Prime tears

Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial is unique compared with those of former President Joseph Estrada and former Chief Justice Renato Corona. It is only in the impeachment trial of the vice president where senator-judges are scrambling to outdo each other’s acting skills. If there is an Oscar for these senator-judges, the race is tight in the best actress category. The public is evenly divided over who should get the trophy.

Last week, it was the turn of Senator-Judge Camille Villar to display her acting chops. She chose drama as her genre, with the Senate floor as the theater for her performance. While the impeachment court was weighing the crucial issue of lowering the conviction threshold, Camille Villar provided a diversion by speaking for her colleagues in the minority who are facing plunder charges before the anti-graft court.

A highly emotional Camille Villar stood during the 29th day of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial to defend senators facing plunder charges. She appealed to senators present to show respect to colleagues who are absent from the impeachment trial due to legal and health issues. Tears were rolling from her eyes.

“While I respect all of my colleagues here, all of you, I think we should be reminded that all of the senators that are detained and who are not here right now, that is not their choice,” she pleaded. “And I think it is unfair to call them out that their crimes are plunder and theft because none of those senators have been convicted,” she added.

A visibly upset Camille Villar ended her theatrics with an appeal. “As the youngest member of this august body, can we stop it? With these attacks on each other?”

While Camille Villar’s impassioned defense of her minority chums is laudable from a group loyalty point of view, her emotional outburst is misplaced. No senator-judges called her minority buddies plunderers, as she claimed. Senator-Judge Erwin Tulfo, who proposed lowering the conviction threshold, merely noted that there are senator-judges who are beyond the coercive power of the Senate since they are facing plunder charges. Plunder charges and plunderers are not the same.

The Filipino public is also taking exception to Camille Villar’s assertion that it is not the choice of her minority pals to be in jail. This claim is insulting to Filipino taxpayers. Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta were not swept into plunder cases as naive and clueless individuals. Prima facie evidence indicates they were active participants in the crimes they are accused of.

Jinggoy Estrada is accused by the Ombudsman of plunder and graft over alleged kickbacks of more than PHP 573 million from flood control projects. The alleged payouts, according to the Ombudsman, were “systematically delivered” to Estrada. He had a choice whether to partake in the alleged crime or not.

Rodante Marcoleta is facing plunder charges for allegedly receiving PHP 75 million in campaign donations during the 2025 senatorial elections that were not declared in his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) or Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) while he was still a congressman. SOCE and SALN documents were signed by Marcoleta. He had full knowledge of the documents he submitted.

Contrary to Camille Villar’s declaration, nobody coerced or forced Estrada and Marcoleta into their current predicament. Their being in jail is a product of their conscious and willful decisions and actions. They have no one to blame but themselves.

It is not Camille Villar’s vigorous defense of her minority buddies that sparked public outrage but the Prime tears she shed for them. Angry netizens commented that while Camille Villar had tears for her embattled associates, her eyes were dry for millions of PrimeWater customers who suffered from poor service and lack of water.

PrimeWater is a public utility company of the Villar family with 75 joint venture agreements with local government units across the country. The company is under investigation for allegedly failing to fulfill its obligations under these agreements. More than 16 million water consumers covered by PrimeWater are suffering from either a lack of water or poor water quality. Despite poor service, customers are forced to pay the minimum charge.

The case of San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan, illustrates the hardship of residents served by PrimeWater. Since PrimeWater took over the city’s water services, residents have suffered from a lack of water supply. “PrimeWater, water, we always have no water, but they charge us so much, but there’s always no water,” city resident Redelyn Rodrigo told Rappler. “Since the joint venture began, it started, we all started having to store water, we all got containers,” Even Calajate, a 76-year-old engineer, narrated.

The Ombudsman has filed two counts of graft and administrative complaints against Senators Mark and Camille Villar, their brother Manuel Paolo Villar, and their parents, former Senators Manny and Cynthia Villar, over alleged irregularities involving PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp. and local water districts. This is the entire Villar clan.

Given the controversy involving the Villar family and PrimeWater, Filipinos are sore at Camille Villar for shedding tears for her cahoots. Camille Villar’s heart bled for friends facing plunder charges while remaining as hard as stone toward PrimeWater customers facing hardship and difficulties. Her public display of sympathy and empathy is viewed as a farce. Filipinos saw her theatrics as nothing but pure hypocrisy, a fake display of pity. Instead of gaining public adulation, Camille Villar reaped scorn and ridicule.

Camille Villar’s Prime tears may have given her an acting edge over Senator-Judges Pia Cayetano and Loren Legarda, but they colossally failed to move the public. They are crocodile tears, given that millions are in agony and misery over PrimeWater’s abysmal and awful services. Camille Villar neither shed a tear nor uttered a word of comfort to the victims of PrimeWater. Her tears are reserved for the crooked but never for those suffering from PrimeWater’s hellish services.