Manny Villar

Manuel 'Manny' Villar Jr. was born on December 13, 1949 in Tondo, Manila to Curita Bamba, a seafood dealer, and Manuel Montalban Villar, Sr., a government employee. He is the second of nine children. He started helping his mother sell seafood at the Divisoria market at a young age to support his siblings and himself for school. Villar finished his elementary schooling at the Holy Child Catholic School in 1962 and his secondary education at the Mapua Institute of Technology in 1966. He then entered the University of the Philippines and took up business administration. He worked as a fish and shrimp trader while he studied, putting in long hours to get fresh catch in the market. He finished his bachelor degree and went on to take up master’s in accountancy at the same university.

He started his professional career as an accountant and financial analyst before launching his own company in 1975. He later established the largest homebuilding company in the country, Camella & Palmera Homes.

Manny Villar became the housing industry leader, and the biggest homebuilder in Southeast Asia, having built more than 100,000 houses for the poor and middle class Filipino families.

In 1992, Villar was elected congressman of Las Piñas and Muntinlupa for three terms in a row. He has served as speaker of the House of Representatives, senator of the Republic, and in 2006 he assumed the Senate presidency. Previously, Villar held the position of Senate president pro-tempore and chairman of the Committees on Finance, Foreign Relations, Public Order, and Agriculture and Fisheries.

Manny Villar is the first post-war public official who became both speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate president.

Senator Manny Villar is a devoted husband to Congresswoman Cynthia A. Villar and a loving father to sons Paolo and Mark and daughter Camille.