Manuel Villar was the second of nine children born to a poor family living in a very poor district of Manila. In order to help pay for his and his siblings’ school, Manuel helped his mother sell seafood at the market, when he was as little as six years old. Despite this interfering with his own schooling, he completed his education, and gained a bachelor’s degree at the University of the Philippines. After graduating he started working as an accountant, at the country’s second largest accounting firm Sycip, Gorres, Velayo & Co. He left the accounting firm to start his own business, a company that delivered seafood.

From there he eventually moved into the construction industry, and then home building, concentrating on mass housing projects. Today, Manuel Villar is the chairman of Vista & Landscapes, the largest homebuilder in the Philippines. Both Manuel and his wife Cynthia are politicians.