Multi-awarded director Marilou Diaz-Abaya succumbed to breast cancer at the St. Luke’s Hospital at 6:30 PM on Monday, October 8, 2012. Abaya died after a five-year battle with the disease.
According to a report in INQUIRER.net, Abaya was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. Her health improved in 2008. Her illness returned in 2009, improved again in 2010, and then recurred in 2011.
She has directed at least 20 movies which include internationally acclaimed films (with English titles and subtitles). These include “Brutal” (1980), “Karnal” (1983), “Baby Tsina” (1984), “Kung Ako’y Iiwan Mo” (1992), “Ipaglaban Mo, The Movie” (1995), “Sa Pusod Ng Dagat” (1997), “José Rizal” (1998), “Muro Ami” (1999), “Noon at Ngayon” (2003), and “Ikaw Ang Pag-Ibig” (2011).
Also, Abaya was a 2005 nominee in the category Women for Peace of the Nobel Peace Prize.
