Vilma Santos

Rosa Vilma Tuazon Santos-Recto is a Filipino actor and public official born on November 3, 1953. She gained prominence in the Philippine entertainment industry as a child performer during the 1960s before establishing herself as a top box-office lead through the 1970s and early 1980s. Alongside her work on screen, she entered public service in the late 1990s, serving in local government and the national legislature, including multiple terms as the Governor of Batangas.

Santos-Recto has family roots in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija. Her screen career began after her uncle, a camera operator at Sampaguita Pictures, encouraged her to try out for film roles. While at the studio, she inadvertently joined an audition queue for Trudis Liit (1963), where she was asked to sing, dance, and cry. After securing the lead role, she earned the FAMAS Award for Best Child Performer in 1963. She subsequently appeared in several 1960s productions, including Sa Bawat Pintig ng Puso, Maria Cecilia, Kasalanan Kaya?, Iginuhit ng Tadhana, and Pinagbuklod ng Langit.

Over a career spanning nearly six decades, Santos-Recto maintained a reputation for dramatic versatility and sustained commercial draw. She was named the Philippines' greatest movie actress for the period from 2000 to 2020 by the Philippine Entertainment Portal. Although she entered semi-retirement from entertainment in the late 1990s to pursue politics, she accumulated the highest number of best actress awards in the country during the 21st century. Her industry honors include a Dhaka International Film Festival Award, five Luna Awards, eleven Gawad Urian awards, and thirteen FAMAS Awards, making her the most awarded acting recipient in FAMAS history.

In 1998, Santos-Recto transitioned into political life and was elected the first female mayor of Lipa City, Batangas, eventually serving three consecutive terms. Her public service and artistic contributions were recognized in 2005 when the University of the Philippines Diliman conferred upon her the Gawad Plaridel Award, followed by an honorary doctorate in humanities from Lipa City College that same year. In 2006, UP Diliman further honored her as one of four recipients at the first Diwata Awards.

Santos-Recto was elected the first female Governor of Batangas in 2007 after receiving 475,740 votes against incumbent Arman Sanchez. She secured re-election in 2010 against Edna Sanchez and won a third term in 2013. In 2012, President Benigno S. Aquino III presented her with the Presidential Lingkod Bayan Award for addressing water quality and fish kills in Taal Lake. Following her time in the legislature, she returned to executive office by winning a fourth term as governor in 2025.

In 2016, Santos-Recto was elected to the House of Representatives as the first member for Batangas' 6th district, defeating Bernadette Sabili, and later served as House Deputy Speaker from 2019 to 2022. During her term, she co-authored legislation concerning maternity leave expansion, senior citizen benefits, daycare worker rights, cancer awareness, teacher postgraduate education, and anti-discrimination through the SOGIE Equality bill. She switched from the Liberal Party to the Nacionalista Party in 2018 and voted to grant ABS-CBN a legislative franchise in 2020. Santos-Recto is married to Ralph Recto, with whom she has a son named Ryan Christian. She also has a son, Luis Manzano, from her former marriage to Edu Manzano.