Senator Cynthia Villar confirmed on Tuesday the authenticity of a now viral video featuring her having words with her rival, Las Piñas Councilor Mark Anthony Santos, inside a church but denied calling it a ‘confrontation.’
In the video, Villar could be seen walking from her pew to the opposite row, telling something to Santos. Only the words of the lector could be heard from the video circulating on social media.
Villar and Santos are both running for the lone Las Piñas congressional seat in the 2025 local elections.
The incident reportedly happened inside the Our Lady of Fatima church in Philamlife Village, Barangay Pamplona Dos on October 13, 2024. But it was posted on social media only last November 16, 2024.
Vice Mayor April Aguilar-Nery, niece of the senator, was also attending the church service. She appeared taken aback by Villar’s actions and stepped away from the pew.
Villar denied allegations of confronting Santos, whom she accused of spreading false information against her family. She said she just told Santos not to greet her.
“I did not attack (him)… But they are paying the media to defame our family. Why would he bother to approach and shake hands with me? Just don’t. That’s what I told him. I said don’t try and greet me because you’re slandering my family,” Villar said in Tagalog over One News.
In 2023, Villar was also seen in a viral video losing her temper at guards of a subdivision in Las Piñas.
VIllar claimed she was just asking guards to remove the gate that blocked the composting facility inside the subdivision, which led to the altercation. She insisted that she did not have an outburst.
Santos said he would rather die fighting than withdraw from the congressional race. He is a former chief of staff of the late Las Piñas Mayor Vergel Aguilar and an advocate of socialized housing and in-city relocation, supporting the Marcos administration’s housing projects nationwide.
