Over the last year, Villar has seen his wealth shrink to $2.4 billion from $11 billion and his property firm, Villar Land, face criminal complaints from the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Troubles emerged last May when trading in the firm’s shares was suspended due to delays in submitting its audited financial reports.
It then issued an order in August 2025 fining Villar Land, its chairman Villar and other top executives a combined 12 million pesos, as reported by Bloomberg.
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Manuel Villar speaks at the University of the Philippines in Quezon city, Feb. 8, 2010. Photo by Reuters |
The order also revealed the reason for the delays: Villar Land’s external auditor had rejected the valuation of a plot of land on the outskirts of Manila that the firm bought from three privately held companies owned by Villar in 2024.
The land was acquired at 5.2 billion pesos (US$85.2 million) and then revalued, lifting its value by 25,000% (250-fold) to more than 1.3 trillion pesos (US$21.3 billion). The gain from this revaluation pushed Villar Land’s net profit for 2024 up 68,000% to nearly one trillion pesos, according to an unaudited filing the firm had published before the controversy came to light.
After months of talks, Villar Land agreed to slash the valuation by 99% to 8.7 billion pesos. As a result, the company’s audited net profit for 2024 was restated to 1.4 billion pesos.
The stock plummeted once trading resumed in November 2025. It then fell further in January this year after the SEC filed criminal complaints against the firm and its executives, including its billionaire chairman, alleging market manipulation, insider trading and misleading disclosures, local media reported.
Trading was suspended again this June, with notices from the Philippine Stock Exchange saying the firm has failed to submit its 2025 annual report on time, as well as its 2026 first-quarter report.
The stock’s decline has wiped out much of the net worth of Villar, whose journey to wealth has been hailed a classic rags-to-riches tale in the Philippines.
Born in 1949 in Manila’s Tondo neighborhood to a family he describes as poor, he earned degrees in business administration and accountancy before venturing into business, starting out with a seafood delivery firm before shifting to construction and eventually real estate. He previously served as a senator and was a presidential candidate.
Besides Villar Land and his other property interests, his business interests include energy, media, retail, restaurants and a water utility.
Villar was previously the country’s richest individual with a fortune estimated at $17.2 billion when Forbes released its 2025 world billionaire rankings last April. Bloomberg, meanwhile, pinned his net worth at $23.3 billion before the stock collapse.
The richest man in the Philippines is currently port tycoon Enrique Razon Jr., whose net worth is estimated at $21.8 billion.