MANILA, Philippines -- Eighty-six-year-old Curita ?Nanay Curing? Villar has one wish on Mother's Day: that her eldest son, Senator Manuel Villar, will be the country's next President.

?Maayos sana kung Presidente ang aking anak. Maraming salamat kay Lord [It would be better if my son were President. Thank you Lord],? Nanay Curing said in a soft voice, as she held Villar's arm.

Villar, the Nacionalista Party standard bearer, went to his mother's house in BF Resort Villar in Las Piñas City on Sunday noon to spend Mother's Day with her an hour after he heard mass with his wife Cynthia and children.

Villar's siblings, relatives and a handful of friends were also at the modest gathering.

Both clad in orange, Villar's political color, mother and son hugged and kissed each other the moment he arrived, displaying a closeness apparently forged by their days and nights of selling shrimp at the Divisoria Market decades ago.

It was a touching scene, unlike the controversial press conference of Villar's wheelchair-bound and blind mother more than two weeks ago where she defended her son from accusations that he was exaggerating his claim of an impoverished past and his sisters ended up assailing the media for their bias against him.