Lolit Solis would defend friends until the end
MANILA, Philippines — Even in her most difficult days brought about by her sickness, talent manager, entertainment columnist, former showbiz talk show host and radio personality Lolit Solis managed to stay positive, a trait admired by many of those who knew and loved her.
Tita Lolit or fondly Manay Lolit to most who know her, passed on July 3 at the age of 78, after battling renal failure that caused her to undergo dialysis for the past three years. She died of acute coronary syndrome.
“It’s so hard to be sick,” Lolit lamented in her recent Instagram post, apparently written while she was in her hospital bed. “You are hopeless, helpless and weak. You seem not to know where to go and what to do.”
“I feel it was already late for me to have this kind of episode in my life. But if you know God, He knows when or where to give you certain things.
Lolit was grateful that doing dialysis happened late in her life. She only started doing the procedure twice a week in 2022. Yet, she came to terms with slowing down and remained grateful for the life she had lived.
“I have patience and wisdom now to accept these things,” she said in her post. “I feel sad, weak but hopeful, wishing that I will be well and be active again.”
She found great joy meeting friends, having lunch with them and updating her about the latest in showbiz.
“I love life,” added Lolit. “I love my work. I love my friends. I live life like everybody else. But if being sick is a sacrifice I have to experience, it was an eye-opener for me.”
In December 2024, Lolit admitted in her post that she was “mentally tired,” so she was retiring from posting online.
“No need to prove anything or be transparent with how I feel,” she said. “But I don’t want to exhaust my mind. Sometimes, I would even join others in commenting on the issues around.”
Although she took up Political Science at the University of the Philippines (UP), Lolit didn’t finish the course and started as a reporter covering the police beat in the ‘70s. That led her to being a movie reporter after the late talent manager, Douglas Quijano, recruited her.
She eventually learned the tricks of the trade as she also started managing talents, from Bong Revilla Jr., when the latter was only 17 years old, to the late Rudy Fernandez.
Lolit also took under her wings big-name stars such as Christopher de Leon, Lorna Tolentino, Gabby Concepcion, Lani Mercado, Amy Perez, Alfred Vargas, Pauleen Luna and Tonton Gutierrez, eventually becoming an influential name in showbiz.
Lolit had two daughters — Sneezy and Sloopy — who both reside in the US.
“Saddest day ever,” posted Angeli Pangilinan-Valenciano on Viber. “I knew her since the ‘80s and spent quality time in the house of Roselle Monteverde in 1987 when Regal produced Gary’s first-ever international concerts in LA (Los Angeles) and SFO (San Francisco).
“We would sit in the garage and talk about our UP days. I think she finished Political Science. A loving, brilliant and beautiful, feisty, hilariously funny, fiercely loyal and straightforward soul. She feared no one.”
“She loved Gary and me deeply and would defend both of us in many situations. My heart aches for her family and alagas. What a huge loss in the entertainment industry. I will miss her. She was a great friend.”
Lolit figured prominently in the 1994 Manila Film Festival scam when she admitted to having switched the envelopes to make Gabby and Ruffa Gutierrez win the Best Actor and Best Actress trophies. The real winners were Edu Manzano and Aiko Melendez.
In 2007, Lolit got enmeshed in a legal battle against Piolo Pascual and Sam Milby, whom Lolit alleged were spotted together romantically in a hotel restaurant.
She was slapped with a P12M libel case. She was forced to retract her statement and the case was dropped by the actors.
Lolit was a real friend, who would go to the extent of defending her talents, friends and colleagues. She even once said she would take a bullet for former Senator Bong Revilla, Jr., her talent who landed in the slammer for years.
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