Villar’s empire strikes south

Villar’s empire strikes south | Daily Tribune

What Manuel B. Villar Jr. described three years ago as a “major shift” for Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. has since grown into something far more sweeping than anyone anticipated: a southern megalopolis that the tycoon is billing as the new center of gravity of Metro Manila.

The former Senate President turned astute entrepreneur would rather discuss his expanding business interests and his growing brood than politics.

Manuel B. Villar Jr. was born on 13 December 1949 in Moriones, Tondo, Manila, the second of nine children. His father, Manuel Montalban Villar Sr., was a government employee from Cabatuan, Iloilo, and his mother, Curita Bamba, was a seafood dealer from Pampanga and Bataan. At a very young age, he was already helping his mother sell shrimp and fish in the Divisoria Market. It was an unglamorous start, but it was there that his instincts for commerce were quietly sharpened.

“I learned from my mother what it takes to be an entrepreneur,” Villar has said.

Alongside him in his real estate ventures is his wife, Cynthia Aguilar-Villar, who has been an equal partner in their family businesses and the establishment of the Villar SIPAG Foundation. Like his business empire, their children have become living testaments to his character and hard work, with each thriving in different fields and championing distinct advocacies.

Unlike his younger siblings, who pursued highly public careers in politics, eldest son Manuel Paolo Villar III maintains an exceptionally private personal life. Despite a prestigious academic background—having earned dual degrees in Economics and Applied Science from the University of Pennsylvania, he remains strictly focused on advancing the family’s business empire as the President and CEO of Vista Land & Lifescapes.

His second son, Senator Mark Villar, has translated his background in real estate into national infrastructure development, serving as one of the key figures behind the implementation of the “Build, Build, Build” program. The family’s unica hija, Senator Camille Villar, inherited her mother’s aptitude for retail while also venturing into politics. During the pandemic, she gained international recognition at the 2022 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, where she was named a Silver Awardee for Female Executive of the Year in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, and a Gold Awardee for Government Hero of the Year in the COVID-19 Response category.

Beyond the boardrooms and legislative halls is a grandfather deeply devoted to his grandchildren. Villar has four publicly named grandchildren: Emma, the daughter of his son Mark and daughter-in-law Emmeline Aglipay-Villar; and Tristan, Cara, and Camille Claudia, the children of his daughter Camille and her husband, Erwin Genuino.

Villar also controls a sprawling network of property companies. The crown jewel is Villar City—a 3,500-hectare master-planned megalopolis stretching across 15 cities and towns in Metro Manila and parts of Cavite. Billed as a “city within cities,” it launched in August 2023 as a self-contained hub where economic, lifestyle, cultural, and leisure activities converge. That footprint is more than double what Villar originally announced just a year earlier, in 2022.

A crucial piece of infrastructure has already been completed: the 6.2-kilometer, 10-lane Villar Avenue connecting Las Piñas, Bacoor, and the university district of Dasmariñas City in Cavite. In a related move, Prime Asset Ventures Inc., the Villar Group’s infrastructure arm, completed the acquisition of the 4-kilometer Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway from Ayala Corp. for P3.8 billion.

Close to 900 hectares of the 3,500 hectares in Villar City have been “activated” or developed—areas now home to neighborhoods, shopping complexes, and offices.

“We’ve only just begun our work. This will take many years, even decades to complete. But we’re already laying the groundwork, filling up this beautiful blank canvas to create the new center of gravity of Metro Manila,” Villar said.

Next phase: Golf and more

Villar has announced the next phase of Villar City’s development. Plans include two golf courses, a church, an events arena, a prestigious university, an integrated entertainment complex, a hospital partnership, and expanded road networks to cut travel time across Cavite and Metro Manila.

The broader masterplan for Villar City includes a central business district, a tech valley, a university town, and a premier lifestyle hub, as well as leisure and recreational facilities.

In perhaps the most unexpected expansion of his portfolio, Villar has made his first move into gaming. He is converting Vista Mall Global South in Las Piñas into an 18,000-square-meter casino — the first of two planned integrated resorts — with a total committed investment of roughly $1 billion.

He will develop the project without a foreign partner, after talks with a South Korean junket operator fell through.

The first, described by Villar himself as a “satellite” ahead of a larger second venue, will be located at the redeveloped Vista Mall Global South in Las Piñas, an 18,000-square-meter property along the C5 Extension that is being converted into a gaming center.

Villar has cited the property’s proximity to Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 as a key advantage for international junket players.

Originally targeted to open by mid-2025, the Las Piñas casino has faced delays, with Villar proceeding independently and assembling his own management team.

Villar City casino

A second, larger casino is planned within the heart of Villar City itself, alongside an amusement park big enough to host a Taylor Swift concert, cultural centers, museums, nature parks and more.

On the residential side, Vista Land has been positioning itself as a leading property company in vertical developments nationwide. The group has also maintained its horizontal business in provincial markets, noting that geographic breadth has been one of Vista Land’s core strengths, and that the company has expanded its offerings to include both horizontal and vertical residential products across the Philippines.

By the end of 2023, Vista Land had launched a total of 13 Vista Estates developments nationwide, with over 60 estates still in the pipeline.

Green, upscale

The original vision of Singapore-inspired, planet-centric communities is increasingly reflected in Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc.’s luxury brands. Upscale ventures such as Brittany and Crown Asia projects have been accentuated, underscoring Vista Land’s adaptability to market dynamics and its commitment to mixed-use developments that seamlessly blend residential and commercial elements.

Revenues from Crown Asia surged 66 percent in Q1 2025 to P740 million, while Brittany revenues jumped 20 percent to P573 million, driven by increasing sales in the high-end residential segment in Mega Manila.

The strategic pivot has largely delivered on the financial front. Vista Land reported a net income of P10.3 billion for full-year 2023, a 39 percent increase over 2022, with reservation sales of approximately P72 billion and 34 projects valued at P50.7 billion launched during the year.

In 2024, Vista Land’s total revenue reached approximately P36.7 billion, an increase of around 4 percent compared to the previous year. Growth momentum has continued into 2025: the company posted a five percent improvement in net income to P3.4 billion in the first quarter of 2025, with real estate revenue growing five percent to P5.85 billion.

For the first half of 2025, net income grew 4.3 percent to P6.71 billion, while reservation sales increased 4.74 percent to P41.1 billion. Total revenue reached P20.43 billion, up 2.8 percent from the same period in 2024, while EBITDA hit P12.66 billion with a robust 62 percent margin.

REIT unit: Rocky IPO but steady growth

VistaREIT Inc.’s journey to the public markets was bumpier than planned. The Villar family ultimately trimmed the REIT’s IPO offer price to P1.75 per share, a 30 percent discount from the original P2.50, and cut the deal size roughly in half to approximately P4.8 billion.

Despite the muted debut, the REIT has since found its footing. VistaREIT’s revenue increased 24.9 percent in 2023 to P2.62 billion, and grew a further 1.9 percent to P2.67 billion in 2024.

The commercial REIT’s portfolio — anchored by Vista Malls and Vistahub office nodes — continues to benefit from being embedded within or adjacent to Vista Land’s residential communities, giving it a built-in captive market.

What started as a tactical retreat from mass housing has become a generational bet.

Villar’s original promise — of an “elevated experience, world-class and of global standards, which is what every Filipino deserves” — is now being tested on a canvas far larger than anyone imagined in 2022.

From condominiums to casinos, from a 10-lane highway to a planned university, the Villar City project is less a property development and more an attempt to build a new city from scratch in the south of Metro Manila.