The return of Lito Lapid

The power of movie stardom catapulted action star Lito Lapid to the Senate in 2004, and will most likely to the Senate again in the May 2010 election.

He was born Oct. 25, 1955 to deprived parents in Porac, Pampanga. His father was a stuntman, poorly and occasionally paid. Lito was able to finish only the grades and high school at St. Catherine Academy of Porac. But he found thrill in seeing his father, Jose, do dangerous tricks for movie stars, and soon found himself a stuntman. Then he became one of the country’s top action stars. His movies were blockbusters and he was cited as one of the top rated stars that included Fernando Poe Jr. Joseph Estrada, Rudy Fernandez, and Ramon Revilla Sr. Since 1972, he has acted in nearly a hundred movies.

Politics was not in his blood, he told a group of media persons last week, but he knew he had become popular when people egged him to run for vice governor of Pampanga. He was good-looking, tall, macho, and, a movie star, of course. He won, and then won again when he ran for governor three times. In 2004, he ranked 11th place in the senatorial election.

His popularity as governor soared when in 1997, the Pampanga Megadike was completed, thereby saving the capital municipality (now city) of San Fernando, from the lahar mudflows. In gratitude for former President Fidel V. Ramos’ assistance in the project, he joined the administration party Lakas NUCD.

In 2003, Lapid set his sights on the mayor’s seat of Angeles City, and started grooming his son, provincial board member Mark Lapid, for the position of governor. But in the 2004 senatorial elections, his fellow cabalen, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, encouraged him to run as senator under the administration coalition; he accepted the offer and won.

Meeting with members of Bulong Pulong in the home of publicist and impresario Beth Sison Tagle, Lito was exactly what had been said about him — of being very quiet — in the Senate while his highly educated colleagues fired away, he hardly spoke on the floor. “I have very low education, that’s why I don’t speak English very well,” he said apologetically. Speaking for him at the dinner and at other places was his chief of staff, lawyer Filmer Gueco Abrajano.

He has no enemies, but has only allies in the Senate, and says nothing bad about other people. Which is why his peers like him. Sen. Juan Ponce-Enrile is said to have good words for the Kapampangan legislator. He belongs to two “social” clubs among the senators, and their meetings are usually fun, especially as he serves Kapampangan dishes.

And yet Lito has filed 380 bills in the 14th Congress. Two bills he sponsored that became law give free legal assistance to poor litigants, and made Arnis a national martial arts sport in the country. His chief of staff said the senator campaigned for measures that would advance national pride and expand the use of the native language particularly in the education system as they develop students to become a globally competitive work force.

Lapid’s press kit recounts how he won over his Cabalen when, as vice governor, he led the rehabilitation efforts to rebuild what was left of lahar-torn Pampanga. As governor, real estate broke new record highs, export volumes increased to unprecedented levels, and his province was placed among the top ten most progressive provinces in the country.

 In the 14th Congress he chaired the Senate committee on games, amusement and sports and was instrumental in organizing institutional support to the country’s sports development programs. In the 15th Congress, he says his priorities will be education, livelihood, and housing programs.

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This year’s senatorial election, Lito told me, is different from the last one, in that “this time, one has to spend a lot of money.” He did not say how much, though.

But another difference is that this time, the candidates do not have to stage big campaign rallies. Television, radio and print media do the job of advertising for public position seekers. In his case, he said he does not appear on stage as much as before. He walks around, and, to his pleasant surprise, people know him, call him by his first name, ask him to pose for pictures with them.        

Titles of his movies speak for themselves: “Tapang sa Tapang,” “Karapatan Ko ang Pumatay,” “Hindi Palulupig,” “Sa Bawat Hahakbangan, Babaha ng Dugo,” “Kastilyong Buhangin,” “Batang Salabusab,” “Enter the Panther,” “Ibabaon Kita sa Lupa,” “Dudurugin Kita ng Bala Ko.” In these, as in the other movies, he is the action man, the hero. But the movie he considers most exciting in which he was the leading man featured his father — “The Jess Lapid Story.”

Lito won’t talk about his favorite leading ladies. Just like a decent macho-man, he’s not the kiss-and-tell type. He has teamed up with the country’s leading ladies, among them Kris Aquino. How is she as an actress? He did not answer this question.

Lito did talk about his real-life leading lady — wife Marissa Tadeo, by whom he has two sons and two daughters. Maynard is an aspiring actor whose career started in 2006. Mark is presently the general manager of the Philippine Tourism Authority.

His fans have not missed him when he was sitting in the Senate. He has found time to star in movies.

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My e-mail: [email protected]