Manuel "Manny" Bamba Villar Jr. (Tagalog pronunciation: [bɪlˈjaɾ]; born December 13, 1949) is a Filipino businessman and former politician.

[1][2][3][4][5] After graduating from the University of the Philippines, he worked as an accountant and financial analyst, then launched a highly successful business in real estate.

[1][2][3][4][5][8] His father, Manuel "Maning" Montalban Villar Sr., was a government employee from Cabatuan, Iloilo who worked as an inspector for the Bureau of Fisheries.

[4] Villar's father was eventually granted a year-long scholarship for higher education in the United States, which led to a job promotion to a director position in the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources upon his return.

[1] Due to cramped conditions in Tondo, Villar's father obtained a ₱16,000 loan from the Government Service Insurance System, payable in 20 to 25 years, to build a home in San Rafael Village, Navotas.

[9] He also assisted his mother in selling shrimp and fish at the Divisoria Public Market, as early as age six, in order to help earn the money to support his siblings and himself to school.

[9] Villar finished his high school education at the Mapúa Institute of Technology in Santa Cruz, adjacent to Tondo.

[4] After obtaining his bachelor's degree, Villar began his professional career working as an accountant for Sycip, Gorres, Velayo & Co. (SGV & Co).

[8] However, when his largest customer was unable to pay him, he negotiated a debt restructuring of sorts, selling discounted meal tickets to office workers in exchange for receivables.

[3] He then worked briefly as a financial analyst for the Private Development Corporation of the Philippines, where his job was to sell World Bank loans.

[2] In 1975, with an initial capital of ₱10,000, Villar purchased two reconditioned trucks and started a business delivering sand and gravel for construction companies in Las Piñas.

[4][8] This eventually segued into building houses, as Villar took out a seven-year loan from a rural bank offering low interest rates.

[14] In 1984, he founded Golden Haven Memorial Park, a chain of cemeteries in the Philippines, started with its first branch in Las Piñas and expanded in Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Bulacan, and Iloilo.

[16] A few years later during the presidency of Joseph Estrada and with him being Speaker of the House of Representatives, controversy arose regarding its default as a fall-out from the Asian Financial Crisis and negotiation of restructuring.

[28] Along with a large group of lawmakers which include the Senate president, Villar defected from Estrada's Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino (LAMMP) coalition in order to hasten the process of impeachment.