“If you aren’t humble, whatever empathy you claim is false and probably results from some arrogance or the desire to control. But true empathy is rooted in humility and the understanding that there are many people with as much to contribute in life as you.”— Anand Mahindra

IN my personal opinion, Senator Cynthia Villar has no humility.

As the wife of the second richest man in the Philippines (husband Manny Villar has a net worth of $7.8 billion, second to the Sy siblings with $12.6 billion, according to Forbes), it seems she doesn’t know how to choose a quality and justifiable battle.

The billionaire senator seems to be also harsh on lowly people.

If Mrs. Villar hogged the headlines for fighting tooth and nail versus the plunderers, the economic saboteurs, the terrorist groups like Maute and Abu Sayyaf, and all the bad Goliaths in society, we would have applauded and even praised her as an epitome of rectitude and statesmanship.

But in a recent viral video that became the talk of the town, Mrs. Villar was seen verbally lashing at a security guard and even pulling his arm in a Las Pinas City subdivision.

She was even heard in the video using a homophobic slur to describe one of the guards while a man appealed not to hurt him.

The woman senator said she was asking guards to remove the gate that blocked the composting facility inside the subdivision which led to the skirmish.

Could she have just tasked an assistant or somebody authorized to deal with the security guards to resolve the matter sans the fire and brimstone instead of doing a Gabriela Silang waggling angrily in public for all the world to see?

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In other words, the altercation wasn’t about the dispute for Spratly Islands and South China Sea, or about nuclear weapons where the combative woman politician was seen arguing with the bigwigs of the Chinese Politburo and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

It was about a “street fight” where a famous senator was seen losing her temper against a sikyu or a group of sikyu.

A billionaire and senator to boot involved in a “street fight?”

She tangled not with the VIPs in politics and military but with the subdivision security guards lock, stock, and barrel.

The language in a street spat is always a “pang kanto” (another corner). The senator’s outburst appeared to be “salitang kalye” (street word).

And, as if the scandal wasn’t enough, Mrs. Villar further threw herself under the bus by threatening to file a case against the unnamed video uploader saying she found the video to be malicious.

From a security guard to another lowly and powerless person?

Is politics for the Villars addition or subtraction?

Senator Villar, a highly regarded woman and national leader, is best advised to exercise utmost restraint when dealing with ordinary people who elected her into public office.

If the security guards will lose their jobs and the video uploader will go to jail and people will start thinking she is rudely arrogant, what will she gain?

To paraphrase Matthew, what will it profit a rich and famous politician if he or she gains the world but forfeits his or her soul?

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PREVENTION. Semen contains zinc and calcium, both of which are proven to prevent tooth decay.

EVOLUTION OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE IS REBIRTH OF SOCIETY. We have enriched this universe with diverse ideas for thousands of years with shifting of one paradigm to another. We have abundance of ancient and modern ideas way back from Babylonian and Egyptian antiquity, but only human knowledge has made a dramatic impact in our evolution as society.

GUILTY. My dear friends, if our hearts do not make us feel guilty, we can come without fear into God’s presence – 1 John 3:21

Was Plato right when he claimed that the soul existed long before it inhabited the body?

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)