Eduardo "Eddie" Verchez Garcia (Tagalog: [ˈʔɛdi gaɾˈsɪa]; May 2, 1929 – June 21, 2019),[2][3] colloquially known as Manoy, was a Filipino actor, television personality, and filmmaker.

[13][14] He grew up on a farm in Naga, Camarines Sur, with his four siblings Mila, Efren, Menchu, and Santiago, and was raised by his grandparents.

Garcia's grandfather, who was a captain in the Spanish army, arrived in the Philippines in 1870; he married a woman from Pampanga and decided to settle in Naga.

[13] Immediately after the end of World War II, Garcia served with the Philippine Scouts and was stationed as a military policeman in Okinawa, Japan.

[7][11][15] Garcia's first audition was for director Manuel Conde; he was accepted for his first role in the feature film Siete Infantes de Lara in 1949.

Garcia was so effective as a villain he won his first FAMAS award for Best Supporting Actor, which he achieved for three consecutive years from 1957 to 1959 for the movies Taga sa Bato (1957), Condenado (1958), and Tanikalang Apoy (1959).

In 1969, he directed Pinagbuklod ng Langit, a biopic about President Ferdinand Marcos, for which Garcia won his first Best Director award from FAMAS.

He appeared in National Artist, and directed Lino Brocka's Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang (1974), Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon (1976) and Miguelito: Ang Batang Rebelde (1985), among other films.

In 1978, Garcia produced Atsay, starring Nora Aunor, for which he won Best Picture at the Metro Manila Film Festival.

[10] He became a FAMAS Hall of Famer as a director in 1991,[17] and was named "All Time Favorite Actor of RP Movies" at the Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Scholarship Foundation on March 21, 1992.

[18] Garcia starred in Boyong Mañalac: Hoodlum Terminator as the lead actor in 1991 and won the FAMAS Best Actor for the film a year after, winning multiple times and non-consecutively in the next few years for movies including Sambahin Ang Ngalan Mo (1998), Bakit May Kahapon Pa?

[22][23][24] Garcia appeared in the independently produced film Bwakaw (2012), which was directed by Jun Robles Lana, a young Palanca award winner and director.

Lana gave Garcia the script, and was worried a big star like him would decline the role, and the crew feared they could not afford him.

He transferred to ABS-CBN and portrayed Don Emilio on the Philippines' longest-running action television show FPJ's Ang Probinsyano with Coco Martin from 2016 until 2019.

[34] Garcia continued to appear in films; when he reached the age of 89 in 2018, he said that he still accepts offers in acting, adding that "retirement didn't exist in his vocabulary".

[36] He also appeared in Hintayan ng Langit, an entry in the 2018 QCinema International Film Festival, starring opposite Gina Pareño as a man who is reunited with his ex-girlfriend in Purgatory.

[40] Garcia had a special participation role in the comedy film Sanggano, Sanggago't Sanggwapo, which was released on September 4, 2019, three months after his death.

[45] Film producer Marichu Maceda described Garcia as "a disciplined and independent person, carrying things on his own without needing assistants or managers despite being popular".

[15][51] Garcia campaigned for Ako Bicol's party-list in the 2019 Philippine House of Representatives elections as the regional group's primary endorser.

[55] On June 8, 2019, Garcia was rushed to Mary Johnston Hospital in Tondo, Manila, after tripping on a cable wire and hitting his head on the pavement during a shoot for GMA Network's television series Rosang Agimat.

[57][69] The Directors' Guild of the Philippines Inc. (DGPI) referred to Garcia's death as "a sad and urgent reminder to the film and television industries that safety protocols at work and on set are of paramount importance".

[70] The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) started an investigation into the circumstances of Garcia's accident and death.

[71] The OSHC found some occupational safety and health (OSH)-related violations on the part of GMA Network based on an uploaded online video of Garcia's accident, such as lack of first-aid, medical supplies, and a stretcher.

[citation needed] In June 2019, Partylist Coalition Foundation Inc. announced it intended to nominate Garcia for posthumous conferment of the Order of National Artists.

[18][83] Garcia's stepson House representative Michael Romero said he would propose an "Eddie Garcia Law" to "safeguard the welfare and well being of all actors working in the television and/or in the movie industries" by compelling production outfits to grant mandatory insurance, providing for working hours in television and movie production, and establishing medical and safety protocols and emergency procedures.