Mari Grace Preciosa Hipolito-Castelo, commonly known as Precious Hipolito-Castelo, is a Filipina actress, newscaster, and politician who last served as Representative of the 2nd district of

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...

in the Philippines. She also served as city councilor from the same district from 2010 to 2019. She is a former child star, film and television actress and newscaster. In 1987, she won the

FAMAS Award The Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards (also known as the FAMAS Awards) are the annual honors given by the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS), an organization composed of award-winning writers and movie columni ...

as Best Child Actress for ''Ang Daigdig Ay Isang Butil Na Luha''.

Career

In 1985, when she was 6 years old, she reached the finals n

Eat Bulaga! ''Eat Bulaga!'' (), formerly ''Eat... Bulaga!'', is a noontime Philippine television variety show broadcast by GMA Network. Produced by TAPE Inc., it is the longest running variety show in the Philippines with over 13,000 episodes. Originally ...

's ''Little Miss Philippines'' segment along with

Donna Cruz Donna Cruz Yrastorza-Larrazabal professionally known as Donna Cruz is a Filipina singer and actress. She is a member of the Philippine showbiz family Cruz. Her self-titled debut album ''Donna'' was well received by the general public and earn ...

. Hipolito's first movie was ''The Life Story Of Julie Vega'' in 1985. Her next films were ''Mga Anghel Ng Diyos'' (1986) and ''Ang Daigdig ay Isang Butil na Luha'' (1986), for which she received the

FAMAS The FAMAS (''Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne'', "Assault Rifle from the Saint-Étienne Weapon Factory") is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured in France by MAS in 1978, a year after the Austrian Steyr ...

Best Child Actress Award. She starred in

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast broadcast network, network tha ...

's drama anthology ''Stop: Child Abuse''. She joined '' That's Entertainment'' Wednesday Group along with

Sheryl Cruz Sheryl Rose Anna Marie Sonora Cruz (born April 5, 1974), better known as Sheryl Cruz, is a Filipino actress and singer. She is known for her roles as Divina Ferrer in 2007's television drama series ''Sinasamba Kita'', as Valeria in '' Bakekang ...

Romnick Sarmenta Romeo Nicolas Sarmenta Tejedor (born April 28, 1972 in Quezon City, Philippines), known professionally as Romnick Sarmenta, is a Filipino actor best remembered as the five-year-old boy who played the role of Peping in the TV series ''Gulong ng ...

and

Chuckie Dreyfus Chuckie Dreyfus (; born Charles de Joya Dreyfus on August 7, 1974) is a Filipino film actor. He received his first award as Best Child Performer 1984 at the Metro Manila Film Festival, won the FAMAS Award 1985 for Best Child Actor in the film ' ...

. She was a newscaster for ''

IBC Express Balita ''IBC Express Balita'' () is the bi-hourly news bulletin program of IBC 13 in the Philippines. Previously an afternoon newscast, the program was originally anchored by Anna Marie Soriano and Alice Noel and premiered on July 13, 1998, replacing ...

'' from 2001 to 2009.

Personal life

She studied Communication Arts at the

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (also known as UST and officially as the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila) is a private, Catholic research university in Manila, Philippines. Founded on April 28, 1611, by Spanish friar Miguel ...

. She is married to Winston Castelo, a former congressman and councilor of

. They have a daughter and a son.

Politics

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, she was elected to the Quezon City Council, representing the 2nd district, following her husband's election as Congressman in the same district. She was re-elected in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. In 2018, she joined the newly-created political alliance

Hugpong ng Pagbabago Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP; ) is a regional political party and former political alliance in the Philippines. Formed in 2018 by Sara Duterte, the party was established in support of President Rodrigo Duterte's administration, and was the administrat ...

and in the 2019 election won a congressional seat in the House of Representatives under the ticket of

Joy Belmonte Joy Belmonte (born Maria Josefina Tanya Go Belmonte; March 15, 1970) is a Filipina politician who has served as the 11th mayor of Quezon City since 2019. A member of the local Serbisyo sa Bayan Party, Belmonte previously served as the vice ma ...

, succeeding her husband. She was named Assistant Majority Floor Leader in August 2019. She was one of the 70 representatives who voted in 2020 to deny the franchise renewal of

. She sought re-election in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, this time under Lakas-CMD and the Malayang QC ticket of

Mike Defensor Michael Tan Defensor (, born June 30, 1969) is a Filipino politician who most recently served as the Party-list Representative for Anakalusugan from 2019 to 2022. He is also the CEO of Pax Libera Mining, Inc. Defensor began his political ca ...

, but lost to Ralph Tulfo.

Filmography

*''

'' (TV news) (2001–2009) *''Canary Brothers Of Tondo'' (1992) *''Lumayo Ka Man Sa Akin'' (1992) *''Anak Ng Cabron: Ikalawang Ugat'' (1991) *''Naughty Boys'' (1990) *''Everlasting Love'' (1989) *''Jacky Tyan'' (1988) *''Cobrador'' (1986) *''Ang Daigdig Ay Isang Butil Na Luha'' (1986) *''Mga Anghel Ng Diyos'' (1986) *'' That's Entertainment'' (TV show) (1986–1996) *''The Life Story Of Julie Vega'' (1985) *''Stop: Child Abuse'' (TV show)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hipolito, Precious 1970s births Living people Filipino actor-politicians That's Entertainment Wednesday Group Members Liberal Party (Philippines) politicians PDP–Laban politicians Nationalist People's Coalition politicians Lakas–CMD politicians University of Santo Tomas alumni That's Entertainment (Philippine TV series) IBC News and Public Affairs people People from Quezon City Actresses from Metro Manila Quezon City Council members Metro Manila city and municipal councilors Filipino broadcasters Members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from Quezon City