Mark Villar joins majority, chairs public works panel
Sen. Mark Villar on Thursday crossed over to the Senate majority, bringing the bloc’s membership to 14 and securing his chairmanship of the powerful public works committee, a move that came amid the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte and two years before his reelection bid.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, however, rejected suggestions that Villar’s transfer was aimed at securing the votes needed to convict Duterte, saying the senator himself wanted a committee assignment that would allow him to work and travel around the country.
“No, not at all,” Zubiri said when asked if Villar’s move had anything to do with the number of votes needed for conviction.
“It has nothing to do whatsoever” with the 14 or 16 votes being discussed, he said.
‘Nothing to do’ with trial
Villar was elected by the Senate as chair of the committee on public works and as a member of the Commission on Appointments (CA). Zubiri gave up his CA seat to make way for Villar, while Villar replaced Senate President Pro Tempore Vicente Sotto III as public works chair.
The appointments formally marked Villar’s departure from the minority bloc led by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, which he joined in May, to oust Sotto as Senate president.
Previously, Villar backed Sotto for Senate president during an earlier leadership coup on Sept. 8, 2025, where he and his sister Camille provided the crucial deciding votes to help Sotto unseat Francis “Chiz” Escudero.
Villar’s transfer came just two weeks after he broke ranks with the minority during the impeachment court’s vote on the number of senators needed to convict Duterte.
He was the lone minority member to participate in the Sept. 23 vote and voted with most of the majority in favor of changing the computation of the two-thirds threshold.
Zubiri insisted that vote had nothing to do with Villar’s return to the majority.
“We had nothing to do with that. That’s a conscience vote,” he said, adding that Villar’s decision to join the majority was his own.
Zubiri also stressed that membership in the majority did not determine how a senator would vote in the impeachment trial.
“Being a member of the majority doesn’t automatically mean that you will vote for conviction or for acquittal,” he said. “Maybe we have members in the majority who would suddenly vote for acquittal. And maybe there are minority members that will vote for conviction. It all has to do with evidence, evidence presented.”
In order to ‘go around’
The Sept. 23 ruling provided that the two-thirds requirement would be computed based on senators legally and factually capable of participating in the impeachment proceedings.
The change potentially lowered the threshold from 16 votes based on the full 24-member Senate to 14 under the current 20 senators capable of participating.
Zubiri said Villar himself reached out to the majority because he wanted to become more productive in the Senate.
“We had a heart-to-heart discussion with Senator Mark. He really wants to work, he wants committees that would really make him work and be a productive member of the Senate,” Zubiri said.
Villar, he added, wanted a committee assignment that would allow him to travel around the country and build support for legislation.
“He wants to have consensus building across the country and he said he will go around the country in connection with the committees he now handles,” Zubiri said.
Asked whether there had been negotiations for Villar’s return, Zubiri said: “We did not negotiate.”
He said Villar had always been with the majority from the beginning and described his move as simply welcoming back a senator who wanted to be more productive.
Minority will remain
Villar’s new post is his first chairmanship of the public works committee. Before the latest reshuffle, he chaired the finance committee. In the previous Congress, he chaired the committees on trade, commerce and entrepreneurship and banks, financial institutions and currencies.
He was also public works secretary from 2016 to 2021 under then President Rodrigo Duterte before entering the Senate.
Villar is serving his first six-year Senate term, which ends in 2028, and is eligible to seek reelection that year.
Cayetano, who leads the 10-member minority, acknowledged Villar’s departure while stressing that the opposition bloc would continue its role as a fiscalizer.
“Senate coalitions may change, but our vision, principles, and commitment to God and to the Filipino people remain steadfast,” he said.
Cayetano said the minority understood the circumstances behind changes in political alliances, adding that it had become increasingly clear since May 11 how important it was for the administration to maintain a closely allied working majority in the Senate.
“But regardless of how the political landscape shifts, our duty remains unchanged. We will continue to stand for what is right, uphold our institutions, and work for the good of our nation,” Cayetano said.
Sen. Robinhood Padilla said Villar’s move was not unexpected because the senator had previously been part of the majority.
“There is no big reaction from the original minority,” Padilla said.
Another one leaving?
Sen. Raffy Tulfo, meanwhile, suggested Villar might not be the last senator to leave the minority.
“I think someone will transfer from minority to majority. I believe so. I just don’t want to say who because I might preempt it,” Tulfo said.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson had earlier said Sen. Loren Legarda remained welcome in the majority, although she would first have to return to the country if her health permitted.
In Thursday’s brief session of the Senate, Cayetano informed the plenary that he would replace Legarda as a member of the CA.
“Given the situation that three of the members of the minority in the Commission on Appointments are either politically or legally or both prevented from attending, I’d just like to manifest for the record that this representation will replace Senator Legarda,” Cayetano said.
Ombudsman complaints
Villar’s transfer also comes less than a month after the Office of the Ombudsman initiated a preliminary investigation into criminal and administrative complaints involving him, his sister Camille and other members of their family over joint venture agreements involving their former water utility firm.
The complaints stem from agreements entered into by PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp. and 75 local water districts from 2015 to 2022. The Ombudsman said the cases involved alleged violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, including transactions it described as potentially “grossly disadvantageous” to the government.
The agreements were entered into while Mark was public works secretary and a member of the board of trustees of the Local Water Utilities Administration, according to the Ombudsman.
At least 19 water districts later issued notices of pretermination, citing PrimeWater’s failure to meet its obligations. The Ombudsman also cited Commission on Audit findings involving unpaid obligations to several water districts totaling P65.65 million.
Villar has said he would respect the legal process and respond to the complaints in the proper forum, urging that no conclusions be drawn before the parties are given an opportunity to be heard.
The Villar siblings’ political positions also remain split: Mark is now with the majority, while Camille remains with Cayetano’s minority bloc. Camille is up for reelection in 2031.
With Villar’s transfer, the majority now has 14 members and the minority 10. Four minority senators are currently not attending sessions—Legarda, who is on an extended medical leave; Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta, who are detained; and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who has been in hiding amid an International Criminal Court arrest warrant. —WITH REPORTS FROM ISABELLE PECHAY AND MAILA AGER
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