Manuel Bamba Villar, Jr.

A Filipino businessman and politician. He was ranked as the fifth richest Filipino by Forbes Asia in their October 2007 issue. He is the President of Nacionalista Party and member of the Senate of the Philippines. He assumed the senate presidency at the start of the Third Regular Session of the 13th Congress along with Senator Franklin Drilon but was forced to resign from the post on 17 November 2008.

Background
Villar 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.

Villar started his professional career as an accountant and financial analyst for companies like the Sycip Gorres Velayo & Co. and the Private Development Corporation of the Philippines. He was convinced he could make it on his own, so he quit his job and decided to try his hand on a business of his own. With a capital of P10,000 he got through a load, Villar bought two second-hand trucks and started his sand-and-gravel business in 1975.

It was during a delivery to a land developer when Villar came up with the idea of selling house and lot packages. In 1977, at age 28, the young entrepreneur made his first million after investing in a 160-house development project. After his success, he decided to specialize in low-cost housing, a field that major developers shunned. His strategy was to purchase small and irregular-shaped spaces that big developers couldn't sell, divide them into smaller lots, build a house, and then offer clients the whole package. The concept clicked and made Villar the country's housing industry leader having built more than 100,000 houses for middle class families. Because of his achievements in business and innovations in urban housing, he was made cover of an issue of the Far Eastern Economic Review. His life story was also featured in major publications like Asiaweek, Forbes, AsiaMoney and Asian Business Review.

Villar presently holds significant stocks in C&P Homes, Household Development Corporation, Palmera Homes, Britanny Corporation, Adelfa Properties, Fine Properties, M.B. Villar Company, and Macy’s, among others.