Presentation

1. 17th Congress of the
Philippines
Cong. Vilma Recto

2. Vilma Santos-Recto
• Rosa Vilma Tuazon Santos-Recto (Tagalog pronunciation: [ˈsantɔs
ˈrɛktɔ], born November 3, 1953) is a Filipino actress, singer, dancer,
TV host, producer, and politician. She served as a House Deputy
Speaker from 2019 to 2022 and as
the Representative of Batangas' 6th district from 2016 to 2022.

3. • Regarded as the "most successful Filipino actor of all time",[1][2] her career as an
actress has spanned more than five decades, beginning when she debuted as a
child actress in the 1963 film Trudis Liit, for which she won her first FAMAS
Award (Best Child Performer). She won the FAMAS Award for Best Actress for her
dual role in Dama de Noche (1972). She has portrayed the superhero Darna in four
films beginning with Lipad, Darna, Lipad! (1973). Santos produced Pagputi ng Uwak,
Pag-itim ng Tagak (1978), which won both the FAMAS Award for Best Picture and
the Gawad Urian for Best Film. In local media, she has been referred to as "Star for
All Seasons"[3] for the varied genres of her films and holds the titles of Grand Slam
Queen, Queen of Queens, and the Longest Reigning Box Office Queen of Philippine
Cinema.[4] She was hailed as the enduring Grand Dame of the Philippine Film
Industry by a foreign critic at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, the first
Filipina actress to be bestowed such a tile

4. • Santos is also a prominent politician, and had served as governor
of Batangas for three consecutive terms and as mayor of Lipa for
also three consecutive terms.[6] She was elected as the
Representative of the 6th District of Batangas which comprise only
the City of Lipa in 2016. She was encouraged by various political
parties to run for the Senate in 2019, but refused to do so.

5. Acting career
• Vilma Santos is widely considered the most lastingly successful Filipino
film and television actress of all time.[8] She was adjudged the greatest
movie actress of the Philippines for the years 2000 to 2020 by the
Philippine Entertainment Portal for her continued portrayal of a wide
range of award-winning roles as well as for being a consistent box-office
draw despite being in the industry for nearly six decades.[9] Vilma's
venture into politics made her semi-retire from showbusiness in the late
1990's yet she still emerged as the actress with the most number of local
best actress awards so far in the 21st century.

6. • She started her acting career when one of her uncles, who was a
cameraman at Sampaguita Pictures, convinced her to try out for
the movies. Initially, Sampaguita Pictures had planned a child star
role for her in Anak, Ang Iyong Ina (1963). When Santos was in the
studio, she noticed a long line of little girls. Thinking that that line
was the line for her audition, she decided to queue in. The long line
turned out to be for an audition for Sampaguita Pictures'
offering Trudis Liit (Little Trudis).

7. • When it was her turn to audition, she was asked by the panel to
sing, dance and cry on cue. She got the part of "Trudis Liit" for
which she received the FAMAS Awards Best Child Performer award
for 1963.[11]
• She was cast in Sa Bawat Pintig ng Puso (1964), Maria
Cecilia (1965), Kasalanan Kaya? (1968), Iginuhit ng
Tadhana (1965) and later in its sequel Pinagbuklod ng
Langit (1969).

8. Political career
• Mayor of Lipa City
• In 1998, she entered politics and ran for mayor of Lipa
City, Batangas where she won three consecutive elections, becoming the
city's first female mayor.[12]
• In 2005, the University of the Philippines Diliman conferred on her
the Gawad Plaridel Award for her achievements and contributions both as
an actress and a public servant.[13] In the same year she was conferred
an honorary doctorate degree (honoris causa) in humanities by the Lipa
City College.[14] She was again honored in 2006 by UP Diliman as one of
the four awardees in UP's First Diwata Awards.

9. Governor of Batangas
• In 2007, Santos-Recto was on her third and final term as Mayor of Lipa
and was barred for seeking another term. She became a reluctant
candidate for Governor of Batangas as her brother-in-law, incumbent Vice
Governor Richard Recto, is seeking the governorship.
• On March 5, 2007, during the regular flag-raising ceremony at the Lipa
City Hall, Santos-Recto ask for a week to decide if she will run or not.
This was attended by thousands of her supporters not only in Lipa but
from different towns in Batangas. On March 12, 2007, she made her final
decision, running for Governor of Batangas despite having her brother-in-
law as her rival, including incumbent governor Arman Sanchez and
former police chief Nestor Sanares.

10. • On the day of her filing of her candidacy, Richard Recto decided to
withdraw his candidacy and run for Congress instead.
• Santos-Recto was proclaimed Governor-elect of Batangas on May 21,
2007, after garnering 475,740 votes against incumbent Arman Sanchez's
344,969, becoming the first female governor of the province. She was
reelected to her second term as Governor of Batangas in 2010, defeating
incumbent Santo Tomas Mayor Edna Sanchez, who substituted her
husband Arman Sanchez who died few weeks before the election. She
was re-elected to her third and final term as Governor in 2013.

11. Member, House of Representatives
• After her election for her third and final term as Governor of
Batangas, speculations circulated that Santos-Recto would run for
the national level. However, she declined every offer to run for a
higher level. She decided to run as the first representative of the
newly formed 6th District of Batangas, would comprise only the City
of Lipa. Santos-Recto won by a landslide, defeating Bernadette
Sabili.

12. • She became chairman of the Committee on Civil Service and
Professional Regulation. However, she was removed from the post by the
House leadership for her rejection of the reimposition of capital
punishment. She is the vice chair of the Committee on Globalization and
WTO and the Committee on Local Government. She is also a member of
the committees on Basic Education and Culture, Cooperatives
Development, Information and Communications Technology,
Interparliamentary Relations and Diplomacy, Labor and Employment,
Poverty Alleviation, Public Works and Highways, Southern Tagalog
Development, Ways and Means, Welfare af Children, and Women and
Gender Equality.

13. • She is co-author of the SOGIE Equality bill (Anti-discrimination bill), Magna Carta
for Day Care Workers, Maternity Leave Increase bill, Cancer Awareness bill,
expanded Senior Citizens bill, and Post-graduate Education for Teachers bill.[18]
• In September 2018, she switched from the Liberal Party, where she was a
member since 2009, to the Nacionalista Party.[19]
• On July 10, 2020, she is one of the 11 representatives who voted favor to
grant ABS-CBN's legislative franchise.[20] in which she supported the network's
cause for the people and culture. ABS-CBN is also responsible for the restoration
of some of her films as well as preservation, which includes Kapag Langit ang
Humatol, Anak, Haplos, and Dekada '70.

14. • Although she's eligible to run for a third term, and due to
speculations that she might run for a national post, Santos-Recto
decided not to seek another term to give way to her husband to run
in the same position, nor run in any position in the 2022 elections,
due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

15. Personal life
• Vilma Santos-Recto is married to Senator Ralph Recto. They have
one son, named Ryan Christian.[21] She also has one son, Luis
Manzano from her previous marriage to Edu Manzano.