ORLANDO S. MERCADO
21st Secretary of National Defense
July 1, 1999 to January 2001
Orlando “Orly” S. Mercado was born April 26, 1946 and grew up in the depressed area of Fabie
Street in Paco. He is the second of five (5) children of public school teacher Guillermo P. Mercado of
Dagami, Leyte and Adriana Sanchez of Bacoor, Cavite.
A product of the public school system, Mercado graduated valedictorian at the Celedonio
Salvador Elementary School and with honors at the Manuel A. Roxas High School. He was the first public
school student to represent the country in the New York Mirror Youth Forum in New York, USA, in 1961.
He supported his collage education by working as casual laborer at the Manila City Engineer’s
Office and later as a clerk at City Hall. He earned the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, and
later, Master of Arts in Communication from the University of the Philippines. While already a Senator, he
went back to graduate school in 1989 and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of
the Philippines.
He was associate professor and head of the Communication Arts Department of Miriam Collage
(formerly Maryknoll College); and professorial lecturer at the University of the Philippines, Asian Institute
of Journalism, Ateneo de Manila University, Assumption College, and University of Santo Tomas.
Orly, as he is known to media circles, got his first break as a broadcaster when he landed a job
as radio-TV announcer of the Republic Broadcasting System while taking his political science course at the
State University. He lost that job when he organized a labor union that later declared a strike. He then
transferred to ABS-CBN where he started as police reporter and was later tapped to head the popular
radio program Radyo Patrol of ABS-CBN from 1969 to 1971.
His broadcasting career was interrupted when he was charged with violation of R.A. 1700, The
Anti-Subversion Law. He was detained in Fort Bonifacio after Martial Law was declared. After release in
November 1973, he joined GMA-7 News as a reporter.
He produces and hosts “Kapwa Ko, Mahal Ko” (since 1975), the county’s longest running public
service television program on GMA-7, helping the indigent and the needy from different parts of the
country. Every Tuesday evening, he appears on Channel 5 with his wife, Dr. Susan Pineda-Mercado in a
public service program entitled “KONTAK 5”.
He has been honored with various citations and awards, including the Ten Outstanding Young
Men (TOYM) Award in the field of Public Service Broadcast Media.
He was elected on his first try at national politics to the first Regular Batasang Pambansa as an
opposition Member of Parliament in Quezon City. He topped the May 14, 1984 election.
When President Corazon C. Aquino was swept into power by a civilian-backed military uprising
in 1986, he was appointed chairman of the National Parks and Development Committee, which has
jurisdiction over Rizal Park (Luneta).
He was first elected Senator in 1987 and re-elected for second term in 1992.
During his first term, Mercado was Majority Floor Leader and chairman of the Senate Committee
on Trade and Commerce and the Committee on Science and Technology where he sponsored legislations,
such as:
The Consumer Act of the Philippines (RA 7394); Generics Act of 1988 (RA 6675); An Act
Establishing Provincial Centers for Science and Technology (RA 6959); and the Magna Carta for Disabled
Persons (RA 7277).
include:
During his second term in the last congress, among the bills he authored which became law
The National Blood Service Act (RA 7719); An Act Granting Resident Status to Veterans (RA
7837); Barangay Health Workers Incentives Act (RA 7883); AFP Modernization Act (RA 7898); Salt
Iodization Law (RA 7182); AFP Officer Grade Distribution (RA 8186); the Creation of Chief Master Sergeant
and Senior Master Sergeant (RA 8220); and Philippine Passport Act of 1996 (RA 8239).
An Act Providing for Additional Funding from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation
(PAGCOR) to Support the Scholarship Program of the Department of Science and Technology Scholarship
Act of 1994 (RA 8248); An Act Prescribing the Intellectual Property Code and Establishing the Intellectual
Property Office, Providing for its Powers and Functions and for Other Purposes (RA 8293); and An Act
Providing for the Reform and Reorganization of the Philippine National Police and for Other Purposes,
Amending Certain Provisions of Republic Act 6975 (RA 8551).
While his second term as Senator, he headed the Senate Committee on National Defense and
Security, Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, and Committee Cooperatives. He also headed
Sub-Committee II of the Finance Committee, in charge of the budgets of the Department of National
Defense and the Department of Health.
He was principal author of a bill mandating a single comprehensive framework on land use to
guide the government in utilizing our land’s physical characteristics to satisfy prospective concerns. He has
called for a total log ban.
For championing the cause of environmentalists, he was chosen to chair the Green Coalition, a
non-stock environmental advocacy, non-governmental organization, (NGO). He represented Congress in
the UNCED Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. He was an adviser to government panel in
negotiations with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). He is also an adviser to the government
panel presently negotiating with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MNLF).
He is a martial arts practitioner – a black belter in arnis with the rank of Lankan.