Friday, June 6, 2008

Paalam Daboy (Goodbye Daboy)


("Patay na si Rudy Fernandez..." My officemate greeted me with the sad news as if we are all related to him. Yes, we are related with him in a way. Hindi ka Pilipino kung hindi mo kilala si Daboy. Definitely the entire Filipino nation bonded with him the moment he started his showbiz career. I grew up watching him on tv, movies and I would say that He is one of the pillar of the Philippines showbiz industry.


And I started hitting the search engine if there is any truth to the news. Lo and behold! i had to pick my dusted fallen heart from the floor because it is indeed.)

MANILA, Philippines — Movie actor Rudy Fernandez succumbed to periampullary cancer at his home in White Plains, Quezon City at 6:15 a.m. Saturday. He was 55.

Fernandez had been battling the disease for more than two years.

The action star passed away five days after he was brought home from the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City, where he had been confined for a month. He and wife Lorna Tolentino celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on Sunday.

He suffered a seizure on Wednesday but refused to be taken back to the Cardinal Santos Memorial Center in San Juan City.

His close friends, Sens. Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla, broke the news to media minutes after his death.

His wife and other friends were with him as he passed away, Estrada said.

Fernandez’s remains lie in state at the Heritage Park in Taguig City. Interment plans will be announced later.

Revilla told the Inquirer that Fernandez had suffered from internal bleeding for several days. He also said Fernandez was glassy-eyed most of the time and had difficulty recognizing people.

Revilla said that while he was on his way to the Fernandez home at 9 p.m. Friday, the veteran actor’s blood pressure had plummeted. Fernandez’s manager, Lolit Solis, also told the Inquirer that he was reduced to murmuring instructions to his wife. The actor would wince at the lightest touch.

Fernandez, born March 3, 1953 in Manila, started appearing in movies at age three in a film directed by his father Gregorio Fernandez, Luksang Tagumpay in 1956, according to the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art. But his actual movie career started in 1970 under a Sampaguita Pictures contract for the film entitled “For Your Mama.”

Fernandez’s entry in the action genre came in 1976 in the biopic of a notorious criminal, “Bitayin si Baby Ama,” a box-office hit that established him as a big name in Philippine movies for the next three decades. His words was etched in local cinema parlance with the line, “Trabaho lang ito, walang personalan,” in the 1992 movie “Markang Bungo,” which is another biopic, this time of a Baguio City cop Bobby Ortega. He also played Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Gen. Victor Corpus, former actor Eddie Fernandez and politician Vincent “Bingbong” Crisologo in blockbuster films.

He starred in 65 films throughout his career, the last being the 2002 film “Huli Mo, Huli Ko.” He had since appeared in the television docudrama “Kasangga,” the sitcom “Da Boy and Da Girl,” and the soap “Twin Hearts.” His last project, “Atlantika” was aired in 2006.

He is a winner of two FAMAS best actor trophies for the 1984 film “Batuigas...Pasukuin si Waway” and the 1988 “Victor Corpus” biopic and one Film Academy of the Philippines best actor plum for “Batuigas.”

The Philippine Movie Press Club recently gave Fernandez the 2008 Ulirang Artista Lifetime Achievement Award.

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