Award-winning director Marilou Diaz Abaya died on Monday evening at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 57.
Abaya, a devout Catholic, was pronounced her final rites on Sunday afternoon.
The director of the acclaimed films “Jose Rizal”, “Muro Ami”, “Sa Pusod ng Dagat”, “Brutal” and “Moral”, Abaya took a sabbatical from the film industry when she contractred breast cancer eight years ago, one year after making the film “Noon at Ngayon”.
She was believed to have recovered from the disease two years later. She put up her film school, the Marilou Diaz Abaya Film Institute and Arts Center, in 2006, and made her last film, “Ikaw Ang Pag-ibig” last year. Her breast cancer returned last March in terminal stage.
Until late last month she had been active on Facebook and Twitter. She was optimistic about her recovery on her last Facebook post on September 17.
A week before that, she quoted Albert Einstein with this post: “there’s only two ways to live your life; either by believing that nothing is a miracle, or, by believing that everything is a miracle” :)
Abaya was one of the most decorated Filipino filmmakers regardless of gender. She won numerous awards from all the notable local award-giving bodies. In 2001, she was named Laureate for the Fukuoka Prize for Culture and the Arts in Japan.
source: interaksyon.com
