MANILA, Philippines — "Ang success ng aming vacation, depende sa number of movies watched.”

Cynthia Villar, former Las Piñas congresswoman and wife of Senator Manny Villar, smiles with this declaration. The rest of the Villar family breaks into a joyous banter thereafter.

Most of the friends and associates of the Villars know very well that they have always celebrated their Christmases out of the country—in Glendale, Los Angeles, in fact. They have done so in the last 25 years—out of the 34 years that he and his wife have been together, Sen. Manny points out.

“Wala, dun lang kami sa bahay. We watch movies together,” Cynthia begins. “Ang main thrustnamin doon is to discuss where to eat, and what movies to see.”

“And saan mamamasyal, ‘yun lang,” interjects Sen. Manny, laughing.

Apparently, the whole family—with Paolo (President and CEO of their business), Mark (who is currently the congressman of the lone district of Las Piñas) and the youngest, Camille (who manages the high end division of their real estate company and has also dabbled in guest hosting “Wil Time Bigtime”)—would “sleep late, have lunch, go to the mall after, have dinner and watch a movie,” as Cynthia notes.

The record for the most number of movies seen at a theater in one vacation: 14! Practically one movie a day, they say.

It’s slackers’ heaven, one might say, and a truly deserved one for this family of achievers. But it’s a family tradition that works for them.

Making time

One would think that the Villars, being a family that is involved in both business and politics, would be the least likely to find time to hole up, so to speak, in a townhouse—as they describe—just to be, well, together. It is such a simple, laid-back celebration that, if you are to consider that the head of this family is among Forbes’ 2011 list of the Philippines’ 40 richest people apparently with a net worth of millions of dollars (billions in local currency), it seems highly uncharacteristic.

Celebrating like any other Filipino family, with the traditional Noche Buena and Media Noche, and trips to the supermarket and the Filipino store, Cynthia remarks, “Sabi nila masaya ang Pasko sa Pilipinas. Actually, when you’re together, you are happy anywhere you are. It’s the same thing.”

But there is also a more practical reason. Cynthia points out, “My children will have their own individual parties. Manny and I will have our own individual parties. We end up not seeing each other the whole Christmas season. When you go abroad, there are no parties. You’re all together.”

“We tell people in advance na, minsan kasi may kinakasal. Sabi ko, hindi namin bine-break ‘yan eh,” Sen. Manny also says. “Basta automatic na ‘yun, when they decide to invite us, alam na nila [that we won’t physically be there]…”

Roots run deep

In the Villar home in Las Piñas, there is this long, beautiful wooden table. It would be the dining table most times—as when we had lunch during the interview—and would function as Cynthia’s worktable when she and the senator would have the house to themselves, which is most often the case now.

But Christmases aren’t the only times the Villars get together. “Every Sunday we have lunch,” the senator says. Perhaps some of those Sundays were even spent gathered around this very table. “‘Yun ang must, as much as possible. If not, dinner. In many instances, lunch and dinner. And merienda.”

Family meals used to be sacred, something that most families did naturally. But as families get smaller, jobs get more demanding, interests more varied and hours more extreme, the family unit is faced with more challenges than ever. Sticking together has indeed helped the Villars weather the changes to the modern family.

“I’ve always worked 24/7 eh. Pero hindi nawawala ang family time. I line up, ako ang nagpapa-appointment sa kanila [kids], they’re very busy eh. Now ‘pag hindi sila pwede, that’s the time when I look for other people to have lunch with,” he says with a laugh.

Cynthia adds, “‘Yung family ni Manny at ‘yung family ko, mga simple families lang. Hindi kaya ‘yung masyadong [engrandeng handaan]. Kami [ngayon], we have to make sure we stick to traditions kasi when you are well-off, ‘yun ang nawawala.” To her, traditions keep values intact.

“Sinasabi kasi nung mga friends namin na, maswerte kami na we have good children. Sabi ko, I think the traditions and the role-modeling are very important kasi you don’t really have to tell them, they just assimilate it,” she points out.

Musings and recollections

As a testament to the demands on their time, Sen. Villar leaves the interview at this point to get dressed to attend a wedding where, once again, he is one of the sponsors. Congressman Mark, for his part, never even got to join the interview as he was already facilitating a Christmas party, in the family-owned lot adjacent to the main property, for the barangay captains and the kagawads.

Spending this much time together gives the family members a lot of memories to share. For instance, they said that they’ve driven across the states, “from L.A. to Vancouver, or L.A. to New York,” recalls Cynthia.

They also note how different it is there. “You just walk around, nobody knows you; you can be yourself. Unlike here, when you see people, ang dami-dami, kilala ka lahat,” the matriarch says.

“And there’s no traffic,” Camille adds, laughing. “Walang stress… Masaya naman siya, quiet.”

The family also shares anecdotes about Paolo’s penchant for comic books, talks about Mark collecting paintings and laughs about the time a young Camille dialed 9-1-1 and hid in fear when the police came and nearly arrested them.

When asked about Sen. Manny’s favorite gifts, they note the Apple TV that they loaded with 200 movies. For the mom, “Hindi na ako nagpapabigay ng Christmas gift kasi hindi ko naman nagugustuhan ‘yung binibili nila.” In the spirit of giving, she says she is perfectly okay with a card.

The biggest thing the Villar children take from all of these is loyalty, a sense of self and the strong family bond most other families would envy. To prove this point, Camille recalls the time her father became the victim of a smear campaign during the 2010 presidential elections. “I don’t think we would have survived that, I don’t think we would have been okay after what they threw at us if we weren’t so close,” she says.