Manuel "Lito" Mercado Lapid is a Filipino actor and politician who served as Senator of the Philippines from 2004 to 2016, and serving again since 2019. 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 anti-graft court due to the "inordinate delay" in the investigation.
Education
Lapid was born in Porac, Pampanga on October 25, 1955. He is the fifth child out of nine children of Jose 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 as vice governor of Pampanga, and defeated the incumbent vice governor Cielo Macapagal-Salgado. In 1995, he ran against Governor Bren Guiao as governor of Pampanga under the same party and won. When he sought a second term in 1998, Lapid joined the administration party Lakas-NUCD. After the impeachment of President Joseph Estrada in 2000 and the second EDSA Revolution the following year, he ran again for his final term and won. He decided to run as mayor of Angeles, Pampanga, in the 2004 elections but abandoned his plans when he was encouraged to run as senator.
Senate
During the 2004 Senatorial elections, the then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo encouraged Lapid to run as senator under the administration coalition K4. He accepted the offer and won election in eleventh position. In May 2010, he was re-elected as Senator, placing 11th in the overall ranking. He ran under the Lakas-CMD but subsequently left the party in 2012 and served until 2016 as an independent. He was chairman of Senate Committee on Tourism and Cooperatives. On October 15, 2018, Lapid filed his Certificate of Candidacy for senator at the Commission on Elections in Intramuros, Manila. On May 22, 2019, he was proclaimed as one of the winners of the 2019 Philippine Senate election by the Commission on Elections sitting as National Board of Canvassers. He garnered 16,954,677 votes placing him in seventh place, succeeding Senator Sonny Angara at sixth and preceding former Ilocos Sur governor Imee Marcos at eighth.
Personal life
Lapid is married to Marissa Tadeo, with whom he has two sons and two daughters.They are Maan Krista, Mitzi Karen, Maynard and Mark Lapid also has two children out of wedlock: Manuelito with former supermodel Melanie Marquez and actress Ysabel Ortega with former singer, Michelle Ortega.
