Senator Villar’s cup of poison

Malicious, harebrained. These are only two of the words that describe the decision of Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. to hold his own private billiards tournament this week, in exactly the same days that the entire world is watching the Philippine-sponsored international billiards tournament in Mandaluyong City.

The international tournament, organized by the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) and billed as the Mandaluyong Mayor’s Cup of the Philippine Pool Tour, is now on its fourth day. The event, participated in by local and international players, is sanctioned by the Asian Pocket Billiards Union (Apbu) and recognized by the international billiards community.

Local billiards aficionados can’t understand what political benefit President-wannabe Manuel Villar could possibly reap by holding his own local minitournament simultaneously with the globally monitored contest.

Was it, in fact, an attempt to sabotage the international event? If so, the attempt has been a pathetic failure. The Mandaluyong atrium (within the city-hall compound), where the international tournament is being held, has consistently been jam-packed since Day One. The sizes of the crowd for the past four days say it all.

But I wouldn’t go so far as call it sabotage. I know the senator to be usually more circumspect. Chances are he was only misled—big time—by his advisers, or those who profess to be the leaders of the sport.

The Villar Cup came out of the blue only about 10 days ago, with much fanfare. At the opening ceremonies, Villar—flanked by local billiards icons Efren “Bata” Reyes and Ronnie Alcano—flashed his presidential smile for the newspapers and TV networks.

As far as I know, Villar’s overriding justification for sponsoring the all-Filipino event is that his surname sounds like “bilyar,” ergo, it is only right that he benefit from the flourishing of this very popular Filipino sport and pastime.

Whatever his reasons are, the question remains: Why did he choose the dates May 6 to 10? If he had no other intention but to help promote the sport, why did he not choose another schedule for his extravaganza? Any week after this one would have been just fine, but no, out of 365 days in the year, it had to be from May 6 to 10.

It’s really a funny way of jump-starting his candidacy. Members of the national billiards community and the League of Cities of the Philippines are shaking their heads in disbelief. They cite the following:

• If he really wants to help promote this sport in the country, why is he going out of his way to antagonize the BSCP, instead of working with it? The BSCP is the sport’s governing body in the Philippines. Villar even commended that group in a letter for successfully staging the World Pool Championship in Manila, and pledged to support its future undertakings. The malicious timing of the Villar Cup only showed that he is really interested in only one thing, that is, in promoting himself.

• The difference in importance between the Mandaluyong Cup and the Villar Cup is quite obvious. The former is a full-fledged tournament with 64 local and foreign players in the draw. The Villar Cup is just a ring game involving 24 players, all local. Winner of the Mandaluyong Cup gets a guaranteed slot in the World 10-Ball Championship, a trophy and a title. The Villar Cup winner gets cold cash from the billionaire-senator.

• Even if it can be shown that the Villar Cup is a significant pool tournament, why did the senator deprive billiards fans and players the opportunity to play in or watch both events? The only explanation is that Senator Villar has bought the misguided agenda of those who desperately want to take over leadership of the sport. For a long time now, people who have been envious of the success of the BSCP and its partner-organizations—including the managers or handlers of Reyes and Alcano—have wanted to take over this wholesome sport, but have been consistently rebuffed at the BSCP. They are known as “renegades.” Their sole intention—to get rich by wresting control of the sport through the BSCP.

• If Villar was not aware of the ramifications of the local billiards scene, it is not yet too late to make amends. But if his sole intention is to generate as much publicity as possible from the controversy created by the Villar Cup, then he certainly is succeeding. He would be getting tons of it, I assure him, but it will be largely negative.

• If Villar is serious about making billiards part of his presidential campaign with the help of these renegades, he should look at what lies ahead. The Philippine Pool Tour of the BSCP is an annual series of televised tournaments staged in key cities in the country. This year six cities are participating. In 2009 12 cities will be involved. This would be apart from the staging of the annual World 10-Ball Championship, which will be broadcast around the world. How the Villar Cup, even with the senator’s billions, can match all these events without turning into a joke is something many would like to see.

• Finally, Senator Villar apparently did not take the cautionary route of investigating the real billiards situation in the country before committing his name, facilities and money to this foolish agenda. He and his handlers did not examine which organizations and their leaders succeeded in bringing Philippine billiards to the international limelight and made it the major sport that it has become. Until the BSCP and its partner organizations took the helm three years ago, local billiards was in a sad state, with gambling its main staple, under the leadership of a bogus “billiards godfather.”

The long and short of this affair is that Senator Villar pathetically blundered when he gave the thumbs-up to the Villar Cup and its malicious schedule. When the disturbing implications of such a move were spelled out to him, he stubbornly refused to reschedule the event, saying it was out of his hands. This has, no doubt, enraged the legions of members of the Philippine billiards community and the local executives participating in the Philippine Pool Tour.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the other wannabes in the Senate are glad that Villar had painted himself into a corner with the inauguration of the Villar Cup, the contents of which, I daresay, can only prove to be highly toxic to the senator.  

Omerta_bdc@yahoo.com

NOW that the group of John Gokongwei has expressed serious interest to acquire the 40-percent stake of Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) in Petron, expect the last-minute deliberations on the fate of the government’s role in the local oil industry to take a more interesting turn.

There’s a certain irony to the Asian Development Bank holding its annual meeting in Europe.

Malicious, harebrained. These are only two of the words that describe the decision of Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. to hold his own private billiards tournament this week, in exactly the same days that the entire world is watching the Philippine-sponsored international billiards tournament in Mandaluyong City.

Sway: Fighting system loss

Thank you very much, Rep. Amado Bagatsing of Manila. Manila residents should now be grateful that someone like you in Congress has finally bothered to look into the plight of hapless consumers, including them, who are forced by law to shoulder the burden of paying for the inefficiency of electricity producers and distributors.

Rep. Teodoro L. Locsin Jr.: Ex-generals decry Teddyboy’s piece on PMA; his  reply

This pertains to your privileged speech delivered in the halls of Congress before the Holy Week recess, assailing Rear Adm. Amable B. Tolentino for his comments on what to do in resolving any conflict in the contested Spratlys.

Servant Leader: ‘Spe Salvi’–Part XVI

To suffer for others 

To suffer with the other and for others; to suffer for the sake of truth and justice; to suffer out of love and in order to become a person who truly loves—these are fundamental elements of humanity, and to abandon them would destroy man himself.