SUPREMO Sen. Lito Lapid hosted the first Christmas Party we attended this Yuletide season. Jesse Chua, the producer who gambled on him and launched him in his first starring role in “The Jess Lapid Story” in 1978, also attended the event.

Jesse’s Mirick Films produced about 8 films starring Lito, all of them blockbusters. We ask him if he has copies of his movies and he said, sadly, he was not able to keep any of them. So all is now lost and will never be seen by future generations.

Lito says he himself has no copies of the action movies he produced for his own movie company. “Hindi naman kasi uso noon,” he adds. “Kapag naipalabas na ang isang pelikula, wala na, napapabayaan na ang master negatives. Si Fernando Poe Jr. lang ang talagang maingat na na-preserve ang negatives ng mga pelikulang ginawa niya.”

Lito has made a new movie for Star Cinema, “Lumang Bakal”, inspired by a Liam Neeson action flick. But he doesn’t know yet as to when it will be shown.

“Inabot kasi ng pandemic. Baka ipapalabas na lang nila sa streaming, I don’t know.”

But he is happy that the action genre is now very much alive on TV. He appears in Coco Martin’s “Batang Quiapo” on ABS-CBN, while GMA-7 offers Ruru Madrid’s “Black Rider” where he is supported by several other action stars.

“Kapag action kasi ang ginagawa, mas maraming nakikinabang,” he says. “Kasi it involves a lot of people,mga extra, mga stuntmen, action and fight directors.”

In his role as Supremo, he not only does his own action sequences but also acts as fight director. He showed to us some of his death defying scenes in the show and you’d be amazed at how agile and athletic he remains as he flies through the air in various sequences.

“Hindi ako nagpapa-double kasi alam naman ng viewers na nagsimula ako as a stuntman. Dito, tinanong nila ako kung kaya ko pa. Sabi ko, tingnan natin. E, kaya ko pa naman pala. Pero siempre, doble ingat na ako kasi may edad na ako. 68 na ako noong birthday ko last October. Mahirap nang mabalian dahil hindi na tayo bumabata. Baka akala ko, kaya ko pa, ‘yun pala, ‘yung katawan ko, hindi na. Sinasabi nila, baka ma-Eddie Garcia ako. Sabi ko, huwag naman sana. Sa tagal ko sa action, kung anu-ano nang ginawa ko, hinahampas ko katawan ko sa mesa, pero awa ng Diyos, hindi pa naman ako nababalian up to now. Minsan, gusto kong tumalon, sabi ng direktor, wag na, hindi naman kailangan.”

He’s also happy that he is paired with Lorna Tolentino in the show. “Never kaming nagkatrabaho before, but dito, may kissing scene pa kami. Sabi ni Coco Martin, pangkiliti daw ‘yung, kissing scene ng mga senior citizen. Para makita raw ng mga kasing-edad namin na kahit senior na, may love story pa rin.”

He revealed that before Jesse Chua launched him as an action star, he was sent to Hong Kong and he trained with the action directors of Jackie Chan. “Nagkasundo na si Jesse at si Jackie na gagawa kaming dalawa ng movie na magkasama kami. But nung pumatok ‘yung kanyang ‘Drunken Master’ worldwide, biglang nagtaas ng presyo kaya hindi natuloy.”

He is now on his last term as a senator. Will he run again in the next election? “At this point, ayoko munang magsalita. Kasi sinabi ko noon, hindi na ako tatakbo, pero pinatakbo ako at nanalo naman. So sa ngayon, bahala na. Ayokong magsalita nang patapos at baka hindi ko na naman matupad.”

AUTHOR PROFILE

Mario Bautista