Abimaela Palomo Tagasa (April 16, 1935 – March 24, 2018), better known as Mely Tagasa, was a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and dubbing producer. She was widely known for playing Miss Tapia in the

sitcom A sitcom, a Portmanteau, portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troup ...

s ''Baltic & Co.'' ( GMA) and ''

Iskul Bukol ''Iskul Bukol'' is a Philippine situational comedy show that aired on the IBC-13 network from October 1978 to 1988. It starred Filipino comedians Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon. The show centered around student life in the fictional Wanb ...

'' ( IBC).

Early life and career

Tagasa was raised in

La Paz, Tarlac La Paz, officially the Municipality of La Paz ( pam, Balen ning La Paz; tl, Bayan ng La Paz), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Tarlac, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 68,952 people. History The ear ...

, and

Nueva Ecija Nueva Ecija, officially the Province of Nueva Ecija ( tgl, Lalawigan ng Nueva Ecija , also ; ilo, Probinsia ti Nueva Ecija; pag, Luyag/Probinsia na Nueva Ecija; Kapampangan: ''Lalawigan/Probinsia ning Nueva Ecija''), is a landlocked province ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. At age 9 her family moved to

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital city, capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is Cities of the Philippines#Independent cities, highly urbanize ...

following the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. She was already enamored with

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...

. Once, she joined some friends and auditioned in a singing contest, which she won. At 17, Tagasa was playing roles on radio and set aside her college studies.

Personal life

Tagasa had three daughters and one son. Her eldest daughter Gina Marissa Tagasa is a writer for movies and television in the

Filmography

Television

Film

Death

Under a month shy of her 83rd birthday, Tagasa died of stroke on 24 March 2018, aged 82, after being in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

for two weeks.

References

External links

* 1935 births 2018 deaths Actresses from Tarlac Filipino screenwriters Filipino television actresses {{Philippines-actor-stub