The heartbreaking story behind Tukso

Unlike old soldiers, senior singers don’t fade away. They, rather their hit songs, just keep on playing on the radio, bringing you back to the good old days when your heart was young and, wrongfully and sadly, you thought that it was unbreakable.

On weekends, you tune in to your favorite FM station and the first song that wakes your senses up on a lazy Sunday is, you guessed it, Eva Eugenio’s Tukso (kay dami nang winasak na tahahan, kay dami nang matang pinaluha; o, tukso, layuan mo ako).

On Saturday, April 29, Eva and the so-called OPM kings and queens are performing at the Newport Performing Arts Theater of Resorts World Manila, including Claire dela Fuente, Imelda Papin, Rico J. Puno, Marco Sison and Hajji Alejandro. For sure, they will include in their repertoire their signature hits, such as Kapalaran (Rico J); Si Aida, si Lorna at si Fe (Marco); Isang Linggong Pag-Ibig (Imelda); Sayang (Claire); and Panakip-Butas (Hajji).

Out of curiosity, I asked the OPM kings and queens the (untold) stories behind those songs, and only Eva and Hajji gladly replied. (I respected the silence of their four colleagues because the songs might bring back past hurts, if any, that they have long swept to the dustbin.)

Eva’s Tukso story is heartbreaking.

“I am unlucky in love,” confessed Eva who stressed that she has been “happily single” for 27 years now, adding, “yes, maraming tukso na dumating sa buhay ko. There were many temptations and like everybody else, I’m only human. Tao lang po ako. Opo, nagpatukso rin ako. Tanga ako, eh! I was stupid, hahaha!”

She broke up with her first boyfriend due to lack of time for each other, until the boyfriend became paranoid that Eva was leaving him for one of her many suitors.

“Okey lang,” I told myself. “I was determined to make a name as a singer. Ang boyfriend, nandyan lang ‘yan.” So many men but so little time, as they would say. “My time was devoted to my career.”

When Tukso became a huge hit, Eva was hired as leading lady by then San Juan Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada for a movie he was producing titled, that’s it, Tukso. Asked if Erap, who was famous for sweeping every leading lady off the ground, made a “feeler” to her, Eva laughed, “A, basta, Erap was a gentleman. That’s all I can say.” 

Never married, Eva recalled that those courting her were either married (“May sabit”) or out to milk her (“Akala siguro mapera ako, hahaha!”).

After the 1986 People Power, with her career slowing down and fed up with suitors (“With bad intentions”),  Eva went to the States, tired of being single but still hoping to meet the right one.

“I told myself, ‘If you meet a guy with blue eyes, have a child by him.’ I did meet a guy but he didn’t have blue eyes. It’s true pala that you can be ‘developed’ with someone na palagi mong kasama. That’s what happened to us. He would fetch me at home and bring me back after. Na-develop kami. But we also broke up, but not before he gave me the best gift I ever received…a daughter, now 28 years old, a graduate from International School (grade school and high school) and La Salle (Masscom).”

Eva’s good friend Aster Amoyo shared this addendum:

“Eva signed up first with Vicor Music Corporation, then owned by cousins Vic del Rosario Jr. and Orly Ilacad but was not able to record any single at all because she went back to Japan.

“When she returned to Manila, Boss Vic and Boss Orly were on their separate ways already and I joined Boss Orly’s OctoArts International. When Eva learned that I was no longer with Vicor, she followed me and signed up with OctoArts. At that time, medyo nagloloko na si Didith Reyes who was supposed to record an album with OctoArts. The songs intended for Didith were all given to Eva including her signature hit song Tukso.” 

And the rest is, well, you know what…

For his story, Hajji e-mailed me the following story:

Willy Cruz who wrote the lyrics of the song Panakip-Butas would be the right person to tell the story/inspiration behind the said song. What we did discuss prior to recording it, back to back with another song, Tag-Ulan, Tag-Araw, was the strategy to show/educate the Filipino music enthusiasts who at that point in time were not ready to accept much less embrace original Pilipino music, that given the right melody, Tagalog lyrics could be at par if not more beautiful and more expressive than English lyrics.

The overwhelming positive response to this first single led Willy and I to release my first album consisting of purely adaptations. This was later followed by my second album, this time consisting of half adaptations and half originals. Then, finally a third album titled HAJJI... STRICTLY OPM. Incidentally this was where the word OPM originated as coined by APO Danny Javier who at that time was sales manager of JEM Records. It was also in this album where we introduced the songs Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika and Nakapagtataka.

(Postscript: I was about to call Willy Cruz when I got a text message that Willy was rushed to the hospital due to aneurysm of the brain. He slipped into a coma and died a few days later.)

The Kings & Queens of OPM is produced by the company of Anna Puno, with Freddie Santos as stage director and Gerry Matias as musical director. The show also features upcoming singer LA Santos, the boy born with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) who got cured by music. For tickets, call Ticketworld at 891-9999, SM outlets at 470-2222 or Starmedia at 854-3300/901-4562.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)