Villar Land Holdings Corp., led by tycoon Manuel Villar Jr., has erased more than P1.33 trillion in asset value from its 2024 books after its external auditor disallowed a sweeping land revaluation move.
Villar Land writes down assets by 97%
In new financial filings released on Wednesday, Villar Land reported audited end-2024 assets of P35.7 billion—a 97 percent drop from the unaudited March 2025 filing that showed year-end assets of about P1.37 trillion.
It also listed P1.34 trillion worth of investment properties last March before these were restated as being worth P8.8 billion in the audited report.
These are partial figures from Villar Land, which disclosed audited balance sheet data in its 2025 quarterly reports.
The company has yet to release the full 2024 report.
The March 2025 disclosure and subsequent delays in the filing of required financial data prompted the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate Villar Land’s controversial land revaluation.
Stock trading suspended since May 2025
The company’s shares have been suspended from trading since May 15 this year. Shares under the stock symbol HVN last traded at P2,296.00 each, valuing Villar Land at almost P1.5 trillion.
Its March filing also showed 2024 profit surging about 68,300 percent to P999.720 billion, mainly due to the land revaluation, which was cleared by third-party appraiser E-Value Philippines.
Villar City land valuation in focus
A real estate insider said other firms were approached by Villar Land to justify the huge price hike, which was tied to the P5.2 billion purchase of parcels of land in the 3,500-hectare Villar City just a few months before.
The SEC investigation revealed that audit firm Punongbayan & Araullo had pushed back against the inflated asset values.
While not shown in the current filings, the asset value cut also implies a massive profit reduction in 2024 from the nearly P1 trillion that was disclosed last March.
The SEC earlier fined Villar Land Holdings Corp. P12 million for the delayed submission of financial reports, and it also ordered E-Value to explain the controversial land value estimate.
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
