MANILA, Philippines??What have you done?"

Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manny Villar posed this question to his closest presidential rival, Liberal Party standard-bearer Benigno Aquino III, during the ?presidential forum? at the auditorium of the De La Salle Santiago Zobel School in Ayala, Alabang, on Saturday.

Villar was joined by Bagumbayan Party presidential candidate Richard Gordon as they both ganged up on fellow senator Aquino, indicting the latter for his supposed lack of competence and experience to lead the nation after June 30, 2010.

?Going back to the discussion on the presidency, we should show that we, aspirants, can really implement change. Have you shown that you have the ability to effect change?? Villar said in a mixture of English and Filipino.

Villar, a former shrimp vendor who became a self-styled real state billionaire, speaker of the House of Representatives and president of the Senate, said it was easy to claim one was an advocate of change and reform.

He said no one would disagree that the impoverished country badly needed change.

?We really need change. The people are fed up. If you go out, they (foreigners) will ask, ?What?s happening to your country??? said Villar.

Aquino?who continues to lead in the surveys on presidential preferences his lead over Villar is narrowing?is running on a platform of hope and change.

Since the forum moderated by GMA-7 news anchor and host Mike Enriquez was not a debate, Aquino was not required to answer.

The face-off of presidential candidates, Villar, Aquino, Gordon and Gilbert Teodoro of Lakas-Kampi-CMD was organized by Friends in Art, Inc., Ayala-Alabang Village Association, St. James Parish Council, Barangay Ayala-Alabang and GMA-7.

It was not aired live by the TV network but broadcast live nationwide by its radio, dzBB, and over the Internet.

But when Aquino?s turn to speak came, he managed to counter-attack.

?Let?s all see our track record if what we?re saying jives with what we do. That?s my answer to the question about ?ampaw? (hollowness).? It?s easy to say motherhood statements, [promise] all beautiful things,? said Aquino, adding he doubted whether they would be fulfilled by his rivals once elected to office.

He cited the recently passed P1.4-trillion national budget.

During budget deliberations, he said, his ?stomach ached and blood pressure shot up because of the attitude? of department heads, who insisted on funding their pet programs despite questions raised by senators.

?I was the only one who stood up to [tell executive officials] that you?re not doing the right thing,? he said.

Aquino said this explained why he had a 16-point platform of government and issue-based candidacy. He said the voters could check his website for specifics.

Aquino said he wanted to level the playing field for the business community, improve tax collection efficiency by targeting smugglers, solve ills in the education sector, particularly erroneous textbooks and reducing backlog of classrooms and teacher-to-children ratio, and reform the judicial system.

?The bottomline is? we can now dream again,? he said.

Joining the fray, Gordon said he was ?very proud? of his track record as mayor of Olongapo, constitutional convention delegate, administrator of Subic Bay, tourism secretary, chair of Philippine National Red Cross and senator.

?The record of service is important. Can you really do your job? Before you left your province, have you fixed your town?? asked Gordon, referring to the so-called dramatic rise from the ashes of Olongapo City following the devastation of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991.

Gordon was mayor of Olongapo at the time.

Instead of giving up in defeat and asking for help, Gordon rallied his people to dig themselves out of the disaster and even went out to help other towns that were similarly smothered by lahar flow.

He attributed the success of the city to effective governance and volunteerism.

Early this week, Gordon attacked Aquino in several press forums, pointing out that the latter, the son of martyred opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. and People Power icon Corazon Aquino, had never held an executive post, not even as a barangay captain.

Gordon had pointed out that the Aquino family had numerous opportunities to make the nation great but they ?have regrettably failed to deliver.?

Continuing the attack, Villar pointed to Aquino?s obvious deficiency.?I agree with Senator Gordon that in the end that it is what you have done and demonstrated in the past that matters. The poor have never seen managerial competence as basis for electing a President.

?In all these elections, popularity is the sole basis. For decades now, we always use popularity and emotions as basis. It?s about time that we use abilities and competence and experience. This has to stop. Let?s start now!? said Villar.

?The natural spectrum of society will be reflected in our association,? Aquino replied when asked how he could talk of change when people around him were associated with former President Joseph, also a candidate, and President Macapagal-Arroyo.

He cited the case of the "Hyatt 10,? a group of Cabinet members of President Arroyo who quit their posts in 2005 following the ?Hello Garci? election cheating scandal.

?For example, the group of Hyatt 10. They have experience already. Should we get new faces? new graduates to be placed in departments (of government), so that it can be said that we have fresh faces??

?It?s not right to say that a man who was prominent in the past is already sinful. We believe in the Bible. It?s written there that the sins of the father should not be visited upon the children,? said Aquino, to applause from an audience composed of high school students, teachers and parents.

As a graduate of economics, Aquino put a premium on ?the wise and best utilization of resources.?

While Villar and Gordon pounced on Aquino, ironically, Teodoro, a former defense secretary, was not asking for a fight.

The down-to-earth Teodoro concentrated on his own platform and personal take on affairs of the state, apparently seizing the opportunity to broadcast his managerial skills and fitness to be President as a way to boost his poor showing in the surveys.

Teodoro was applauded for pledging to simplify government procedures such as filling up income tax returns, and promising incentives for public and private employees and officials adhering to law.

While Aquino advocated judicial reform to stop the killing of journalists, Teodoro, a Harvard-law graduate, advocated specific solutions: crime-prevention and crime solution.

The first needs more police visibility and use of alternatives such as use of CCTV cameras, while the second entails more resources in investigative capabilities to gather admissible evidence, Teodoro said.

Teodoro said the third solution was ?the certainty of punishment.?

Gordon dazzled the audience with his display of oratorical skills and in-depth understanding of the society?s ills?past and present, from Lapu-lapu to the sinking of MV Baleno?wowing the crowd several times.

Gordon said ?people must be part of the process of change? to know where they are heading.?

Gordon also took a swipe at Villar for his ?sipag at tiyaga (patience and hard work)? campaign slogan.

Villar, for his part, was applauded for his overarching goal to eradicate poverty.

He said he was spending so much on advertisements to ?level the playing field? because he had no siblings in the entertainment industry or illustrious parental lineage.

If need be, he said he would bypass local officials to address the shortage of classrooms, teachers, nurses and doctors in the local level.

When asked by Enriquez if he would try to recoup his campaign expenses once in office, Villar said: ?Wala na po yun. You can?t put a price on that?lift people from poverty. That?s one thing you can?t put a price tag on.?

The forum tackled issues on education, health, the Mindanao peace problem, dismantling private armies, the economy, the killing of journalists, assets of government officials, choice of running mate, advertising spending, the role of actress Kris Aquino in an Aquino presidency, Hyatt 10, President Arroyo?s role in a Teodoro administration, surveys, platform of government, among others.

Unlike other presidential forums, there was no time limit in responding to the questions, but the forum ran for about two hours.

The last question thrown at the four was whether they could promise to return to the same house they were living now after the six-year presidency and if their net worth would not increase dramatically. As expected, everyone answered in the affirmative.

Aquino, however, wanted to stay at the family house on Times Street in Quezon City while President, so that he could have "a semblance of normalcy and preserve (his) sanity." But then again, he doubted whether the presidential security group would permit it.