For two-term senator Cynthia Villar, the Nacionalista Party (NP) remains a “force to reckon with" that maintains a stronghold in Las Piñas City with two senators, one congresswoman, and the majority of local elected officials aligned with its ranks.
Villar said that this is how NP was, the oldest political party in the Philippines and Southeast Asia since the time of her father, Dr. Filemon Aguilar, who served as mayor from 1964 to 1986 and Congressman of Las Piñas-Muntinlupa from 1987 to1992.
Cynthia Villar and Mark Villar are incumbent senators while Deputy Speaker Camille Villar is the sitting representative of the lone district of Las Piñas. Manny Villar, former House Speaker and Senate President, and one of the country’s richest men, is the president of NP. Among its ranks are majority of incumbent local officials.
Recently, the NP forged an alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, further fortifying its presence in the 2025 midterm elections.
The Villars continue to enjoy the support of Las Pineros as shown in the result of the 2019 local elections where Camille Villar who ran and won for the first time, obtained 173, 917 votes, which was more than the votes garnered by the winners in the mayor and vice mayor posts. In 2022, Camille Villar again won as Las Pinas Representative with 130,812 votes, again garnering more votes than the winning candidates for mayor and vice mayor.
Cynthia Villar, whose term as senator will expire in 2025, said she is weighing her options to run for another post.
She served as Las Piñas congresswoman for three terms from 2001-2010, where she held the Committee on Higher and Technical Education during the 13th and 14th Congress. She was President of the Lady Legislators during the 12th, 13th& 14th Congress initiating Legislation benefitting women, children, and family.
When she sought reelection in 2019, she was proclaimed the Number One Senator, having garnered more than 25.2 million votes. She chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform, and the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Climate Change.
Cynthia Villar said “it is no wonder why” the NP and Villars continue to enjoy the support of Las Piñeros.
“The family’s established reputation for competence, its extensive national network and political alliances, as well as its deeply-rooted relations with the communities are all important in addressing local needs,” she added.