SEC chief Francis Lim to Villars: No family is too powerful to sue

For Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Francis Lim, filing a case against the Villars was about sending a message.

Not a particularly subtle one.

Lim wants the market — the teetering, ailing creature that is the Philippine Stock Exchange — to believe that when the SEC finds conduct worth prosecuting, neither a powerful surname nor a formidable political network can make the complaint disappear.

And the family in the regulator’s crosshairs is no ordinary corporate clan. In the Philippines, where business and politics often share the same family table, the Villars sit at the head: billionaire Manny Villar, a former Senate president who once topped the country’s rich list; his wife Cynthia, also a former senator; their children Mark and Camille, both sitting senators; and businessman Paolo Villar.

Plenty of capital — and even more political capital.