Marky Cielo's death remains a mystery

Two deaths cast a pall of gloom over the entertainment world last week.

Marky Cielo, Starstruck winner and budding star, was found dead in his room in Antipolo City last December 7. Marky was only 20. The circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear. There were persistent reports that he killed himself, but his family strongly denies it. The family has also refused to have Marky’s remains autopsied, and that adds to the mystery.

From Antipolo, the remains were taken to Baguio City, and from there, to Bauko in the Mountain Province where the actor was scheduled to be buried this Wednesday.

Marky was an Igorot who spent most of his childhood in Baguio. He was taking up Architecture in St. Louis University when he signed up as a contestant in Starstruck.

Another loss was Didith Reyes, the sultry songbird who rode the wave of Original Pilipino Music in the 1970s. Didith apparently died in her sleep last Wednesday in the house of her friend Girlie Antolin in Biñan, Laguna. A forensic expert later attributed her death to a heart attack.

Didith Reyes earned the title Jukebox Queen because of her string of hit songs, among them Nananabik and Araw Araw, Gabi Gabi. Along with other notable singers like Claire dela Fuente, Imelda Papin and Eva Eugenio, she helped fuel a resurgence of interest in Pilipino music.

But after reaching the pinnacle of success, Didith Reyes began the slow descent into a life of torment and misery. She began taking drugs and her career went into a free fall. She tried to make it as an entertainer in Japan, but that stint didn’t last long. Back in the Philippines, she began to sing in small bars and beer joints. With her marriage in shambles and her career slipping fast, she grew more dependent on drugs.

Soon she was relying on dole-outs from friends. Didith became one of those showbiz has-beens hooked on narcotics and alcohol.

Last Monday, she turned up at her friend Girlie’s house, all bruised up. She said she had been sideswiped by a vehicle. Girlie let her stay.

On Wednesday morning, Girlie tried to wake Didith up. “I thought she was enjoying a good sleep,” Girlie recalled in a TV news interview. “Then I saw that her feet were sticking out from the blanket. When I tried to tuck them in, they felt cold.”

Her friend Didith Reyes was already dead. She was 60.

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Dawn Zulueta, who is two months pregnant, swears she could wolf down five balut eggs in one sitting. She, however, leaves out the sisiw. She also craves for sampaloc, champoy and other sour-tasting delicacies, and soft drinks.

One thing she can’t stand is cigarette smoke. A whiff of it is enough to make her vomit, she says.

Dawn believes it’s time she bore another child. She’s 39 and has a son. Because she expects to have difficult pregnancy because of her age, she has refused several movie offers. It’s possible that “Magkaibigan” would be the last film she would do for quite a while.

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Several hours after she sang the Philippine National Anthem before the Dream Match of Manny Pacquiao and Oscar de la Hoya in Las Vegas, Karylle was back in Manila to formalize her transfer to ABS-CBN.

“I felt so welcome from the time I stepped out of the car,” said Karylle when she arrived at the network’s office to sign the one-year contract. “It’s a wonderful feeling.”

She will have a series of projects at ABS-CBN. For starters, she will appear at today’s ASAP ’08. It will be the first time she will be together on stage with her mom, Zsa Zsa Padilla.

Karylle was looking so good I believe she has moved on from her break-up with Dingdong Dantes. Go, girl!