Villar steps down as PHL richest man after land mess

Real estate magnate and former senator Manuel ‘Manny’ Villar lost his title as the Philippines’ richest man after losing billions of pesos on the revaluation of his properties in southern Manila.

More than 360 hectares of land, tagged as Villar City and owned by the Villar Land Holdings Corporation, was reappraised at below its original purchase price, wiping out a staggering $18 billion in the Villar fortune.

The revalued property, part of an ambitious mixed-use estate, includes two planned high-end casinos.

According to a Bloomberg report, shares of Golden MV Holdings Incorporated plummeted by 87%, translating to $18 billion loss and sending Manny Villar’s net worth down to just US$4 billion.

With this development, Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index now lists Bloomberry Resorts (Solaire Resort parent company) Corporation chairman and CEO Enrique Razon Jr. as the country’s richest person. 

The fall of Villar from the list was the consequence of a dispute over the value of the said property, purchased in 2024 for ₱5.2 billion ($88.1 million) from three companies he privately owned and subsequently revalued at over ₱1.3 trillion ($22.0 billion).

Investment & Capital Corporation of the Philippines president and chief operating officer Jesus Mariano Ocampo described Villar’s huge drop in share price as a reflection of the “true numbers” of his company.

Trading Edge chief investment strategist Ron Acoba added that even Villar Land’s current valuation “appears difficult to justify”.

DragonFi Securities analyst Jarrod Tin said the “massive discrepancy” between the company’s valuation and that of its auditor “implies that (Villar Land’s) shares remain significantly overvalued and may still need to correct toward more realistic valuations.”