How I 'saved' Didith's life in the summer of '77

I have fond memories of songstress Didith Reyes whom I first saw in the summer of ’77 in Legazpi City. She had a show in a downtown hotel packed with delegates to the convention of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) and as her manager then Norma Japitana had promised, they will drop in to say hello.

We first met at the PMA convention venue, the St. Agnes Academy, a day before her engagement and she was wearing an extra bold (by provincial standard) attire (an abaca-like fabric wrapped around her bust which left little to the imagination) and shiny pants.

She bought all the Bicol souvenirs (pili nuts, Bicol handicrafts, etc.) she could lay her hands on and then we escorted her to the radio stations in Legazpi. In one live show where she was a guest, she greeted a shabby and scrawny little girl and asked her to do a duet with her. Half-surprised and half-nervous, the little girl obliged and the poor tyke went home telling everyone she had a duet with Didith. That’s how famous Didith Reyes was in the late ’70s.

Asked by an announcer how she found Bicol men, she answered, “I think they are sweet like your pili nut and hot like your sili.”

 Norma J. then invited me to join them in a picnic in Sugod Beach before the show. On the way to the picnic site, she told stories from her past engagements. “Being a singer is not an easy life,” she had said. “The worst part is coping with hecklers. One time I performed in this five-star hotel and I had this wrap-around of red roses around my waist and it fell while I was singing. A gentleman picked it up and instead of putting it back around my waist, he put it maliciously right there in my own flower. I didn’t lose my cool. I heckled the man and said, ‘Baka di mo kayang diligan yan.’ The crowd burst into laughter.”

While appreciating the giant ferns and exotic orchids surrounding Mayon Volcano on the way to the beach, she muttered aloud, “I wonder how it is like making love underneath those ferns.”

In 1977, that was a shocking statement.

And so Didith and I swam and enjoyed the waters. In less than 30 minutes, Norma J. and I heard loud screams from where Didith was. It turned out she was bitten by a vicious jellyfish called the Portuguese Man of War. The pain was such I could see salivas coming out of Didith’s mouth while she was writhing and screaming in pain. While waiting for a doctor, somebody said, somebody had to urinate and use it as first-aid. Norma J. turned to me and said, “Pablo, whether you like or not, you have to pee now.” I thought I urinated in a bowl and somebody poured it on Didith’s legs. (Norma J.’s version of the event was that I peed right there on Didith’s legs to save her life).

Didith was partially relieved but that Portuguese Man of War was a vicious jellyfish. The doctors said it was good somebody peed on her right away otherwise the poison would have done her in. And this was three hours before her concert.

So we hastened back to the hotel where doctors administered more medication.

But the trooper that she was, Didith didn’t cancel to Norma J.’s relief.

She entered the stage with Araw-Araw, Gabi-Gabi being played in the background and her opening spiel was, “Sobrang hot pala mga Bicolano. Sobra pa sa sili. Muntik ng di matuloy ang concert na ito dahil nakagat ako ng Portuguese Man of War sa Sugod Beach” and proceeded to show her bandaged thigh. Then she greeted prominent Bicolanos in the audience among them Mrs. Baltazar Aquino.

After a Broadway number, she told her audience, ”Siguro nagtataka kayo kung bakit ganito ka-bold suot ko... Ito talaga ang buhay ng show business.”

Then she dropped a serious request: “Pakidalaw ninyo naman si Rico Puno. Naospital daw.” Then silence from the audience. Then she quipped: “Kaoopera lang daw ng hernia.” And then she sang her signature song, Bakit Ako Mahihiya to great applause.

After the show that ended on a standing ovation, I told her in her dressing room, “What did you do to that crowd to make them react so wildly?”

And she said matter-of-factly: “That’s showmanship Pablo.”

Didith Reyes the show person is what I will remember as I see her lifeless body being panned by the camera in that little village in Biñan, Laguna where she passed away (Dec. 10) some 30 years after we met in Legazpi City.