Alfie Anido, was a popular Filipino matinee idol. Born on December 30, 1959 in Manila. He was the eldest of the four children of Alberto Anido and Sarah Serrano, both Spanish Mestizos.
He was also the brother of Albert Anido, another Filipino actor. He was also a fashion and commercial model before he became a contract star for Regal Films, a leading Filipino film production company in 1979.
He was dubbed as one of the Regal Babies, along with then-young actors such as Gabby Concepcion, William Martinez, Albert Martinez, Maricel Soriano, Snooky Serna, and Dina Bonnevie. He was famously linked with Bonnevie, his co-star in the 1980 camp classic Temptation Island.
At the time of his entry into show business, he was in college at the Ateneo de Manila University studying management when he was casted in his first movie.
Anido had 14 movies in his short movie career, with ‘Nympha’ (1980) where he was first introduced, and his last movie was ‘The Diary of Cristina Gaston,’ posthumously released and shown in Sept. 1982, along with ‘Diosa’ and ‘Dormitoryo’, also posthumously shown in January and August of 1982.
Anido died on December 30, 1981, the night of his 22nd birthday at his home in Bel-Air, Makati. The official version, reported in the mainstream Manila media, was that Anido had been shot. This version has not been officially or authoritatively contradicted up to this day.
However, immediately after his death, rumors quickly spread that Anido was actually murdered, and that such fact was covered up owing to the prominence of the personalities allegedly involved. Suspicion fell on the family of an ex-girlfriend whose father was a high-ranking government official, Minister of Defense Juan Ponce Enrile.
The rumor gained traction in Manila, which was then under the throes of the authoritarian rule of Ferdinand Marcos, whose government controlled the mass media during that period.
Jack Enrile, the brother of Anido’s then girlfriend Katrina Enrile, was rumored to have shot Anido but has denied any involvement in the actor’s death.
The media, ever speculative reported otherwise, and with more details. The following is a news article detail regarding the death of Anido, on Philippines Daily Express, Jan. 1982 edition:
“Actor Alfie Anido had a quarrel with his girlfriend (Katrina Ponce Enrile) which led to a split-up a few hours before he died reportedly from a self-inflicted shot from a .38 caliber revolver inside his room at 31 June street, Bel-Air, Makati, at 1 a.m. yesterday (Dec.31), sources close to his girlfriend said. Anido had just celebrated his 22nd birthday that evening.
He was dead on arrival at a Makati hospital with a bullet wound in the head, sources said. Other sources close to the Anido family said the actor had some bullet wounds in the chest. This could not be confirmed, however, from the police.
According to a version from sources close to the victim’s girlfriend, the following are the events immediately before the actor’s death: Anido, his girlfriend and some of their friends earlier Wednesday (Dec.30) night, celebrated the actor’s birthday with a party at a rented house in Antipolo, Rizal.
At about 10:30 p.m., Anido and his girlfriend quarreled and decided to return to Manila. Inside Anido’s car, the actor reportedly hit his girlfriend. When the actor dropped his girl at her place, her parting words were reportedly, “Thanks for hitting me.”
After arriving home at Bel-Air, Anido talked to his girlfriend by phone. During the conversation, the girlfriend reportedly decided to break up with him. A little later in the evening, the girlfriend decided to call up Anido. The actor’s mother answered and went to the actor’s room to call him to the phone. The next person to speak to the girlfriend was a sister of the actor, saying, “Alfie’s dead.” The girlfriend reportedly rushed from her house to Anido’s place.
Police said relatives did not report the incident to the police. Makati police chief Col. Ruperto Acle said they did not know about the incident until a Bel-Air security guard asked for assistance to control a crowd which had mobbed the St. Andrews chapel, where Anido’s remains were first taken.
Acle said that a team of investigators had been sent to check reports. He said medico-legal cases (including suicides) must, under the law, be reported by the hospital or attending doctor to the police. Investigators were also directed to interrogate the parents and relatives of Anido to trace the fatal weapon allegedly used.
Acle said there is no way yet to conclude that it was a suicide. He said to determine the cause of Anido’s death, the remains should first be taken to the morgue of the National Bureau of Investigation for autopsy.
In another report, it was said that Anido was intoxicated when he shot himself in the head. According to a five-page Metrocom report released by Maj. Gen. Prospero A. Olivas, Metrocom chief, Anido left a suicide note addressed to his father Alberto Anido. The suicide note read: “Dad, sorry about this but I can’t take it anymore! Tell Katrina that I love you!” The Metrocom did not say what immediately caused the suicide.
The report said investigators concluded that it was suicide after appropriate examinations of Anido’s corpse, a caliber .38 Colt Diamond Buck revolver found at his bedside, the suicide note and also after analysis of the testimonies of family members, and some medical personnel; who first attended to Anido on the night of Dec. 30.
Maj. William Crespillo, head of the Metrocom Investigation Unit, said the actor was drunk at the time of the suicide. He said blood samples examined at the PC Crime Laboratory in Camp Crame showed a high alcohol content.
Crespillo also said in his report to Olivas that a paraffin test by the NBI showed Anido positive for powder burns meaning that he had fired a gun. The PC report said he succumbed to a gunshot wound what went through his right temple and exited to the left temple. Anido’s father said that the fatal gun has been with the actor for about six months and that it was the victim’s property.
At the time of his death, Anido was working on two uncompleted films, ‘Diosa’ and ‘Diary of CG.’ His last completed movies were ‘Throw Away Child’ and ‘Dormitoryo.’
More than three decades after the death of her former boyfriend, the late actor Alfie Anido, Katrina Ponce Enrile broke her silence and revealed that she was actually pregnant with Alfie’s child at the time she lost him. Katrina also said they were already planning their wedding before Anido died, although both of them were clueless about her pregnancy.
However, Katrina revealed that she lost their child in the third month because of all the stress after Alfie’s death.
Another non-showbiz friend and confidant of Anido revealed that Anido had always been longing to live a different life, from the one he had as an actor and in showbiz. He desired to go back to Stanton, California where he went to school as an AFS scholar in his HS days.
Anido’s friend sensed the deep sadness when they meet and talk, particularly topics about life, and death., which was their favorite topic. The last time they were in touch was on Sept. of 1981. Anido’s friend left for the US at the time. They no longer met until Alfie’s death.
Alfie Anido was only 22 years old when he died. He was buried at Manila Memorial Park in Sucat, Parañaque.
