Presentation

1. 18th Congress of the
Philippines
Cong. Vilma Santos-
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. • 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"[1] 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.[2] 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.[4] She
was elected as the Representative for the Lone District
of Lipa, Batangas 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 as the most lastingly successful
Filipino film and television actress of all time.[6] She was adjudged as 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.[7] 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.[9]
• 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.[
• 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.[11] In the same year she
was conferred an honorary doctorate degree (honoris causa) in
humanities by the Lipa City College.[12] 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.

10. • 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.

11. • 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 the province 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 of
Batangas. Governor Santos-Recto was reelected Governor of Batangas
during the May 2010 elections defeating incumbent Santo Tomas Mayor
Edna Sanchez, who substituted her husband Arman Sanchez who died
on April 27, 2010, and again, reelected as Governor of Batangas during
the May 2013 elections and her last term being a Governor.

12. 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.

13. • 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.

14. • 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.[16]
• In September 2018, she switched from the Liberal Party, where she
was a member since 2009, to the Nacionalista Party.

15. • On July 10, 2020, she is one of the 11 representatives who voted favor to
grant ABS-CBN's legislative franchise.[18] 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.
• 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, nor run in any position in the 2022 elections, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.