Do we like Vilma Santos?
Our score: 6 out of 10. No harmful words or acts of her own turned up, but her LGBTQ+ record is thin and the family's political fights are unresolved.
Vilma Santos is the Filipino screen star who went into politics and is back as Batangas governor, in office since mid-2025. She starred in Dekada '70 and Bata Bata Paano Ka Ginawa?, both adapted from novels by Lualhati Bautista, a writer and activist known for pushing women's rights. Years earlier she sat in the House as the Lipa City representative.
Now the harm check, and it's a quiet one. On the SOGIE anti-discrimination bill, a 2019 report said she didn't state whether she backed it and stressed other national problems instead. We found no statement from her attacking LGBTQ+ people, and nothing on vaccines, climate or migrants in what we read. Her record on LGBTQ+ rights is simply thin: no ally moment, no slur.
The rougher patch is tone. In December 2025, during a pile-on over her and her husband, Executive Secretary Ralph Recto, she was quoted telling critics they attack because the family is at the top and they are at the bottom. Social media called it condescending, and her office said the interview had been spliced to make it look like she insulted the public.
Then came Batangas. In April 2026 Rep. Leandro Leviste alleged that 84 barangays were improperly left out of a P200,000 aid program and asked for a congressional probe. Santos-Recto released a video saying she was facing challenges and that you cannot please everybody, without addressing the aid claims directly. In May, Leviste also alleged a contractor financed her and her husband's 2025 campaigns; his remarks were struck from the House record for lack of substantiation, and no response from her was reported.
There's also the dynasty row. Her family's 2025 candidacies drew criticism, and Tsek.ph rated false the claim that she and her family are not a political dynasty, noting that good public service has no bearing on the definition. That's a fair knock on the system as much as on her, and it's a long way from harm.
On the good side, she says the job comes first. In March 2026 she said her return to film is on hold because being governor takes priority, and that she sees herself as the province's mother. In July she attended the President's State of the Nation Address and pledged stronger ties with the national government for Batangas.