Senator Cynthia Villar was caught lashing out against a security guard and his superiors in a video over a barricade that was placed along a road in Las Piñas City.
The video was posted to Facebook by JC DELA CRUZ WORLD yesterday but it is not clear when the incident took place.
In the now-viral video, Villar orders the men to remove the barricades blocking an easement, which was supposedly converted into a parking space.
When the guards refuse to do so, the senator gets heated and pokes her fingers at a guard’s arm as a supervisor pleads with her not to hurt his staff.
This seemed to rile up Villar even further.
“I’m not hurting your guard. Get out of here! I took out all of the squatters [in this area]. I never benefited from this, but now you are,” she says in Filipino.
“Why, am I capable of hurting him? What is he, gay?” she adds as the supervisor continued pleading with her to stop her tirades against the guard.
While the area was not explicitly identified in the video, some netizens pointed out that the incident likely took place inside BF Resort Village, where the Zapote River Drive traverses.
The Zapote River Drive was initiated by the senator as part of a 32-km road improvement project in Las Piñas City in 2012, and was inaugurated in 2021. The road, meant to ease traffic congestion along the Alabang-Zapote road, also serves as an access road to Evia Lifestyle Center, a shopping mall under mall operator Vistamalls — owned by her husband, Manny.
The incident did not sit well with some netizens, who accused the senator of power-tripping and hurling homophobic slurs.
“We know that Senator Cynthia Villar’s family is the richest in the Philippines, but if she has no respect for poor people, they should not be given any position in the government. Shame on you Cynthia Villar, you have no compassion for the unfortunate people,” one wrote.
“You know what’s sad? Poor Filipinos who barely have livable salaries contribute to the salary of undeserving government officials like Cynthia Villar,” another said.
“What does Senator Cynthia Villar mean in her statement, ‘What is he, gay?’ Does she mean she can only hurt gays, only gays get hurt, or that she’s used to seeing gays get hurt? Or that she’s simply ugly?” Writer Jerry Gracio retorted.
The senator’s husband, former senator and real estate tycoon Manny Villar, was named the richest man in the Philippines by Forbes this month.
