Manuel "Lito" Mercado Lapid (; born October 25, 1955) is a Filipino actor, director and politician serving as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

since 2019, and previously from 2004 to 2016. He started his political career in

Pampanga Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga (; ; ), is a province in Central Luzon in the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac to the north, Nueva Ecija to the northeast, Bulacan to the east, ...

, serving as vice governor from 1992 to 1995, and

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

from 1995 to 2004.

Early life and education

Lapid was born in

Porac Porac, officially the Municipality of Porac (; ), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 140,751 people. History Pora ...

on August 21, 1955. He is the fifth child out of nine children of Jose Songco Lapid and Eleuteria Mercado. He completed his elementary education at the Porac Central School in 1968 and secondary education at St. Catherine's Academy in Porac in 1972. He did not enroll for his tertiary education as he pursued acting.

Acting career

Lapid entered the film industry as a stuntman, and became an actor. He is the nephew of Jess Lapid and the cousin of Jess Lapid Jr. The movie "The Jess Lapid Story" got him noticed in the movie industry.

Political career

In the 1992 general election he ran under the opposition block

Nationalist People's Coalition The Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) is a conservatism, conservative political party in the Philippines which was founded in 1992 by presidential candidate Danding Cojuangco. History Formation In 1990, amid political and economic unce ...

as vice governor of

, and defeated the incumbent vice governor Cielo Macapagal-Salgado. In 1995, he ran for governor of Pampanga under the same party against Governor Bren Guiao, who had the support of former President

Corazon Aquino María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines and the first woman president in the country, from Presidency of Corazon ...

, and won. When he sought a second term in 1998, Lapid joined the administration party Lakas-NUCD. After the impeachment of President

Joseph Estrada Joseph Ejercito Estrada (; born Jose Marcelo Ejercito; April 19, 1937), also known by the nickname Erap, is a Filipino politician and former actor, who served as the 13th president of the Philippines from 1998 until his resignation in 2001. ...

in 2000 and the

second EDSA Revolution The Second EDSA Revolution (), also known as the Second People Power Revolution, EDSA 2001, or EDSA II (pronounced ''EDSA Two'' or ''EDSA Dos'', the Spanish word for "two"), was a political protest from January 17–20, 2001 which peacefully ...

the following year, he ran again for his final term and won. He decided to run as mayor of

Angeles City Angeles (), officially the City of Angeles (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 462,928 people. A ...

, in the 2004 elections but abandoned his plans when he was encouraged to run as a senator.

Senate

During the 2004 Senatorial elections, the then-

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal-Arroyo (; born April 5, 1947), often referred to as PGMA or GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician who served as the 14th president of the Philippines from Presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 2001 to 2010 ...

encouraged Lapid to run as a senator under the administration coalition K4. He accepted the offer and won the election where he placed eleventh. During his first term, he ran for

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Makati Makati ( ; ), officially the City of Makati (), is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines, known for being one of the leading financial centers in the country. As of 2013, the city has the highest concent ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, but lost to incumbent Mayor

Jejomar Binay Jejomar "Jojo" Cabauatan Binay Sr. (born Jesus Jose Cabauatan Binay; November 11, 1942) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 13th vice president of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016, under President Benigno Aquino III. A ...

; thus, he kept his Senate seat. In May 2010, he was re-elected as senator, placing 11th in the overall ranking. He ran under the

Lakas–CMD Lakas–Christian Muslim Democrats, abbreviated as Lakas–CMD and also known simply as Lakas, (and known as Lakas–Kampi until 2011) is a political party in the Philippines. Lakas–CMD is considered to be on the Centre-right politics, centre ...

but subsequently left the party in 2012 and served until 2016 as an independent. He was chairman of the Senate Committee on Tourism and Cooperatives. As he was ineligible to seek another re-election to the Senate, Lapid ran for mayor of Angeles City in 2016, but lost to incumbent Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan. Lapid's office acknowledged that P5 million of his pork barrel was used in 2011 to purchase anti-dengue innoculants for Polillo, Quezon. The funds were allegedly misused as part of the pork barrel scam, since there were no reported cases of dengue fever in Polillo in 2011. In 2015, he was charged for graft over his alleged involvement in the 2004 Fertilizer Fund scam while he was governor of Pampanga, but the case was dismissed in 2016 by the

Sandiganbayan The Sandiganbayan () is a special Appellate court, appellate collegial court in the Philippines that has jurisdiction over criminal and civil cases involving Graft (politics), graft and corrupt practices and other offenses committed by public ...

anti-graft court due to the "inordinate delay" in the investigation. Lapid sought for a comeback to the Senate in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and won, placing 7th overall. He earned his third nonconsecutive term. Lapid was re-elected as senator in

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

and was a part of the Administration Slate,

Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas The Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas () is an electoral alliance formed to field candidates for the 2025 Philippine general election. Formed by allies of the administration of President Bongbong Marcos, the alliance includes the Partido Federal ...

. He placed 11th overall.

Personal life

Lapid is married to Marissa Tadeo, with whom he has four children including

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

. Lapid also has a child with former supermodel Melanie Marquez and another, actress Ysabel Ortega with former singer, Michelle Ortega.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* *
Senate of the Philippines - Lito Lapid
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lapid, Lito 1955 births Living people ABS-CBN people Filipino actor-politicians Politicians from Pampanga Filipino film directors Filipino male film actors Governors of Pampanga Kapampangan people Lakas–CMD politicians Male actors from Pampanga Nationalist People's Coalition politicians Male actors from Makati Senators of the 13th Congress of the Philippines Senators of the 14th Congress of the Philippines Senators of the 15th Congress of the Philippines Senators of the 16th Congress of the Philippines Senators of the 18th Congress of the Philippines Senators of the 19th Congress of the Philippines Lapid family (Philippines)