Cynthia Villar

Cynthia Aguilar Villar (, born Cynthia Ampaya Aguilar on July 29, 1950) is a Filipina politician currently serving as a Senator of the Philippines. She was a member of the House of Representatives for the Lone District of Muntinlupa from 2001 to 2010 before winning a seat in the Senate in 2013, placing tenth. Villar topped the Senate race with 25 million votes, the most votes in election history until it was surpassed by Robin Padilla in 2022, and was re-elected for a second term in the Senate and got first in the results of the 2019 elections. Personal life Villar was born on July 29, 1950, in Muntinlupa, then a municipality in Rizal, to Filemon Aguilar, a long-time mayor of Las Piñas and congressman, and Lydia Ampaya. She spent her elementary years at the Muntinlupa Elementary School, where she graduated in 1962. In 1966, she graduated high school from the Philippine Christian University. She then obtained a degree in Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at the University of the Philippines Diliman (UP Diliman) in 1970. It is where in UP she met her husband, Senator Manny Villar. Two years later, in 1972, she obtained a master's degree in Business Administration at the New York University. She practiced as a financial analyst at the Philippine Shares Corporation and a professor at the Far Eastern University before marrying Villar in 1975. After her marriage, she helped her husband in managing his business ventures and became the director and vice president of the Household Finance Corporation. She later managed the Capitol Development Bank, where she served as its treasurer from 1989 to 1990 and its president from 1990 to 1998.