The threat to the Villar family’s real estate empire posed by other real estate developers is the reason the matriarch, Senator Cynthia Villar, has been blocking the P103.8-billion Las Piñas-Parañaque Coastal Bay Reclamation Project, according to a Las Piñas City councilor.

“You know, the Villars have a real estate empire. They are building a Villar City and if the reclamation project pushes through, it will allow other players to enter. The blocking is purely motivated by business,” Las Piñas Councilor Mark Anthony Santos told DAILY TRIBUNE in an interview.

In a press statement last July, the family patriarch, former Senate president Manuel Villar Jr., said they were gearing up for the next development phase for the ambitious 3,500-hectare Villar City.

“One year after we launched Villar City, we are firming up plans for two golf courses, a church, an events arena, a prestigious university, an integrated entertainment complex, a partnership with a renowned hospital, and more road networks to cut travel time across Cavite and Metro Manila, among other features,” Villar said.

Santos laughed off Sen. Cynthia Villar’s claim that if the reclamation in Manila Bay pushed through, the water from four rivers wouldn’t be able to flow out to the sea.

On the other hand, he said, “Imagine how many creeks, seaways, reservoirs, and inland waterways have been blocked and impeded by this ambitious project of the Villars that was launched in August last year.”

In 2009, Senator Villar petitioned the Supreme Court to stop the reclamation project, arguing that it would increase the risk of floods and obstruct the flow of the Las Piñas-Zapote and Parañaque rivers.

She also believed the recent flooding due to typhoons was exacerbated by the reclamation project.

Villar quoted former Aquino-era DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson who had said the Cavitex Expressway was supposed to be a viaduct but instead, they reclaimed Manila Bay.

The DPWH reportedly constructed the expressway on top of the reclaimed road which has caused so much flooding in Imus, Bacoor, and other places in Cavite.

Santos said Singson’s statement about the flooding in Cavite was not corroborated or confirmed by Senator Mark Villar, a Villar son, when the latter was DPWH secretary from 2016 to 2022.

Earlier, Santos stated that the Villar family’s membership in the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) was the reason for the delay in issuing clearance certificates for the reclamation project.

“The clearance certificates should come from the PAMB. But sadly, the PAMB is composed of Senator Cynthia Villar, her son Senator Mark, and her daughter Congresswoman Camille Villar so there is no way this project will move forward,” Santos said.

High Court ok’d reclamation

Voting 11-2, the Supreme Court on 21 October 2021 approved the reclamation of around 530 hectares of Manila Bay along the coasts of Las Piñas and Parañaque cities, ruling that the supposed environmental threat was not sufficiently established.

Santos said the flooding problems in Las Piñas and Parañaque were largely due to the existing drainage system that could not adequately drain the low-lying areas.

“I assume the majority of the existing drainage system going to Manila Bay from C5 Extension was buried by the contractors of Villar City,” the councilor said.  

Senate probe of Villar City

It may be recalled that in 2012, the Senate investigated the south extension project which would pass through several Villar properties in Parañaque and Las Piñas such as Camella Homes, and now Villar City.

The original extension, called the Manila–Cavite Toll Expressway Project (MCTEP), was approved by the Senate and would have been a toll expressway.

The project was eventually resurrected as the C-5 Southlink Expressway (now the Cavitex–C-5 Link).

Moreover, Santos said, the street drainage system also needed to be improved, especially in the low-lying areas where ponding occurs, quoting from a study conducted by an engineering company.

A major factor for the local flooding is the Manila Coastal Road, which was built on reclaimed land along the coast and acts as a dike preventing the runoff from freely draining towards the bay.

Santos has contended that Villar failed to provide sufficient evidence of environmental harm and that he supports the reclamation for its potential economic benefits, including socialized housing and job creation.