Cynthia A. Villar earned her dergree in Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of the Philippines , which recently recognized her as one of its Distinguished Alumnus. She completed her Masters in Business Administration at the New York University .

She practiced as a financial analyst and college professor until she married Former House Speaker and now Senator Manny Villar in 1975. She then helped her husband in various entrepreneurial ventures, eventually making C & P Homes the biggest homebuilder in the Philippines .

In 1989 they acquired Capitol Development Bank. She served as Treasurer for a year and then as President until 1998. In less than a decade, she propelled Capitol Bank to become the biggest private development bank in the country.

Villar social and civic concerns are waide and varied. In 1992, she founded and has chaired the Villar Foundation, which has won various awards for its tree-planting program "Pagtatanim Para sa Kinabukasan" (Planting for the Future), "Sagip Bukas" (Save the Future) a school based movement for a drug free Las Piñas, and "Manpower on Wheels", a mobile livelihood program which provides training in employable skills to curb unemployment.

From 1998-2000, she was President and Chairperson of the Congressional Spouses Foundation, which under her leadership, opened eleven (11) Regional Centers for women. These centers serve as half-way houses for women who have fallen victim to domestic violence, rape and other crimes against women. She is now active in the Senate Spouses Foundation, specially tasked to build regional centers for the elderly.

She has held and continues to hold key posts in various socio-civic organization such as the Philippine National Red Cross Las Piñas-Chapter, the Philippine Red Cross General Fund Campaign (1999), Zonta Club of Las Piñas, and the Rizal Youth Development Foundation. Presently she serves as the Chairperson of the National Fund Campaign of the Veterans Foundation or FILVETS.

The year 2001 marked another milestone in Cynthia Villar's career with her landslide victory as Representative of Las Piñas. She became president of the Lady Legislators of the 12th and 13th Congress, initiating activities aimed at advancing and protecting the welfare of women, children and family.

A staunch advocate for environmental conservation and preservation, she launched the "Sagip Ilog" (Save the River) Program in 2002- aimed at bringing back to life the once vibrant Las Piñas and Zapote Rivers . Dredging of the river and bamboo tree-planting are on-going as well as the training of riverbank residents on waste management and values formation.

With her outstanding performance as a first-time Representative of the lone district of Las Piñas, Congresswoman Villar ran for re-election in May 2004 and overwhelmingly won a second term. She is currently the Chairperson of the House of Representatives' Committee on Higher and Technical Education of the 13th Congress; and once again, unanimously elected as the President of the Lady Legislators of the 13th Congress.

With all her achievements and awards, she still considers her family her most cherished treasure, and her well-raised children as the glory : Paolo and Mark are both graduates of the University of Pennsylvania-Wharton School of the Finance, while only daughter Camille is a Business Management major at the Ateneo de Manila University.