Renato "Rene"Salud de Villa (born July 20, 1935) is a Filipino former police and military officer and government official. He served as Chief ofPhilippine Constabulary, Director-General of theIntegrated National Police, andChief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. He then served asSecretary of National Defense under presidentsCorazon Aquino andFidel V. Ramos. He foundedPartido para sa Demokratikong Reporma for his unsuccessful presidential bid in1998. He then briefly served asExecutive Secretary under PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Renato de Villa was born on July 20, 1935, inSan Juan, Batangas.[1] He completed his elementary education at San Juan Elementary School, and finished high school atBatangas Eastern Academy, also in San Juan.[1] He studied engineering for one year at theUniversity of Santo Tomas inManila before taking and passing the entrance exam for thePhilippine Military Academy.[1]
De Villa has a master's degree in Business Management from theAsian Institute of Management.[1]
De Villa served asChief ofPhilippine Constabulary and Director-General of theIntegrated National Police in 1986 and was concurrentVice-Chief of Staff of theArmed Forces of the Philippines in 1987. In 1988, he was promoted toChief of Staff of the Armed Forces byPresidentCorazon Aquino. In 1989, he defendedPresidentCorazon Aquino against coup plots in Manila byGregorio Honasan'sReform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) and the siege of an army camp by Rizal Alih inZamboanga City.
Presidential Medal of Merit (Philippines)
Outstanding Achievement Medal
Visayas Anti-Dissidence Campaign Medal
Mindanao Anti-dissidence Campaign Medal
Long Service Medal
Disaster Relief & Rehabilitation Operation Ribbon
Military Commendation MedalIn 1991,Fidel Ramos resigned as Defense secretary to run for president. Aquino appointed de Villa as his replacement. When Ramos won as president in 1992, he reappointed de Villa to the post.
In 1997, he resigned as Defense secretary and made his bid for the presidency. He joinedLakas–NUCD the same year to get Ramos' endorsement. De Villa was widely believed to be the preferred candidate of PresidentFidel V. Ramos, due to their long association in thePhilippine Constabulary, shared experience in theEDSA Revolution, and appointment as Secretary of National Defense.[2] However, in December 1997, Ramos endorsed Lakas co-founder House SpeakerJose de Venecia, Jr., who became the official presidential nominee of the party.[2]
De Villa bolted from the party and formed his own party called thePartido ng Demokratikong Reporma (Democratic Reform Party) and formed an alliance with theLapiang Manggagawa (Labor Organization) asReporma–LM. He chose Pangasinan GovernorOscar Orbos as his running mate and brought rebel members of Lakas to his party. Many criticized his actions, most of whom think that he basically cloned Ramos' career (Ramos did the same when he lost the nomination of theLDP). But in theelection day of May, he lost to popularVice PresidentJoseph Estrada and placed sixth overall in a field of 11 candidates.
De Villa reappeared in 2001 when thesecond EDSA People Power Revolution escalated and influenced active officers of the Armed Forces to withdraw support toPresidentJoseph Estrada. WhenPresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo assumed office, she appointed de Villa as her executive secretary. He resigned from the cabinet the succeeding year citing health conditions. In the2004 elections, he formally withdrew alliance with Arroyo and endorsedRaul Roco'scampaign as president. His party did not fill any candidates other than what was endorsed by Roco. Roco however lost to the incumbent Arroyo in the elections.
In July 2005, De Villa was speculated to be picked astransition president in case the opposition successfully ousted President Arroyo and Vice PresidentNoli de Castro from their positions and form arevolutionary government. Those plans did not happen when the Arroyo impeachment was dismissed in the Lakas-dominatedHouse of Representatives.
As a young captain on the armed forces in the 1960s, De Villa would spend his leisure time at theFort Bonifacio quarters ofEduardo Ermita, his classmate at the Philippine Military Academy. Also staying there was Monica "Monet" Barrica ofDipolog, aPhilippine Airlines flight attendant and niece of Ermita's wife.[2] De Villa married Barrica in 1968, a month before shipping out to Vietnam.[2]
De Villa and Barrica had four children:[1]
Barrica was diagnosed with stage III malignant cancer in 1990, and died in September 2006 after a 16-year struggle. Her remains are buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery in San Juan, Batangas.[2]
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Chief of Staff of theArmed Forces of the Philippines 1988–1991 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Vice Chief of Staff of theArmed Forces of the Philippines 1987–1988 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief of Philippine Constabulary 1986–1988 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Executive Secretary January 22, 2001– May 7, 2001 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of National Defense 1991–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| First | Reporma nominee forPresident of the Philippines 1998 | Vacant Title next held by Panfilo Lacson |
| Commanding generals of the Philippine Revolutionary Army(1897–1901) | .svg) | |
|---|---|---|
| Chiefs of staff of the Philippine Commonwealth Army(1935–1945) | ||
| Chiefs of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (1946–2020) |
| |
| Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs (2020–present) | ||
§ — Acting chief. | ||
| Philippine Constabulary (1901–1942) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Constabulary (1942–1945) | ||
| Philippine Constabulary (1945–1975) | ||
| Philippine Constabulary Concurrently as Directors-General of theIntegrated National Police (1975–1991) | ||
| Philippine National Police (1991–present) | ||
‡ — | ||
