MANILA - If Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. had his way, the Philippines would shift from being a nation of employees to a nation of entrepreneurs who embrace a culture of competition.

In a forum with ABS-CBN editors on Monday, Villar said the biggest challenge for the Philippine government today is a change in mindset to become more competitive in the global marketplace.

"We have to change our mindset that we cannot do things on our own because we have become a nation of employees. Almost every Filipino wants to be an employee, and if they can’t find work here, they go abroad. But we cannot create wealth that way. We've got to create a strong entrepreneurial class. If we can’t change that mindset, we will forever be employees," he said.

The former Senate President, who has led a self-commissioned opinion poll for the 2010 presidential race, said the Philippine government plays a pivotal role in starting what he termed as an "entrepreneurial revolution."

He said government projects should also be based on performance, not loyalty-based politics wherein administration supporters get the lion's share of government projects.

In a sense, Villar's experience as a businessman informs his policy of performance-based politics. As a real estate developer, Villar made his millions selling affordable and low-cost houses to families, most of them beneficiaries of Filipinos working overseas.

The Asian financial crisis brought his businesses to the brink of bankruptcy, but he said all his creditors were eventually paid. He was the Speaker of the House then, and majority of his creditors agreed to be paid with real estate properties, not cash.

Nonetheless, he cleaned up his balance sheet, re-organized his real estate properties and re-branded them before returning to the stock market to raise funds and start anew. In 2007, Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. raised over P20 billion in fresh funds.

He and his wife, Las Piñas representative Cynthia Villar, are currently the country's wealthiest solons with a declared combined net worth of P1.046 billion as of end-2008.

Villar said his experience in real estate taught him the basics of free market competition without the benefit of government intervention. -- by David Dizon, abs-cbnNEWS.com