Deaths in showbiz

When a colleague in show business dies, particularly a movie writer, there is as if a part of me which also departs.

Or any tinseltown players and denizens for that matter that somehow snatch a memory from my mind.

It is the ability to see logic and purpose of life.

Why is there such a thing as mortality and absurdity of living?

Why do people have to die?

What is life all about?

What recreates and brings me back to rationality and reality is the pursuit of life to serve not only oneself but other people as well—which is also a way of serving the Almighty.

Last week was a sad time and thoughtful day when three members of local showbiz bowed to their final curtains.

Jobert Sucaldito’s tragic death           

It was a tragic death for veteran entertainment scribe Jobert Sucaldito, the long-haired, flamboyant showbiz fixture who was the controversial key figure in his expose of talent manager Jojo Veloso’s sex video scandal and other most talked about issues if not scandalous news.

At the time of his death, Jobert was staying at the house of singer and talent promotion manager Jojit de Niro.

As a matter of fact, Jojit’s household was able to shoot a short, short video while Sucaldito was gasping for breath after he suffered a stroke.

“Sa akin nga galing ang video (It really came from me),” de Niro admitted.

According to Jojit, Jobert collapsed and slid from the sofa in his receiving room in the morning of August 2, 2026.

Sucaldito hit his head, de Niro said, at the edge of the chair when he passed out.

In the video posted at Jojit’s Facebook, which he eventually took down, a female member of the household was weeping and calling the name of Jobert. “Kuya (a term of endearment to an elder brother by affinity) Jobs! Kuya Jobs” cried the woman.

“Kasama namin siya sa bahay (She is helping us at home),” informed de Niro.

“I posted the video because there are conflicting statements of who really sent Jobert to the hospital. Ang daming nagki-claim na sila ang nagdala kay Jobert sa ospital (Many are claiming that they were the ones who brought him to the hospital,” clarified the singer.

According to Jojit, Jobert had been staying in his house in Kamias before he breathed his last. “Nakakadalawang linggo nang nasa akin si Jobert bago siya mamatay (He was in my house for two weeks before he died),” he said.

It was indeed Jojit and company who brought Jobert to the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) but the doctors couldn’t revive him anymore.

He was later pronounced dead.

Before moving to Jojit’s house, the veteran movie writer said in his social media posts that he had a heart problem where two of his valves were clogged but he said he could manage.

He later disclosed in his posts that he couldn’t get enough sleep and that he had anxiety.

He would then hang around in the wee hours of the morning in a gay bar along Timog Avenue after all the actions there were done.

He would then pile up chairs and tables just to retire and rest until he was up and about.

He said he was able to sleep at least five hours.

In a vlog hosted by a gay friend, Jobert admitted that he was financially drained.

Jobert’s remains were created last Thursday. 

PH is in his heart 

Before Jobert kicked the bucket, 1960s heartthrob Roger Calvin died of cardiac arrest.

Roger, according to Jessica Pica, one of his closest buddies in show business, had recovered from his heart ailment last year so he went back to the US where he had stayed for the longest time after he decided to quit the movies before Martial Law.

“According to one of our mutual friends, Roger came back to the Philippines on July 17 this year,” informed Jessica, the 1970s Miss Night Owl Dance Party who defeated Hilda Koronel for the title of the show aired over Channel 11.

“Bakit pa kasi siya bumalik dito sa Pilipinas, e, ang ganda-ganda ng medical services sa Amerika? Gustung-gusto niya talaga rito (Why did he still come back to the Philippines when medical services in the US are more reliable?). His heart was really here,” commented Pica.

For the meantime that Roger’s only daughter Cher Calvin was still in the US, the Balik-Samahan, a group of veteran male and female stars that included him, was the one who arranged the funeral wake of one of its members.

Pempe Rodrigo, sister of King Rodrigo, the husband of Boots Anson Roa, led the group in paying their last respects to the fallen colleague.

Pempe, Liza Lorena and others went as far as Floridablanca, Pampanga where Calvin’s remains lied in state.

Other members of Balik-Samahan who grieved for Roger are Perla Bautista, Divina Valencia, Nova Villa, Romeo Rivera, Marita Zobel, Marissa Delgado, Imelda Ilanan, Eluzabeth Oropesa, Rosemarie Gil, Barbara Perez, Caridad Sanchez, among others.

Meanwhile, Cher has returned to the country a few days after her birthday in Los Angeles, California to join and observe her dad’s wake.

Roger’s daughter is a popular newscaster at the KTLA media center in LA.

End of an era 

Former congressman Romy Jalosjos was an iconic showbiz fixture as a long-time producer of the longest running popular noontime variety show “Eat Bulaga” until after it was bitterly contested of its ownership by Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon against the Jalosjoses of TAPE (Television and Production Exponents) which was eventually adopted and later produced by Media Quest for TV5.

Aside from being a TV producer, the elder Jalosjos was the former boyfriend of the late Nida Blanca for years.

Romy was married to singer Lourna Pal.

They’ve got two children, Svetlana “Lana” Jalosjos and Seth Frederick “Bullet” Jalosjos, who serves as a finance officer of TAPE.

Romy died on August 2, 2026 at 85.