Friends to stage benefit show feting late comic Tiya Pusit

VILLANUEVA; 66

The memory of veteran comedienne Tiya Pusit, who passed away Thursday night, will be celebrated in a benefit show to be mounted Sunday in Quezon City by her show biz friends.

Myrna Villanueva in real life, the zany actress who became a household name through the 1980s sitcom “Eh, Kasi Babae,” passed away due to multiple organ failure at Philippine Heart Center, according to her son Christian Uybengkee. She was 66.

Falling ill in April, Villanueva battled several health problems including kidney failure and aortic aneurysm. She underwent a double heart bypass surgery on Sept. 9 but failed to recover from it.

In a statement, Uybengkee said his mother had suffered two stroke episodes since the operation, developed blood clots, and that her kidney failed “rapidly.”

With a career that spanned three decades, Tiya Pusit last appeared in the ABS-CBN drama series “Ikaw Lamang” and the TV5 sitcom “Confessions of a Torpe.” She was also in GMA 7 programs “Akin Pa Rin Ang Bukas” (2013), “One True Love” (2012), “Bahay Mo Ba ’To?” (2005), as well as in “Mara Clara” (ABS-CBN, 2011) and “Momay” (ABS-CBN, 2010).

On the big screen, she appeared in over a dozen movies, including “Dorm Boys” (2012), “A Journey Home” (2009), “Bakit ba Ganyan (Ewan ko nga ba, Darling)” (2000), “Huwag na Huwag kang Lalapit, Darling” (1997), “Hulihin si… Nardong Toothpick (1990), and “Leroy Leroy Sinta” (1988).

Her remains lie at St. Peter Chapels on Quezon Avenue and will be open for public viewing starting Saturday until Tuesday, Oct. 7. Interment details will be announced later.

Villanueva’s friend Elaine Lozano has been organizing a benefit show originally to raise funds for the actress’ treatment. The show will go on—to help the grieving family settle the hospital bills—at 8 p.m. Sunday at the comedy bar Zirkoh on Morato, Quezon City.

“This will be a big help to her family, especially since I was told that P1.5 million is still needed to pay her hospital bills,” Lozano said in an interview.

Singers like Nanette Inventor, Bimbo Cerudo and Richard Reynoso, comediennes Joy Viado and Pokwang, as well as celebrities Lotlot de Leon and Elmo Magalona have all promised to perform at the concert.

Uybengkee asked for prayers from his mom’s supporters. “The family is in pain but is trying to cope with her death the best way we can,” he told the Inquirer on Friday.

Lozano said she was at the hospital at the time of the comedienne’s passing. “I was also with her last Monday. I even told her that she should get better because she’s too beautiful to be staying at a hospital. She just looked at me with her smiling eyes,” she recalled.

Villanueva “flat-lined right after the members of a prayer group present (on Thursday night) finished their prayer and said ‘amen.’ It was a bittersweet moment. It was like she had been released and would no longer experience all the hardships.”

Tiya Pusit is the younger sister of comedienne Nova Villa, who is Novelita Villanueva Gallegos in real life.