Mari Grace Preciosa Hipolito-Castelo (born July 1, 1978), commonly known as Precious Hipolito-Castelo, is a Filipina actress, newscaster, and politician who last served as Representative of the 2nd district of

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

in the Philippines. She also served as city councilor from the same district from 2010 to 2019. She is a former child star, film and television actress and newscaster. In 1987, she won the

FAMAS Award The Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards, or simply the FAMAS Awards, are the annual honors given by the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS), an organization composed of writers and movie columnists, for achieveme ...

as Best Child Actress for ''Ang Daigdig Ay Isang Butil Na Luha''.

Acting career

In 1985, when she was 6 years old, she reached the finals n

Eat Bulaga! ''Eat !'' (; stylized as ''Eat... Bulaga!'') is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine television variety show broadcast by Radio Philippines Network, ABS-CBN, GMA Network and TV5 (Philippine TV network), TV5. Originally hosted by Tito S ...

's ''Little Miss Philippines'' segment along with

Donna Cruz Donna Cruz Yrastorza-Larrazabal (born February 14, 1977) (), is a Filipina singer and actress. Since the middle of the 1990s, she has released 8 studio albums, and featured as an actress in local films. She has also appeared on four soundtrac ...

. Hipolito's first film was ''The Life Story of Julie Vega'' in 1985. Her next films were ''Mga Anghel ng Diyos'' (1986) and ''Ang Daigdig Ay Isang Butil Na Luha'' (1986), for which she received the

FAMAS The FAMAS ( French: ''Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne'', lit. 'Assault rifle from the Saint-Étienne Weapon Factory') is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured in France by MAS in 1978. It is known by ...

Best Child Actress Award. She starred in

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

's drama anthology ''Stop: Child Abuse''. She joined '' That's Entertainment'' Wednesday Group along with

Sheryl Cruz Sheryl Rose Anna Marie Sonora Cruz (; born April 5, 1974) is a Filipino actress and singer. She is known for her roles as Divina Ferrer in 2007's television drama series ''Sinasamba Kita'', Miss Minchin in '' Princess Sarah'', and as Valeria i ...

Romnick Sarmenta Romeo Nicolas Sarmenta Tejedor (born April 28, 1972), known professionally as Romnick Sarmenta, is a Filipino actor, film producer and professor. Noted for his performances in a range of genres across film and television, he began his career a ...

and

Chuckie Dreyfus Charles "Chuckie" de Joya Dreyfus (; born August 7, 1974) is a Filipino actor, songwriter, and television personality. He received his first award as Best Child Performer 1984 at the Metro Manila Film Festival, won the FAMAS Award 1985 for Best ...

. She was a newscaster for '' IBC Express Balita'' from 2001 to 2009.

Personal life

She studied Communication Arts at the

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (UST; ), officially the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines or colloquially as ''Ustê'' (), is a Private university, private Catholic school, Catholic researc ...

. She is married to Winston Castelo, a former congressman and councilor of

. They have a daughter and a son.

Political career

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, she was elected to the Quezon City Council, representing the 2nd district, following her husband's election as Congressman in the same district. She was re-elected in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. In 2018, she joined the newly created political alliance

Hugpong ng Pagbabago Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP; ) is a regional political party and former political alliance in the Philippines. Formed in 2018 by Sara Duterte, the party was established in support of President Rodrigo Duterte's administration, and was the admini ...

and in the 2019 election won a congressional seat in the House of Representatives under the ticket of

Joy Belmonte Joy Belmonte-Alimurung (born Maria Josefina Tanya Go Belmonte; March 15, 1970) is a Filipino politician who has served as the 11th mayor of Quezon City since 2019. A member of the local Serbisyo sa Bayan Party, Belmonte previously served as ...

, succeeding her husband. She was named Assistant Majority Floor Leader in August 2019. She was one of the 70 representatives who voted in 2020 to deny the franchise renewal of

. She sought re-election in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, this time under Lakas-CMD and the Malayang QC ticket of Mike Defensor, but lost to Ralph Tulfo. In 2024, Hipolito was charged with graft over the theft of financial aid for government workers in Quezon City during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in 2020 and 2021.

Filmography

Film

*''The Life Story of Julie Vega'' (1985) *''Mga Anghel ng Diyos'' (1986) *''Ang Daigdig Ay Isang Butil Na Luha'' (1986) *''Cobrador'' (1986) *''Jockey T'yan'' (1988) *''Bala Ko ang Hahatol'' (1988) *''Everlasting Love'' (1989) *''

Babayaran Mo ng Dugo ''Babayaran Mo ng Dugo'' (lit. You Will Pay With Blood) is a 1989 Philippine action film directed by Francis "Jun" Posadas. The film stars Jestoni Alarcon, Rita Avila, John Regala, Robert Arevalo, Michael de Mesa, Subas Herrero, Dick Israel, ...

'' (1989) – Sid's sister *'' "Ako ang Batas" -Gen. Tomas Karingal'' (1989) *''Naughty Boys'' (1990) *''Anak ng Cabron: Ikalawang Ugat'' (1991) *''Lumayo Ka Man sa Akin'' (1992) *''Canary Brothers ng Tondo'' (1992)

Television

*''Stop: Child Abuse'' (TV show) *'' That's Entertainment'' (TV show) (1986–1996) *'' IBC Express Balita'' (TV news) (2001–2009)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hipolito, Precious 1978 births Living people Actresses from Quezon City Filipino actor-politicians Filipino television news anchors IBC News and Public Affairs people Lakas–CMD politicians Liberal Party (Philippines) politicians Mass media people from Quezon City Members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from Quezon City Nationalist People's Coalition politicians Partido Demokratiko Pilipino politicians Politicians from Quezon City Quezon City Council members University of Santo Tomas alumni Women members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines Filipino child actresses Filipino film actresses