Garcia continued to actively appear on films when he reached the age of 89 in 2018 and emphasized that "retirement was never in my vocabulary." Garcia's last notable works were "ML", an entry of 14th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival which he portrayed as Colonel dela Cruz, a retired METROCOM colonel suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, leading him to believe that he is still living in the days of the Marcos dictatorship, with his performance on his movie won Gawad Urian's Best Actor in the following year during the time Garcia went comatose after his accident, and "Hintayan ng Langit", an entry of 2018 QCinema International Film Festival starring opposite Gina Pareño, as Manolo who was reunited with his ex-girlfriend in Purgatory. The said movie was also available on Netflix in the following year during also the time Garcia went comatose after the accident. Garcia also portrayed on his last movie appearance during his lifetime, "Rainbow's Sunset" as Ramon, an entry in the 2018 Metro Manila Film Festival directed by Joel Lamangan, as a gay senator who only came out when he reached elder age. Garcia was also nominated for as Best Actor but lost to Dennis Trillo. Garcia had a special participation role in the comedy film Sanggano, Sanggago’t Sanggwapo released on September 4, 2019, three months after his death. Garcia didn't get to finish shooting his required scenes in the movie due to the accident and it marked his last appearance in a movie.