PH cinema’s original Adonis takes a bow

EDNA Luna and Jose Romulo in “El Jugador”

Veteran actor Jose Romulo died of cardiac arrest and renal failure due to diabetic complications on Wednesday in Parañaque City.

He was 83.

The actor, or Romulo Alib Zuño in real life, was a policeman from Rosario, Batangas, before he was discovered by Premiere Productions, one of the country’s top film studios in the 1950s.

Producer Digna Santiago, scion of the clan behind Premiere, recalled that among Romulo’s most memorable films were “Adventures of DI-13” (1955) and “Unang Halik” (1955).

“He played the title role in ‘DI-13,’ an iconic detective series serialized in Pilipino Komiks. In ‘Unang Halik,’ a youth romantic-comedy, he was paired with Corazon Rivas,” Santiago related. “He also starred opposite the era’s most beautiful leading ladies: Edna Luna, Arsenia Francisco, Rosita Noble and Yolanda Guevarra.”

Tall, dark, handsome Romulo himself was known as the “brown Adonis.” “He was the original ‘tall, dark and handsome’ hunk of Philippine movies,” said Santiago.

Actress Boots Anson-Rodrigo recounted, “Although he was a generation ahead of me, I got to work with him in action movies starring Fernando Poe Jr. and Joseph Estrada in the 1970s when I was a newbie.”

Rodrigo remembered the late actor as a “regular guy, who was always cheerful on the set.”

Journalist Nestor Cuartero, Romulo’s nephew, said the actor was a “gentleman of the old school, a man of few words… although he was shy in real life, he was able to transform himself into different characters onscreen.”

He appeared in 200 movies—including “Sawa sa Lumang Simboryo” (1952), “Exzur” (1956), “Gabi ng Lagim” (1960), “Estranghero sa Sapang Bato” (1966), “Asedillo” (1971), “Bontoc” (1977), “Ang Maestro” (1981) and “Balweg, the Rebel Priest” (1986), among others.

He remained active in the movies until the 1990s. His last two films headlined Action King FPJ, “Epimaco Velasco: NBI” (1997) and “Alyas Lakay” (1999).

Daughter Marivic Zuño told the Inquirerthat her father was “generous, a good provider… While our mom was the disciplinarian, he was our mom’s ‘second line of defense’ whenever we got too hard-headed.”

As far as his five children are concerned, he was a “unique” father. “Indeed how many other kids in school or in the neighborhood had dads who were in the movies? He would often regale us with tales about film stars and the goings-on on the set,” said his daughter.

Romulo is survived by wife Lydia and children Rey, Rizaldy, Marivic, Carmen and Richmond and 14 grandchildren.

Funeral is set today, 11 a.m. at the Loyola Memorial Park along Sucat in Parañaque.