Manuel "Manny" Bamba Villar, Jr. (born December 13, 1949) is a Filipino businessman and politician, currently the President of the Senate — the third highest ranking official of the Philippines. He has also served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1998–2001, where he presided over the impeachment of President Joseph Estrada. He is the current president of the Nacionalista Party.
He assumed the senate presidency at the beginning of the Third Regular Session of the 13th Congress, as part of a power-sharing agreement with his predecessor Sen. Franklin Drilon.
Biography
Manuel "Manny" Bamba Villar Jr. was born on December 13, 1949 in Moriones, Tondo, Manila. His father, Manuel Montalban Villar, Sr., a government employee, hailed from Cabatuan, Iloilo and his mother Curita Bamba, a seafood dealer, came from Pampanga and Bataan. The second of nine children, Manny started selling seafood at the Divisoria Market at an early age.
While Manny Villar was a working student, he was also putting in long hours as a fish and shrimp trader: working where the action starts during the wee hours of the morning when the freshly caught seafood arrives at market grounds. As a working student, he was able to put himself through school by finishing his studies at the University of the Philippines where he earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in Business Administration.
After graduation, he tried his hand as an accountant at the country’s biggest accounting firm, Sycip, Gorres, Velayo & Co. (SGV & Co.). He resigned shortly though to venture on his own seafood delivery business.
When a restaurant he was delivering stocks to did not pay him, he printed out “meal tickets” which he persuaded the restaurant owners to honor. He then sold these tickets at a discounted price to office workers. It took him one year to liquidate his receivables.
He worked briefly as a financial analyst at the Private Development Corporation of the Philippines. His job was to sell World Bank loans, despite the attractive rates of which there were no takers. Convinced that he could make it on his own again, he quit his job and promptly availed of one of the loans.
With an initial capital of P10,000 in 1975, Villar purchased two reconditioned trucks and started his sand-and-gravel business in Las Piñas.
He started a gravel and sand business and then went on to establish one of the largest development firms in the Southeast Asian region, the Camella & Palmera Homes. Originally low end developers, the Company has recently started selling more high end homes under the Crown Asia brand name, although criticism have been voiced in the press of many such developments in Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao His C&P Homes business has also been featured in international publications such as the Far Eastern Economic Review, Asiaweek, Asiamoney, and the Asian Business Review.
He earned citations such as the Ten Outstanding Young Men in 1986, the Agora Award for Marketing Management in 1989, Most Outstanding CPA by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in 1990, and Most Outstanding Alumnus in 1991.
As a successful businessman, he ventured in the political arena in 1992 and was elected as Congressman representing Las Piñas posting landslide victories. On his third term, he was chosen to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives. On November 13, 2000, he became the first House Speaker in Philippine history to impeach a President, paving the way for the elevation of the articles of impeachment to the Senate.
In the national elections held last May 14, 2001, despite being a relative newcomer in national politics, Manny Villar posted one of the most impressive showings in the national polls. On his first day in office, he was selected as Senate President Pro Tempore, the position he held until 2003.
He has also spearheaded the building of schools, sending out medical missions and setting up relief operations whenever or wherever needed.[citation needed] He led the inauguration of the Las Piñas-Muntinlupa-Laguna-Cavite (LPMLC) link road, more popularly known as Daang Hari, as part of his road improvement program aimed at easing traffic in the south of Metro Manila.
In February 2004, he was elected as President of the Nacionalista Party — the country’s oldest political party. He was also named the Most Distinguished UP Alumnus—the highest recognition given by the UP Alumni Association—for his exemplary public service and achievements. After the 2004 elections, he initially planned to run for the Senate presidency but agreed to let the incumbent, Franklin Drilon to finish his turn as Senate President until June 2006. Honoring the said agreement, his fellow senators unanimously elected him as Senate President on July 24, 2006.
He is recognized as the richest legislator in Philippine history where he was consistently the richest congressman from 1992 to 2001 and richest senator from 2001 until today.
Villar and his wife are active members of the Couples for Christ.
Senator Manny Villar's wife is Cynthia A. Villar, currently the representative of the lone congressional district of Las Piñas). He has two sons (Paolo and Mark) and a daughter (Camille).
Political Profile:
- President of the Senate of the Philippines
2006–incumbent - Senator of the Philippines
2001–incumbent - Speaker of the House of Representatives
of the Philippines
1998–2001 - Representative, Lone District of
Las Piñas City
1992–2001 - Political Party: Nacionalista Party (2003- )
Independent (2000-2003)
LAMP (1998-2000)
Lakas-NUCD (1992-1998)
Storypage on Asiaweek Magazine:
GETTING RICH BY REALLY TRYING
MANUEL VILLAR hit the big time when his property company, C&P Homes, was listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange July 31. Priced at 49 cents, the initial public offering closed at 67 cents that day, up more than a third. The value of Villar's 80% stake in the company ballooned to $1.5 billion. Not bad for a shrimp-and-fish vendor's son who started out in 1975 with a $400 loan to haul construction material to housing projects. Elected to a second term as congressman in May, Villar, 45, spoke with Contributing Reporter Wilhemina Paras in Manila. Excerpts:
How does it feel to be an instant billionaire?
Nothing spectacular, really. It's just on paper. I'm basically a low-key person. Nothing has changed. But I'm more security-conscious now. My eldest son, Manuel Paolo, has been studying abroad for the past several years. I'm also sending Mark, my second son, overseas, though he is still in his last year in high school. My youngest daughter, Camille Linda, who is 10, is almost always by our side.
Do you plan to diversify now that you have a huge capital base?
No, not yet, not now. I'm the biggest private low-cost home builder in the country, but I want to become the biggest home builder in the world. That's still my focus.
What about the competition?
Even if you combine the next four companies [after C&P Homes], we're still the runaway winner in terms of units built. But I expect many competitors to enter the housing industry in the next five years. Real estate in the Philippines is really on the upsurge and nobody can blame entrepreneurs if they enter this very lucrative business. But C&P Homes is not in any way threatened. Being in the business for 20 years, with housing projects nationwide and supported by sales brokers, contractors, suppliers and bankers, we definitely have a major competitive advantage.
But property is really a cyclical business.
There's always a boom and a bust. Still, I don't see any serious downturn in the Philippines because we're starting from a very low point. I don't think there's a problem in the low and middle segments, which are small and growing steadily. Look out for boom-and-bust trends in big properties, however. I sell to people who don't speculate, who live in the houses they buy, so there is very little possibility of a bust for C&P Homes.
You cannot go wrong by investing in Philippine property. But like anywhere else in the world, there are pitfalls. Timing is the key. Since the Philippines is just taking off, it has more risks than a developed country but the returns are greater. I'd say it's a very good time for foreigners to invest here. We're going to be more prosperous in the next five years. My forecast is that we'll have annual economic growth of between 6.5% and 9%.
Does your being a member of the House of Representatives benefit your business?
When I travel I don't charge the government, although it's allowed because it is work-related. I pay my own way. When you are this big, you have to follow the rules. You can't afford not to, because all eyes are on you. It is not a wise business practice to use government perks. I'll serve the three terms [allowed by the Constitution.] After that, I'll think about the future. But I'll stop at being a congressman.
What advice do you have for other business people?
I want to set an example to Filipino entrepreneurs. A lot of our people think that Filipinos by nature can't make it in business, that only the Chinese have the capability. I have shown that it can be done. I don't stop until I achieve what I set out to do. You have to be persistent, hardworking, determined. And of course you have to have the guts.
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Storypage on Dekada90 (Kule) Magazine:
Speaker of the House and Lot
by Duke M. Bajenting
Manuel B. Villar, Jr. has a thing for houses. By 1995, his company, C & P Homes, had built over a hundred thousand low to medium cost homes. Meanwhile, he is also head of another "house" - the House of Representatives, where he is in his second year as speaker.
Campus Manny
Manny, as he is called, was born on December 13, 1949 in Tondo, Manila. Clues to his future careers were written in the jobs of his father, a government employee, and his mother, a seafood vendor.
Villar earned both his undergraduate degree in Business Administration, major in Accountancy, and his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in 1973 from UP Diliman. Professor Lourdes Casimiro, Villar's undergraduate teacher and MBA classmate, recalled that he enjoyed case discussions and was very competitive. "They (Villar and his friends) had a siopao eating contest once," Casimiro said, "at hindi nagpapatalo si Manny, nabilaukan siya."
He was active in his fraternity, Pan Xenia, and in other student activities. "May IT si Manny," Casimiro said. "Masayahin siya, masayang kasama." While in college, Villar was also already dating his future wife, Cynthia.
Under Construction
Villar did not have a smooth start in business. His first ventured into seafood but his business went down so he tried sand-and-gravel. Then, he hit upon the idea of selling small-sized (120 sqm) house and lot units. The prototype of the sucessful Camella and Palmera Homes was born.
For the next two decades or so, Villar built, literally, on this initial success. During the eighties, he bucked the capital flight that followed Benigno Aquino's assassination and continued to buy property at discount prices, betting on the market's eventual recovery. His intuition proved uncanny. Later that decade, overseas workers cashed in their earnings from abroad and bought Villar's houses in droves.
But one of his housing projects, Palmera Homes in Jose del Monte, Bulacan has come under fire for the dislocation of several farmers. Members of the Tungkong Mangga Upland Farmers Association, Inc. (TMUFAI), who have been farming the area since 1974 without interference from the previous landowner, said they were surprised to find men putting up barb wires in May, 1996. They were told it was upon orders of the new owner, Palmera Homes, Inc. TMUFAI said that, without consulting them, Palmera Homes prevented further farming in the area beginning early 1997. The TMUFAI's petition for the cancellation of the Department of Agrarian Reform's conversion order remains pending.
From Houses to The House
Villar entered politics in 1992, and captured the congressional seat for Las Piñas and Muntinlupa. He was re-elected in 1995, winning the elections by 142,000 votes, the highest margin among all congressional contests in the country.
Running under Lakas-NUCD, he won a third term in 1998 but their party's standard-bearer collapsed in the face of Joseph Estrada's populist platform. Still, Lakas-NUCD managed to win a majority in the Lower House. During the elections, Villar was reported to have supported Estrada across party lines. Reportedly backed by the president, Villar was voted Speaker by 171 of 220 House members.
Speaker Villar has managed to convince opposition representatives to join the administration party, assuring Malacañang a large voting bloc. He presides over a Lower House that has been criticized for concurring with the Visiting Forces Agreement, retaining the "pork" in the 1999 and 2000 budgets, and reportedly conniving with Malacañang to amend the Constitution. But, on the other hand, environmentalists have hailed the passage earlier this year of the Clean Air Act.
When Villar's biography is written years hence, he will be remembered for his houses and his stint in the House. Doubtless, he will be judged a success in the real-estate business. But leading the House of Representatives is different from managing a mass-housing business. The cost of failure in the former is much steeper. For if Villar fails to rein-in the conflicting, and even self-serving, interests of many House members, the whole country, not just his customers, will be left out in the cold.
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