HE GREW UP IN THE SLUMS: Manuel “Manny” Bamba Villar Jr., 71, currently chairs the Villar Group, a conglomerate involved in property development, retail and mining. He came from rather humble beginnings. As a boy growing up in Tondo, he sold fish and shrimps in Manila's Divisoria wholesale market. Tondo is a sea-side slum on the western edge of Manila, fronting the bay. Today, he’s the richest Filipino, with assets estimated by Forbes at $7 billion. File photo shows one of Tondo's garbage-filled “estero” (brook), literally an open sewer, that then washes into Pasig River, then out to the Manila Bay.
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