Actor Cobarrubias succumbs to pneumonia
VETERAN film and theater actor Menggie Cobarrubias passed away on Thursday, March 26, because of complications from pneumonia at the Asian Hospital in Alabang, Muntinlupa City. He was 68 years old.
According to reports, Cobarrubias was hospitalized at a Makati hospital for fever more than a week ago and was discharged as soon as his temperature was manageable. Upon coming home, he contracted pneumonia and was rushed to the emergency room. On March 24, he was tested for the coronavirus, but was already in critical condition. His family was still waiting for the test results when he died.
His niece, Patricia Prudo, said in a Facebook post that her uncle succumbed to pneumonia.
She wrote: “I lost my uncle this morning from pneumonia complications. Still to confirm if nCoV-19 (novel coronavirus 2019)-positive siya. Will keep everyone posted. My heart aches that I could not see him one last time. Rest in peace, tito (uncle) Menggie! We love you! Thank you for being a father, a lawyer, a general and a whole lot more roles to Philippine cinema. You will surely be missed. Ingat (Take care), everyone. Stay at home. Don’t risk it. To all my Cobarrubias family please pray for our loved one’s soul and his family.”
The actor’s wife, Gina Jorge Cobarrubias, also posted on Facebook a short tribute to her husband. Her post read, “Goodbye, my love. Thank you for the 30 wonderful years. I love you. Dear God please give me the strength to be able to face this very difficult moment of my life.”
On Wednesday night, Cobarrubias posted a message on Facebook, which simply said, “Good bye.”
Born Domingo Cobarrubias, the character actor was noted for his versatility, whether on stage or the movies and
TV. News of his death saddened many directors and fellow artists, who were unanimous in saying that the country has lost one of its finest actors.
Cobarrubias’ first screen exposure was in the 1976 drama “Sakada,” using his first screen name, Dom Cobarrubias. Since then, the prolific actor was cast in over 170 roles on TV and in the movies, with his final appearance in an episode of the GMA Network primetime series “Beautiful Justice” as President Ricardo San Jose.
He received critical acclaim when he won the Gawad Urian for Best Supporting Actor in the 1979 Lino Brocka film “Jaguar,” where he was also nominated for a Famas Award in the same category. The crime drama starred Phillip Salvador and Amy Austria and was screened at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival. Cobarrubias played Salvador’s rich and callous boss, Sonny Gaston, in a piece that illustrated the power of rich over the poor in the Philippines.
On TV, Cobarrubias was best known as Don Manuel Aguilar in the 2010 Precious Hearts Romances series “Impostor,” which was topbilled by Maja Salvador, Melai Cantiveros and Sam Milby.
Other recent and notable screen credits includ e “The Killer Bride,” “Wagas,” “Signal Rock” and the Cinemalaya 2018 Best Film awardee, “Kung Paano Hinihintaya ng Dapit hapon ,” where he played one of the leads alongside Dante Rivero and Perla Bautista.
Among the film directors who paid tribute to the actor were Dan Villegas (“Exes Baggage,” 2018), who posted, “RIP, Tito Menggie Cobarrubias. You were a generous man. Salamatsalahat (Thank you for everything);” and Kip Oebanda (“Liway,” 2018), who wrote, “Goodbye, Sir Menggie Cobarrubias. RIP. The film industry is mourning the loss of one of our finest veteran actors.”
Poet and actor Juan Miguel Severo also wrote “RIP Meggie Cobarrubias who was all about the craft.”