Philippine cinema “Star For All Seasons”, MISS VILMA SANTOS, will be this year’s guest of honour at the Philippine National Day Ball (PND) on 8 June 2008 at the Grand Ballroom, Hilton Hotel Sydney.

Ate Vi, as she is fondly called by her fans and Vi to the Philippine movie industry movers and shakers, is currently the first woman Governor of Batangas Province, Philippines. She was previously the first woman mayor of Lipa City.

In 1998, she entered politics and ran for mayor of Lipa City, Batangas where she won by landslide victories in three consecutive elections. As the first woman mayor of Lipa City, she helped bring not just economic progress and infrastructure development to Lipa City, but more notably her various programs on public health, education and environment, which again earned various local and international awards and recognitions.

In 2005, the University of Philippines conferred her the “Gawad Plaridel Award” for her achievements and contributions both as an actress and a public servant. In the same year she was conferred with honorary doctorate degree (honoris causa) in humanities by the Lipa City College. She was again honored in 2006 by the University of the Philippines as one of the four awardees in UP's First Diwata Awards.

Vilma Santos-Recto was proclaimed as the duly elected Governor-elect of the province of Batangas on May 21, 2007 after garnering 475,740 votes against Sanchez's 344,969 for a winning margin of more than 130,000.

HEARTS is one of the social services programs initiated by the Batangas provincial government. The acronym HEARTS stands for : health, education and environment, agriculture, roads and infrastructure, tourism and security. It is complete with budget and is supported by other provincial government officials.

Dr. Vilma Santos is married to former Senator Ralph Recto, who belongs to a well-known political clan in the Philippines. Together they have a son, Ryan Christian. She is also a mother to actor/model/television host Luis “Lucky Manzano, from previous marriage to actor Edu Manzano.

The PND Ball 2008 is being held to celebrate the 110^th anniversary of Philippine Independence.

For inquiries, contact PCC-NSW PRO Ronaldo Villaver at 0423590561 or send an email to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it