Death is a big subject regardless of who died. But when a showbiz personality goes six feet under, there’s a tendency for the discussion to get juicier.
Curiously, the more sensational the death of a celebrity is, the closer it can get to the corner of the macabre, to the thrill of the spooky.
It’s Halloween weekend, and it’s not a bad time to look back quickly at some of Philippine showbiz’s most-talked-about deaths—those that had shock value enough to somehow overshadow their colorful run when they were alive. That’s not disrespecting their legend; it’s just that the nature of their deaths appears too interesting for us not to revisit every once in a while, even if each passing of its details can sometimes lead to it being altered and becoming gossipy.
If we’d rank these sensational demises, we’ll give the cup to how backward society made the death of teenage star Julie Vega look as if there was something paranormal behind it. She died on the 6th of May, 1985, from cardiac arrest secondary to bronchopneumonia. It was later found out she had a demyelinating disease.
But according to hearsay, the townsfolk at Mount Manalmon in San Miguel, Bulacan, believed she had been possessed by bad spirits—that a duwende or an engkanto took her life. This had to do with the film she last appeared in, Lovingly Yours, Helen (The Movie), which was shot there. Her condition reportedly worsened after she completed work for that film.
In the four-part anthology, Vega starred in the episode Akin Ang Walang Diyos, where she played the role of Idda, who is possessed by evil spirits. That episode itself is remarkable, and the whole thing ranks among the scariest sequences in Philippine filmdom.
Knowing that Vega died after shooting the film makes it creepier. She may have been best known for the soap opera Ana Liza, but her turn as a possessed teenage girl could rival even that of Linda Blair’s performance in The Exorcist.
If Vega’s death spelled fear, Nida Blanca’s murder cried foul. She was beaten, stabbed 13 times, and found in her car in the parking lot of the Atlanta Centre building in Greenhills, San Juan.
The prime suspect was Blanca’s husband, Rod Strunk, identified by prosecutors as the one who hired a hitman to kill his wife so he could be entitled to a portion of her inheritance. He was not in the Philippines at the time of the murder. At some point, he was detained but was released after the U.S. court denied the extradition request against him.
Then Strunk jumped from a second-floor balcony six years after Blanca’s death. His conscience probably knew why he did it.
Two noted recording artists, Teddy Diaz of The Dawn and Cesar Banares of Asin, were also murdered. Diaz was only 25 in 1988 when he was knife-attacked during a robbery. He was the composer behind “Enveloped Ideas,” which catapulted The Dawn to fame.
The founding member of the folk band Asin was shot inside a KTV bar in Koronadal, South Cotabato, in 1993. He was the voice-writer behind the classic “Ang Bayan Kong Sinilangan.” A lawyer and his two aides were convicted of the crime.
Actor Jess Lapid was also shot dead inside a nightclub, but in Quezon City, further back in 1968. He is the uncle of action star-turned-politician Lito Lapid.
The lives of starlets Claudia Zobel and Pepsi Paloma were also cut short in dramatic fashion. Zobel died in a car accident. The shocking front-page news of her death remains vivid in my head. I was a kid who picked up a newspaper copy and saw it.
Paloma was found hanging in her apartment the same month Vega died. It was implied that the alleged rape she suffered from some co-celebrities was a factor in her hurting herself. She was 18.
The deaths of matinee idols Alfie Anido and Rico Yan were also newsmakers. The former died of a gunshot wound on his 22nd birthday; the latter passed away in 2002 from acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis.
Yan’s death—thanks to his apparent good deeds that were only known after he was gone—made him more beloved and earned him many tributes. The song “Warrior Is a Child” became a staple in funerals after Gary Valenciano sang it for the late actor, who, as revealed, informed his handler that it be played at his final memorial service.
These celebrities had become ingrained in public consciousness essentially because of the lives they led, but even more so because of the scenarios surrounding their deaths.
