‘Villars acted in good faith in stock transactions’

April 21, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Villar Land Holdings Corp. is asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to junk the cases slapped by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its executives, including members of the Villar family.

The Villar siblings – senators Mark and Camille, and their brother Paolo, all directors of Villar Land – appeared at the Department of Justice (DOJ) main office in Manila yesterday to file their counter-affidavits on the complaint against them by the SEC. They all left immediately after they subscribed to their statements.

Meanwhile, their parents and former senators Manny, Villar Land chairman, and Cynthia submitted to the DOJ their “verified motion and manifestation,” subscribed before a notary public in their bailiwick in Las Piñas.

In addition, Manny’s brother Virgilio, who owns Infra Holdings that was also implicated in the SEC complaint, gave his statement to the DOJ on April 8.

The SEC accused Villar Land, Infra Holdings and MGS Construction of violating provisions under the Securities Regulation Code “for making false and misleading statements and engaging in acts that operated as fraud or deceit upon investors,” according to earlier reports.

Along with their commitment of “full cooperation,” lawyers for the Villars maintained, “they did not commit any wrongdoing.”

“We have told the DOJ panel we will fully cooperate for a fair and impartial investigation grounded in due process,” said Robel Lomibao, lawyer from the Picazo Buyco Tan Fider Santos & Dee law firm representing Villar Land.

“Iyan po ang aming panalangin at hinahangad na sana sa dulo ay mapanigan kami ng panel at ma-dismiss ang kaso laban sa kanila,” Lomibao said.

Rhegine Peralta-Abrera, counsel for Sen. Mark Villar, also said, “all his actions were made in good faith, and there is absolutely no evidence of fraud or intent to fraud.”

“The stand is that he performed the action in good faith as director of the company, and these were based on independent valuations, and again to comply with the duty to ensure transparency,” she said.

Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Peter Ong said the DOJ panel handling the SEC case against Villar Land has scheduled the next hearing on May 13, when the SEC is expected to reply to the statements made by Villar Land.

Ong explained it would focus on a disclosure by Cynthia Javarez, one of Villar Land’s directors, who revealed an exchange of messages between the company and auditing firm Punongbayan & Araullo.

“At the minimum, I will conduct a clarificatory hearing on the arguments raised by Cynthia Javarez vis-a-vis Punongbayan & Araullo. It has something to do with the P1 trillion fair valuation of the investment on properties na na-reduce into P1 billion na lang, bumaba net income nila from P999 billion na naging P1.4 billion. So there are Viber or text messages between Villar Land and Punongbayan na pino-point ni Cynthia Javarez, so I just need to be clarified from Punongbayan & Araullo,” he told reporters.

Recommended