Mara Angeli Villegas
Mara is a Senior Legal Advisor at Cabrera & Company and the Assistant Leader of the Office of the General Counsel of PwC Philippines. She leads engagements involving mergers and acquisitions, banking and capital markets, technology law, sanctions and export controls, and emerging regulatory risks.
Mara has over 15 years of experience spanning private practice, in-house legal leadership, compliance, and advisory work. Prior to joining PwC, she served in senior legal and compliance roles across the banking, insurance, aviation, real estate, and media sectors, including positions with CIMB Bank Philippines, UNDP 2030 Youth Force, Sun Life Investment Management and Trust Corporation, BPI-MS Insurance Corporation, Solar Entertainment Corporation, and Skyjet Airlines.
She advises domestic and multinational clients on complex transactions, regulatory strategy, corporate governance, and the responsible adoption of emerging technologies. Her practice increasingly focuses on the intersection of law, business, and technology, particularly in artificial intelligence governance, data privacy, and digital transformation.
Mara is an accomplished educator and thought leader. She has taught courses on privacy law, mergers and acquisitions, gender sensitivity and special laws, and analytics and emerging technologies at various academic institutions such as UA&P and Silliman University. She is a frequent speaker on technology regulation, sustainability, and corporate governance matters.
She is an International Fellow of the International Summer Law Course of the University of Milan and a recipient of the United States Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program on Artificial Intelligence Governance. She is also an accredited arbitrator and has completed executive education programs with the Asian Development Bank and Stanford University under the LEAD Program and the National University of Singapore.
Mara obtained her Political Science, Juris Doctor and Master of Laws (candidate) from the University of the Philippines, where her graduate research focused on Privacy by Design and Artificial Intelligence Governance. She is co-author of a Springer publication on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and regularly contributes to discussions on emerging technology governance, regulatory innovation, and cross-border legal strategy.
Practice areas
- Tax Advisory & Structuring
- Data Privacy
- Mergers & Acquisitions and Competition Law
- ESG Governance and Compliance
- Human Rights Due Diligence
Education
- Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, University of the Philippines
- Juris Doctor, University of the Philippines
- Master of Laws (Candidate), University of the Philippines
- International Visitors Leadership Program,US State Department
- Stanford LEAD Program
- Research Fellow, University of Milan