The past few weeks of this month
of June has been a harrowing time for 90-year-old veteran Filipino actor Eddie
Garcia, his family and friends. It started on the 8th when he
suffered a bad tumble while on the set of his latest urban fantasy soap on GMA
7. Rushed unconscious to Makati Medical Center, he was placed on intensive care
in what was originally reported as a heart attack, but was actually a neck
fracture sustained from his fall, which led to a coma. His being indisposed
however has not stopped Garcia from winning a new accolade in the recently
concluded Gawad Urian Awards.
CNN Philippines reports that this Tuesday, June 18, the Gawad Urian
honored Eddie Garcia as Best Actor for his role in Cinemalaya indie film “ML.”
Garcia portrays an Alzheimer’s-affected retired police colonel and Martial
Law-era interrogator that abducts and tortures a visiting college researcher
and his friends after perceiving them as anti-Marcos student activists. As the
actor is still laid up at the Makati Medical Center, “ML” director Benedict
Mique received the Urian on his behalf during the awarding ceremony. He later
proceeded to the MMC where he left the award with Garcia, snapping a photo of
the comatose actor’s hand with a rosary and lightly grasping the Urian award.
In a later interview, Mique noted
the highly emotional atmosphere at the MMC ICU where Garcia was confined. The actor
was surrounded at his bedside by his partner Lilibeth Romero, their children
and grandchildren, and several family friends, and they were greatly moved by
the “ML” director’s presentation of the Gawad Urian for Best Actor to them, before
it was put on Garcia’s bed with his hand on it. “We were all happy and sad at
the same time,” he said. “We were also hoping that he can hear us when we spoke
to him."
Eddie Garcia has a storied career
in Philippine showbiz that has lasted for around 70 years, acting in movies and
television, as well as directing and producing for the former. Even in his
later years he was an imposing and active presence that made him viable for
action scenes, such as his most recent TV appearance on ABS-CBN’s “Ang
Probinsyano.” His GMA7 show, “Rosang Agimat,” is a “telefantasya” with elements
of action that Garcia has always been at home with.
The actor remains in critical
condition at the Makati Medical Center, on ventilator and blood pressure
medication. Garcia’s family has also signed a “Do Not Resuscitate” agreement
for him, mandating that MMC medical personnel are not to perform
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to revive the movie legend in the event his
breathing or heartbeat should stop.
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