Atty. Emmeline Aglipay Villar is an Undersecretary of the Department of Social Welfare and
Development (DSWD), handling International Affairs, and the Attached and Supervised
Agencies, which includes the Council for the Welfare of Children, National Authority for Child
Care, Juvenile Justice Welfare Council, National Council on Disability Affairs, National Council
on Indigenous Peoples, National Anti-Poverty Commission and the Presidential Commission for
the Urban Poor. She also handles concerns on trafficking in persons, online sexual abuse and
exploitation of children, and violence against women and their children.
Prior to being an Undersecretary of the DSWD, she served as Undersecretary for Legal
Services and Liaison Cluster of the Department of Justice and was in-charge of the
Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking.

She earned her law degree from the University of the Philippines, and her Master of Laws at the
London School of Economics and Political Science. In 2012, Undersecretary Emmeline was one
of the youngest recipients of The Outstanding Young Men (or TOYM Award) for Public Service.
She was a Senior Lecturer of Constitutional Law at the University of the Philippines College of
Law.

She was also a three-term Congresswoman of the Democratic Independent Workers’
Association (DIWA) Party-list from 2010 to 2018. Undersecretary Villar is an advocate for the
rights of workers, women, children, and persons with disabilities and was a principal author of
The Domestic Workers Act, The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act;
Persons with Disability (PWD) Value-Added Tax (VAT) Exemption Act; The Expanded Maternity
Leave Law; The First 1000 Days Act; The Mental Health Act; The Act Strengthening
Occupational, Health and Safety Standards; and The Unified Student Financial Assistance
System of Higher and Technical Education, among others.
After being diagnosed with lupus nephritis in 2007, she founded the Hope for Lupus Foundation
– a non-profit organization, which aims to raise awareness about lupus. She is also a key figure
in the promotion of a disability-inclusive Philippines, and was the Chairperson of the non-profit
organization, Project Inclusion Network.
Undersecretary Aglipay Villar is married to Senator Mark Aguilar Villar, and they have a 9
year-old daughter named Emma.