COMPANIES OF BILLIONAIRE Manuel Villar seem to like being publicly noticed and written about, even as the Philippine Stock Exchange slapped fines on six of its companies for late financial reporting of its second quarter operations.
The companies were AllDay Marts Inc., AllHome Corp., Villar Land Holdings Corp., Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., Vistamalls Inc. and VistaREIT Inc. The filings, covering the period ended June 30, were due by the extended Aug. 19 deadline, according to Bilyonaryo.
The PSE did not disclose the penalties imposed on each company in its Aug. 20 notice.
The sanctions come amid separate regulatory scrutiny of Villar’s business interests. Villar Land is facing a criminal complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with the Department of Justice (DOJ) over alleged market manipulation, insider trading and misleading disclosures.
The SEC filed the complaint on Jan. 30 against Villar Land, Villar, members of his family, company directors and related entities.
The complaint remains under preliminary investigation. The DOJ has not announced a finding of probable cause or filed charges in court. Villar and the other respondents have denied wrongdoing and sought its dismissal, Bilyonaryo reported.
The SEC investigation stemmed partly from Villar Land’s March 2025 disclosure of unaudited figures showing P1.33 trillion in assets and P999.72 billion in net income, largely due to the revaluation of its real estate holdings.
The company’s subsequently filed audited financial statements reported P35.7 billion in assets and about P1.42 billion in net income.
The other five companies sanctioned by the PSE were I-Remit Inc., Metro Global Holdings Corp., PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc., SOCResources Inc. and TKC Metals Corp.
I-Remit recently identified Ben Tiu as owning 47% of the company. Fil-Estate Management Inc. controls 89.26% of Metro Global, while Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corp. holds 71.62% of PH Resorts.
Edgardo Reyes, Belen Castro and Wilfrido Reyes collectively own 76.3% of SOCResources, while Tiu family-linked JTKC Equities Inc. and Star Equities Inc. together control 83.85% of TKC Metals, Bilyonaryo disclosed.