Cachupoy

Cachupoy was born on July 12, 1932, in Sampaloc, Manila. He was the third child of Segundina Garcia and Meliton Tampac. He graduated from Juan Luna Elementary School, Roxas High School and reached the second year of Fine Arts (major in painting) at University of Santo Tomas. He dreamt of being an actor or a painter.

Before entering show business, he worked for a construction firm. He acted in stage shows with the moniker "Susing"; Lou Salvador Sr. gave him the name "Cachupoy". It was Director Jose Miranda Cruz that gave him the first break in the movies. His first film was Tatlong Mabilis in 1965. He also starred in Igorota and Ang Pulubi, from Nepumuceno Pictures. He also showed a flair for singing and was part of the trio The Millionaires which was also made up of Manok and Miniong Villegas. They broke up after three years of performing. He was under contract with Nepomuceno Productions and with ABS-CBN for television projects. His first television performance as a comedian was Hiwaga sa Bahay Na Bato. His shows at Channel 3 were Cuatro Vidas, Winner Take All and Eddie and Nova Plus.^[2]

Cachupoy's performance in the 1988 film 7 Pasiklab sa Army was given high praise by critic Lav Diaz for being very comedic, stating that he was better than even his comedian co-stars Don Pepot and Redford White in the film.^[3]

Cachupoy starred in films such as Sa Kabukiran, Sitak ni Jack, Rangers in the Wrong War (1987), A Man Called Tolonges (1981), and Pitong James Bonds (1966). He also starred in the "Andres de Saya" series (1980, 1983, and 1986) with Vic Vargas and Gloria Diaz and Mahiwagang Singsing (1986) with Lotlot de Leon.^{[4][unreliable source?][5][unreliable source?]}

Cachupoy was also known in his performances with Serafin Gabriel (a.k.a. Apeng Daldal) and with Arturo Vergara Medina (a.k.a. Bentot).^{[citation needed]}

Cachupoy was married to Marietta P. Garcia, the founder of the Mediserve Technical Career Institute in Tacloban City; it received controversy for allegedly operating without license from the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS).^[6] Cachupoy's last film was Ganti ng Api in 1991, then he quit and retired from the industry.^{[citation needed]} Cachupoy succumbed to a non-communicable disease on December 8, 1993, in Manila, Philippines.^{[citation needed]} He was 61 years old.