villar said in her acceptance speech during the homecoming and awards ceremonies at the Bahay ng Alumni in UP Diliman, Quezon City.

“This recognition encourages me to carry on with my advocacies, and it also serves as a validation of my continued efforts to inspire and help our fellow Filipinos,” she said.

The UPAA award was actually the second recognition received by Villar from the state university.

On her birthday on July 29, 2011, the University of the Philippines-Los Baños launched a hibiscus (gumamela) hybrid named after her, the Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Cynthia A. Villar.

The launching of the new hibiscus hybrid coincided with the 6th Water Lily Festival of Las Piñas, which Villar organized.

The flower of the new gumamela hybrid has dark orange petals – the color mainly associated with Cynthia and her husband, former Senate president Manny Villar – and a red eye and pink halo.

Cynthia earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Business Administration, which recognized her as one of its Distinguished Alumni in 2004. She continued her education in the United States, where she completed her Masters’ degree in Business Administration at the New York University.

Back home, she worked as a financial analyst and college professor until she married Manny Villar in 1975. She left her job to help her husband in various entrepreneurial ventures, eventually making Vista Land the biggest home builder in the Philippines.

Following in the footsteps of her husband, Cynthia entered politics in 2001 and won a landslide victory as representative of Las Piñas in the House of Representatives, where she completed three terms or nine years of service until 2010.

During her terms in the Lower Chamber, Cynthia chaired the committee on higher education and was president of the Lady Legislators, during which she initiated legislation benefiting women, children and families.

Cynthia has been a social and environment advocate during her professional career, but entry in politics opened vast opportunities to pursue her advocacies, which are wide and varied.

Together with her husband, she founded and chaired the Villar Foundation, now Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance or Villar SIPAG, in 1992. 

The foundation’s programs include providing assistance to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), sponsoring the yearly OFW and OFW Family Summit attended by 5,000 OFW families; and livelihood projects – she has established in nearly 1,700 locations all over the country. She served as managing director of the foundation until 2012.

Cynthia was instrumental in establishing the Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park in the Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat & Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA) and spearheading the Manila Bay clean-up.

She is also behind the establishment of 900 farm schools all over the country supported by TESDA.

She also pursued environment protection; some of her environment-oriented projects also provided livelihood for the poor. For example, she launched the clearing of the water hyacinth (more commonly known as water lily) from the Las Piñas-Zapote River and utilized the river-congesting plant as clothing and shoe materials.

The river rehabilitation program has succeeded in bringing the Las Piñas-Zapote River and its tributaries back to life, allowing wealth generation from waste that once polluted the river and creating work and housing for a population that used to live in shanties.

Similarly, her waste recycling program, which turned household waste into organic fertilizer, and the husks from coconuts sold in the streets into anti-soil erosion materials, provided employment and livelihood to the poor, mostly informal settlers.

For her commitment to environment protection, Villar was conferred the rank of honorary Commodore by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Auxiliary. She is also an honorary member of the Philippine Horticultural Society.

The senator’s innovative projects also gained international recognition. The Las Piñas-Zapote River Rehabilitation Program, which the Villar SIPAG foundation launched in 2002, was selected by the Dubai International Award and United Nations Human Settlements Program for Best Practice in 2006 for its outstanding contribution towards improving the living environment.

In March 2009, the program won the Oikos Global Case Writing Competition sponsored by Oikos Foundation Switzerland for the sustainable livelihood program developed out of river waste. In November 2009, the program won the Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice in London.

The program also received the United Nations Best Water Management Practices Award during the Celebration of the Water for Life Decade held in Zaragosa, Spain in March 2011.

After completing the maximum three terms in the House of Representatives, Cynthia ran for, and won, a Senate seat in the 2013 midterm elections. She is currently the chairman of the committees on agriculture and on environment and natural resources in the Senate.

“Now, I am still pursuing poverty reduction among my legislative priorities,” Villar said at the UPAA gathering. “But this time, in helping lift farmers and fisherfolk out of poverty.”

She noted that about two-thirds of the country’s population is involved, directly or indirectly, in the agriculture sector.

“To this day, however, they remain among the poorest in our country, an agricultural country,” she lamented.  

The UPAA award, according to the senator, “encourages me to carry on with my advocacies and it also serves as a validation of my continued efforts to inspire and help our fellow Filipinos.”

While the award makes the recipient feels good, Villar said “it feels even better to know that you are making a difference in people’s lives.”

And what has kept her going all these years, in her various endeavors and positions? Villar says: “It is all about public service.”