2 days ago
6
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
Cristina Chi - Philstar.com
May 20, 2026 | 7:00am
Sen. Mark Villar appears during the convening of the impeachment court at the Senate, May 18, 2026.
Mark Villar via Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate has elected Mark Villar as the new chairperson of the powerful Senate finance committee, handing the former public works chief one of the chamber's most coveted posts.
The appointment was made during the Senate plenary session on Tuesday, May 19.
Villar's predecessor, Sen. Win Gatchalian, now a member of the minority, was named vice chair of the committee.
This places Villar at the helm of a panel with the power to revise or realign items on the proposed national budget.
Chairpersons of the finance committee are typically made members of the bicameral conference committee, which brings together select House lawmakers and senators to reconcile different versions of the budget.
Villar was part of the Senate's delegation to the 2025 bicam that passed the 2026 national budget.
In the 19th Congress, Villar chaired the Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce, and Entrepreneurship and the Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies.
Last week, Villar was among the 13 senators who installed Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, who replaced Sen. Tito Sotto III.
At the height of the flood control investigations last year, Villar was among several senators accused of covertly receiving funds from flood control projects through Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo.
Specifically, he was accused of using his position as former DPWH secretary to allegedly favor his contractor cousin Carlo Aguilar.
Villar denied the allegation and said he had an "untarnished record" as DPWH secretary and now as a senator.
Before entering politics in 2010, Villar spent a decade in his family's real estate business, serving as president of Crown Asia Corporation and managing director of Vista Land & Lifescapes.
His parents, former Senate President Manny Villar and Sen. Cynthia Villar, built one of the country's largest property empires.
