My good times with Didith

The news stunned me. My image of Didith Reyes is that of a woman so vital that I cannot imagine her dead. Images of Didith flashed in my mind, highlighting the more than 30 years of friendship, fun and sorrow. We go back a long way. In the ‘70s, when I was working with Vicor, Willy Cruz came out with Araw Araw, Gabi Gabi and it was decided that the singer should have the sensuous quality in her voice and her persona to sing the song.

Someone mentioned Didith’s name to Vicor head Vic del Rosario Jr. and I was tasked to look for her. I found her singing in El Bodegon, a popular place in Ermita. I brought her to Vicor and right there and then Vic decided for her to record the Willy Cruz song. The song became a big hit and soon Didith was the biggest star in the entertainment horizon.

She performed her songs like no other. The movements of her hands over her sensuous body was a paean to Filipino love songs. One image of Didith that stuck to millions was her appearance on a FAMAS night of long ago when the lapel of her gown got stuck on her body tape (she was wearing no underwear) and the thin chiffon gown showed her breast to the camera. There she was singing Bakit Ako Mahihiya with the cameras focused on her exposed breast. Rico J. Puno, who was doing a duet with her said later: “Kaya pala walang nakapansin sa kanta ko.” It was the talk of the town for days. But when you are young, beautiful and with that unforgettable voice one can’t do no wrong. Allow me to remember the good times which I was privileged to share. Didith was ethereal and sensual and that combination was hard to beat. She was one of a kind. Her clothes were in character. It was different and it set a trend. Soon teenagers were wearing her kind of clothes, stylish and sexy and only one earring on her ears.

Sensuality was like a second skin to her. She loved men and they loved her back. She had an interesting mix at her feet. From politicians, cabinet members. Actors, military men and a lot more. But the true love of her life was her son Arvi. He is Didith’s only son from a former marriage. I remember that one time while she was doing shows in Japan, she learned that he was in a car accident in Manila. Didith was beside herself with worry. We decided to cancel the concert tour so she can come home to be with her son.

We share a hotel room most of the time when we travel. When she is nervous about a forthcoming show she talked about her men and she has this uncanny habit of describing in detail their physical assets. It takes some effort for me to keep a straight face once I meet the particular man whose “assets” she has described to me in colorful detail.

When she won the Gold Prize in the Tokyo Music Festival in 1977, her popularity reached its heights. With Vicor drumming up her success, when she was given a grand parade and a tumultuous welcome upon arrival in Manila. Just like what Manny Pacquiao is getting now.

Knowing of her hardship in later years, Didith was generous to a fault during her prosperous years. We were in Kyoto for her concert and we met young Filipinas from good families in Manila whose parents thought we were doing cultural shows in Tokyo.

One was a family friend who was glad to see me but swore me to secrecy not to tell her parents back home what kind of “cultural show” she and her friends were doing in Japan. I gave my young friend a few dollars for added income. When Didith found out about their situation, she gave all the young girls the dollars she had in her bag.

All 10 of them.

“Wala ka na,” I told her.

“We will earn some more,” she told me.

On the first night of her wake at the Carmel church, Viva and Vicor boss Vic del Rosario Jr. reminisced as we all looked back to the time when Didith Reyes was young, beautiful and happily controversial. Claire de la Fuente who attended to the details of her wake and Eva Eugenio were all vocal that Didith was their idol.

Arvi, who we knew as a boy during those golden days was a constant presence every night. With Arvi was his two-year-old son, a dead ringer for Didith.