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June 30, 2001


 
  



 
July 24, 2006 ± November 17, 2008
 Franklin Drilon
 Juan Ponce Enrile


  
 
 
 


 
2001 ± August 12, 2002
 Blas Ople
 Juan Flavier
       
  
 


 
July 27, 1998 ± November 13, 2000
 Jose de Venecia, Jr.
 Arnulfo Fuentebella

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June 30, 1992 ± June 30, 2001
 Filemon Aguilar
 Cynthia Villar

December 13, 1949 (age 60)

# 

Tondo, Manila, Philippines
#

 Manuel Bamba Villar, Jr.
$ 
 Filipino
Nacionalista (2003-present)
Independent (2000-2003)
   
LAMMP (1998-2000)
Lakas-NUCD (1992-1998)
 %& Cynthia Villar
Manuel Paolo Villar III
"
 Mark Villar
Camille Linda Villar

 Las Piñas City, Metro Manila


 
University of the Philippines
' 
 Businessperson; Politician
 
 Businessperson; Politician
(
 Roman Catholicism
 www.mannyvillar.com.ph

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)#
  *+ (born December 13, 1949) is a Filipino businessman and
politician. He is currently a Philippine Senator, president of the Nacionalista Party, and a
candidate for president in the 2010 presidential election.

Villar was born in Tondo, an impoverished and densely populated district of Manila. After
graduating from the University of the Philippines, he worked as an accountant and financial
analyst, then launched a highly successful business in real estate. The number of homes built by
Villar's companies has totaled to over 200,000 units, and his business career made him one of the
country's wealthiest persons.
Villar entered politics in 1992 when he was elected Congressman representing the district of Las
Piñas-Muntinlupa, and later became Speaker of the House of Representatives. As Speaker, he
presided over the impeachment of President Joseph Estrada by the House of Representatives in
2000. In 2001 he was elected Senator, and served as Senate President from 2006 to 2008.

"


[hide]

Ê 1 Early life and education

Ê 2 Business career
Ê 3 Political career
m 3.1 House of Representatives
m 3.2 Senate
m 3.3 2010 presidential campaign
Ê 4 Personal life
Ê  References
Ê 6 External links

„,- 
 


Manuel Bamba Villar, Jr. was born on December 13, 1949 in Tondo, an impoverished and
densely populated district of Manila.[1] He was the second of the nine children of his parents.[2]
His father, Manuel Montalban Villar, Sr., was a government employee from Cabatuan, Iloilo,
and his mother Curita Bamba was a seafood dealer from Orani, Bataan.[1] The family lived in a
small rented apartment located in a run-down slum area.[3]

As a child, Villar attended Holy Child Catholic School, a private Catholic school in Tondo.[4] He
also assisted his mother in selling shrimp and fish at the Divisoria Public Market in order to help
earn the money to support his siblings and himself to school.[1] He finished his high school
education at the Mapúa Institute of Technology in Intramuros.[4] He attended the University of
the Philippines - Diliman and earned his bachelor's degree in business administration in 1970.[4]
He returned to the same school to earn his master's degree in business administration in 1973.[4]
He later characterized himself as being impatient with formal schooling, and eager to start
working and go into business.[3]

„,#
 
After obtaining his bachelor's degree, Villar began his professional career working as an
accountant for Sycip, Gorres, Velayo & Co. (SGV & Co), the country's largest accounting
firm.[4] He resigned from SGV & Co. to start his first business, delivering seafood in Makati.[2]
However, when his largest customer was unable to pay him, he negotiated a debt restructuring of
sorts, selling discounted meal tickets to office workers in exchange for receivables.[] He then
worked briefly as a financial analyst for the Private Development Corporation of the
Philippines.[1]

In 197, with an initial capital of P10,000, Villar purchased two reconditioned trucks and started
a business delivering sand and gravel for construction companies in Las Piñas.[3][2] This
eventually segued into building houses, as Villar took out a seven-year loan from a rural bank
offering low interest rates[], and began what would become the country's largest home building
company, with an emphasis on low-priced mass housing.[1] A notable innovation of Villar's
companies was to sell house and lot packages, when the common practice at the time was to sell
lots for future homeonwers to build upon.[2] He initiated mass housing projects through
economies of scale, utilizing the cost advantages of developing a large scale project in order to
bring down housing prices.[2] The number of homes built by Villar's companies totaled to over
200,000 units.[]

In July 199, Villar's flagship property, C&P Homes, was listed on the Philippine Stock
Exchange and grew by more than a third in one day, ballooning Villar's 80% stake in the
company to $1. billion.[6] As of 2009, Forbes magazine ranks him as the 9th wealthiest person
in the Philippines, with a net worth of US$30 million.[7]

In July 1998, Philippine Daily Inquirer obtained documents that revealed conversion of many
Villar landholdings (around 900 hectares) from agricultural to residential use was made without
the required clearance from the Department of Agrarian Reform. [8]

„,   

„,   
 

Villar entered politics in 1992 when he was elected to the House of Representatives, representing
the district of Las Piñas-Muntinlupa (and later the district of Las Piñas City).[1] He served for
three consecutive three-year terms, consistently posting landslide election victories.[1]

Villar was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1998.[1] In August 1998, Rep.
Joker Arroyo accused Villar of various conflicts of interest and breaches of ethical standards
with regards to his status as both lawmaker and real estate developer. [9] During 2010 presidential
campaign Arroyo defended Villar against the same accusations saying the Senate rules being
used are wrong.[10]

As speaker, he presided over the impeachment of President Joseph Estrada over corruption
allegations in November 2000.[11] Along with a large group of lawmakers which include the
Senate President, Villar defected from Estrada's Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino
(LAMMP) coalition in order to hasten the process of impeachment.[12] Seconds after the opening
prayer, and skipping the traditional roll call, he immediately read a resolution sending the
impeachment case to the Senate for trial, bypassing a full vote and ignoring attempts by Estrada
allies to delay the proceedings.[11] Hours after the impeachment proceedings, congressmen allied
with the president led a move to oust Villar from his post as speaker, replacing him with Estrada
ally Arnulfo Fuentebella.[11]
In 2001, barred by constitutional term limits from seeking re-election to a fourth term in the
House of Representatives, Villar was succeeded by his wife, Cynthia Villar.

„,


Villar ran for Senator in the 2001 election. Having recently resigned from Estrada's LAMMP
coalition, he ran for Senator as an independent politician, but campaigned as a member of the
People Power Coalition, the administration coalition party which was supportive of the recent
2001 EDSA Revolution. He was elected to the Senate with more than 11 million votes, ranking
seventh out of 37 candidates.[13] He later won re-election in 2007, running as a member of the
Genuine Opposition coalition, ranking fourth out of 37 candidates.[1]

In July 2006, Villar was chosen Senate President.[1] He had previously held the position of
Senate President pro tempore, as well as the chairmanship of the Committees on Finance,
Foreign Relations, Public Order, and Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries.[1] In November
2008, he resigned the position due to a lack of support in the Senate, and was succeeded by Juan
Ponce Enrile[14] who later on investigated villar for C scam [1] and Villar allegedly tried to buy
off Enrile [16].

„,./0/ 
 

(


Main article: Philippine presidential election, 2010

Villar is currently a candidate for President of the Philippines in the May 2010 presidential
election, as the standard bearer of the Nacionalista Party. He filed his certificate of candidacy for
president on November 30, 2009, along with his running mate, Senator Loren Legarda.[17]

According to a January 2010 survey by polling firm Pulse Asia and the February 2010 survey
from Social Weather Stations, Villar is statistically tied in the lead with his main rival in the
election, Senator Benigno Aquino III.[18] Other rivals in the presidential race include former
President Joseph Estrada, Senator Richard Gordon who says Villar tried to buy him out of the
race[19], Senator Jamby Madrigal and former Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro.[18]

His popular campaign line is "Sipag at Tyaga" (Hardwork and Patience). Villar's campaign
platform includes combating poverty and corruption, two major problems between which he
believes there is a strong link.[20]

„,

In his third year of college at the University of the Philippines, Villar became friends with
Cynthia Aguilar, his classmate in the UP College of Business Administration.[] Her father was
then mayor of Las Piñas City. They married at the age of 2.[] They have three children, Manuel
Paolo (born c. 1977), Mark (born c. 1978), and Camille Linda (born c. 198).[6][21] Villar's two
sons studied at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for their college education,
while Camille attended Ateneo de Manila University.[] All three children graduated with
degrees in finance or business management.[21]
Villar lives in a two-bedroom house with his family in Las Piñas City.[] In early 2010, a
"political smear" was disseminated on the Internet, claiming falsely that Villar owned "an
opulent mansion," which was debunked by Snopes.com.[22]