Manuel Bamba Villar Jr. was born on December 13, 1949 in Tondo, an impoverished and densely populated district of Manila. He was the second-born of the nine children of his parents in a poor family. His Father, Manuel "Maning" Montalban Villar, Sr., was a government employee from Cabatuan, Iloilo who worked as an inspector for the Bureau of Fisheries. His mother, Curita "Curing" Bamba, was a seafood vendor from a poor family in Orani, Bataan. The family lived in a small rented apartment in a run down slum area. Villar's Father was eventually granted a year-long scholarship for higher education in the United States, which led to a job promotion to a Director position in the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources upon his return. Due to cramped conditions in Tondo, Villar's Father obtained a P16,000 loan from the Government Service Insurance System, payable in 20 to 25 years, to build a home in San Rafael Village, Navotas.