Front row – Domini Torrevillas, Julie Yap Daza, Mandy Navasero and Beth Tagle, Back row – Saeed Daoff, Deedee, Senator Lapid, Bel Cunanan, Chay Santiago, Mark Lapid, PTA General Manager Frank Evaristo. Not in the picture is Rina David. (Sandee S. Masigan)

“You never know how God
is all you need
until God is all you have!”
--Rick Warren

Guess who came to dinner with us (the women columnists) last Tuesday!

Why, one of the icons of local filmdom, the “Leon Guerrero” and “Lapu Lapu” himself, a.k.a Senator Manuel “Lito” Lapid, “Ang Bida ng Masa!” (The Hero of the People).

When the invitation came, we were initially hesitant. What in the world could we talk to him about? He is known to be media–shy except for entertainment reporters he has known from way back. This would be the first time we were to meet the legendary Lito Lapid in person and frankly, we were at a loss what we wanted to discuss with the re-electionist senator of the ruling administration party.

But again, putting aside all the media- hype about him and the critics’ verdict on   his performance, it was easy to warm up to the “probinsiyano” lawmaker   who readily admitted that  after nearly two decades in public service (as vice-governor in Pampanga, then governor and now a senator seeking re-election for another six years ) he can’t claim to know everything that goes on in the country or the world for that matter!

He was honest enough to ask that we speak to him in Pilipino as he wasn’t an “inglisero” having finished only high school back in Pampanga. His mother was a “labandera” or a laundrywoman and his father, a stuntman.

He grew up doing odd jobs to help out, like selling bread in the very early morning before he went to school. His father died when he was very young and he grew up in the world of stunts–like his uncle, Jess Lapid. After high school, it was natural for him to be part of the world of make believe in films. He wasn’t discovered until several years later, when he was taken in as an extra who would figure in accidents like falling off a moving train, and the like, at P15 a day.

Well, from action hero (after the film about his legendary uncle Jess Lapid where he played the title role), politics beckoned and he easily won the vice-governorship of his province. He was an effective local chief and captured the governorship easily for three terms. Then he was drafted by Lakas to be a candidate for senator. Needless to say he won handily.

Lapid is a mild-mannered man, very slow to anger (he can’t remember the last time he really got angry at anyone), belongs to the Wednesday and Tuesday clubs of different groupings in the Senate. He claims to be friends with everyone in that snooty “Old Boys” club.  “Mabait siya” is the collegial verdict of the other senators.

He gave us a run-down of what he accomplished (author of 398 bills and resolutions, 47 of them adopted by the Senate and author or co-author of 28 bills enacted into law) and what he  cared about –providing free legal aid to people who can’t afford hiring lawyers for instance,  other bills making arnis as our national sport, the health insurance coverage for  public utility drivers, cheaper books for the poor, retirement, insurance, health and educational benefits for OFWs,  (and the next pleasantly surprised us) a national volcano early warning and monitoring system bill, national road safety for children, internet protection bill, a Philippine Boxing Academy granting incentives to differently abled local athletes, national comprehensive program on autism (he is the only lawmaker so far to pay attention to this disease), a bill to stop the billboard blight, and look, a bill granting senior citizens’ discount on petroleum products!

He is said to be one of those who is always present in the Senate, seventh among the list of the thriftiest, and fourth among his colleagues who filed the most bills. So okay, I admit… we were charmed by this modest, gentlemanly “Kapampangan” who can cook, swears to be a family man now but , admits to having fallen in love with most of his leading ladies (an understatement) , feels for the “masa” especially those who are victims of natural disasters and injustices, debilitated athletes and stuntsmen and even neglected media folk.  He also admitted to using Obagi, (a special facial treatment) once a month which accounts for his healthy, smooth tanned face with nary a wrinkle or a line!

There you have it-we were eyeball to eyeball with someone we tended to dismiss before as “shallow,” and that night we were all elbowing each other for photo ops! Oh, well, that is what is nice with our Bulong Pulungan sisterhood. We are open to being proven wrong! Yes, Senator Lito Lapid can’t simply be dismissed because now we know that he stands for many things in his campaign for the underdog!