- Nida Blanca
-
Nida Blanca Born Dorothy Acueza Jones
January 6, 1936
Gapan City, Nueva Ecija, PhilippinesDied November 7, 2001 (aged 65)
San Juan City, Metro Manila, PhilippinesOther names Nida Blanca Occupation Actress Years active 1950 - 2001 Spouse Victorino Torres, Rod Lauren Dorothy Acueza Jones, (January 6, 1936 – November 7, 2001) popularly known by her stage name Nida Blanca, was a Filipina actress. She starred in over 163 movies and 14 television shows and received over 16 awards for movies and six awards for television during her 50-year film career. She was named one of 15 Best Actress of all Time by YES magazine.
She was stabbed to death in a parking lot in San Juan City on November 7, 2001.
Contents
Biography
Born as Dorothy Acueza Jones in Gapan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines (then a U.S. territory) to an American soldier father and a Filipina mother, she appeared in her first film at age 14. Actress Delia Razon successfully urged the head of LVN Pictures, Doña Sisang de Leon to hire Blanca.[1] She was screen tested on October 6, 1950 by LVN Pictures where she reigned as queen for more than a decade, doing mostly comedies opposite the late Nestor de Villa. In the movies, she has played everything from a guy-punching tomboy to a nun. She also starred in the hit TV comedy series, John En Marsha, where she played the wife who sticks by her poor husband despite her rich mother's constant harping.[citation needed]
Blanca was married twice. She separated from her first husband, Victorino Torres when their daughter Kaye was only two years old. She later married her second husband Roger Lawrence Strunk (1940-2007), an American singer and actor, known by his screen name, Rod Lauren in Las Vegas in 1979. The couple relocated to Manila.[citation needed]
Death
On November 7, 2001, Blanca was found murdered, beaten and stabbed 13 times in the back seat of her Nissan Sentra in the parking lot of Atlanta Centre in Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila where she worked for MTRCB. She was an active member of the Movies and Television Regulatory Classification Board (MTRCB), attending screenings and rating movies twice a week, at the time of her death.
The prime suspect was Blanca's husband Rod Strunk whom the prosecutors said had hired a hitman to kill her because Blanca had disinherited him from her will. Investigators found that Blanca had up to P85 million in properties, including a Greenhills, San Juan, condominium worth P10 million and a house in California worth $300,000. If Blanca had annulled her marriage, Strunk would get nothing. But if Blanca died before she was able to terminate her marriage, under the law, Strunk being the legal spouse would be entitled to a portion of his estranged wife’s inheritance even though Blanca’s will stated that all her properties would go to her daughter.[2]
The case rests on the statements of witnesses and Philip Medel, a self-confessed killer who surrendered to PNP Task Force Marsha on November 19, 2001 and confessed that Strunk had hired him to kill Blanca. Medel recanted his testimony four days later claiming the police had tortured him into confessing. The prosecutors said medical examinations had found no evidence to back his claim of torture. [3]
Despite Medel's recantation, Strunk remained the prime suspect according to Philippine prosecutors, based largely on circumstantial evidence and statements of new witnesses.[4][5] Strunk was in the U.S. in 2003 when he was charged with the murder of Blanca. He left the Philippines in January 2002 to visit his mother who was dying at the time and never returned. He was later arrested at his home and detained at the Sacramento County Jail after the Philippine government filed an extradition request against Strunk to stand trial in the Philippines. The U.S. court denied the extradition request and Strunk was immediately released from jail.[6] The Philippine government had filed a second extradition case against Strunk but has not received any official response from the United States government.[7]
Strunk committed suicide on July 11, 2007 by jumping from a second-floor balcony of the Tracy Inn in Tracy, California where he had been staying for the previous three days.[8]
Kaye Torres lamented in 2008 that after 7 years, the criminal case is still pending trial. She stated that she is convinced Philip Medel is guilty of the crime.[9]
Philip Medel remained the suspect and was held in jail until his death on 7th of April, 2010 at the age of 62. Medel died of sepsis caused by pneumonia at the Philippine General Hospital.[10]
Pending murder case on Nida Blanca was featured in the Philippine T.V. documentary show Case Unclosed as its 6th episode entitiled "Nida Blanca Murder Case."
Best Actress Awards
1985 Urian,FAP,CMMA - Miguelito, Ang Batang Rebelde
1998 FAMAS Sana Pag-ibig na Nga
Best Supporting Actress Awards
1986 Urian, Famas, Fap, Star Awards - Magdusa Ka 1950 Famas - Korea
TV shows
- The Nida-Nestor Show (ABS-CBN)
- Tangtarantang (ABS-CBN)
- John en Marsha (RPN)
- Haybol Rambol (GMA Network)
- Puwedeng Puwede (ABS-CBN)
- Lovingly Yours Helen (GMA Network)
- GMA Telecine Specials (GMA Network)
- GMA True Stories (GMA Network)
- Anna Karenina (GMA Network)
- May Himala (GMA Network)
- Daddy Di Do Du (GMA Network)
- Maalaala Mo Kaya (ABS-CBN)
- Mula Sa Puso (ABS-CBN) - her last TV appearance
References
- ^ Belen, Crispina (2005-07-07). "LVN Studios closes shop!". Celebrity World. Manila Bulletin. Archived from the original on 2008-03-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20080312225330/http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2005/07/07/ENTR2005070738818.html. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
- ^ Nida Blanca Murder: It's Still Strunk, Medel After All
- ^ Charge Medel, Strunk: DOJ
- ^ testimony of new witnesses bolstered the case against Strunk
- ^ Two More Charged in Nida Murder
- ^ Extradition denied in actress's death
- ^ Strunk suicide deepens Nida murder mystery
- ^ Body ID'd as Roger Strunk
- ^ www.gmanews.tv, Nida Blanca's daughter laments slow progress of murder case
- ^ [1]
External links
Categories:- 1936 births
- 2001 deaths
- Filipino actors
- Filipino child actors
- Filipino comedians
- Filipino film actors
- Filipino television actors
- Filipino television personalities
- Filipino murder victims
- Filipino people of American descent
- Murdered entertainers
- People from Nueva Ecija
- Filipino Roman Catholics
- People murdered in the Philippines
- Deaths by stabbing
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
