Although the late controversial and irrepressible talent manager, TV host and entertainment columnist Lolit Solis was ubiquitous in multimedia reporting, talking and analyzing showbiz people, events and places, she herself was scarce in her personal life.
I remember when I was pivoting around her in the 1980s, I would hear her say threateningly, "huwag lang nilang makanti-kanti ang mga anak ko, subukan lang nila (just don't meddle or hurt my kids, dare me)."
Tita (a term of endearment to an older woman by affinity or an aunt by blood) Lolit was a private person.
There are information about her on digital platforms like Wikipedia but these are false.
Take for example this entry: "She grew up in the squatters' area in Lardizabal, Sampaloc near National University where she attended one journalism seminar."
For God's sake, Lardizabal is just a thickly populated street in Manila but the houses there are privately owned by residents.
It is not a slum, then and now.
I should know because I lived in G. Tuazon Street perpendicular to Castaños and Lardizabal.
Here are some facts and figures about Lolit coming from a relative, Sidney Dalanon, a bona fide resident of Lardizabal, on western side of the stretch going to Bustillos (while Lolit lived on the other end of the road, in the eastern part, right before MF Jhocson Street).
Yes, National University is near Solis' house by five blocks away from her abode.
Tita Lolit had long left Lardizabal when she was already earning a lot to build her own house in Fairview in the early 80s.
But according to Sidney, the Artistic Director of DUMALO (Dulaang Don Mateo Lopez), a community-based theater group in Lopez, Quezon, the Solis house and lot in Lardizabal are still owned by the Solises.
Dalanon informed that Lolit is a Visayan.
"Taga-Mandaon, Masbate siya (She's from Mandaon, Masbate)," said Sidney.
"Mga taga-Mandaon, Masbate rin kami kaya kilala namin si Manay Lolit (We are also from the place that's why we knew her)," affirmed the theater boss.
According to Sidney, Lolit migrated to Manila when she was still a kid.
"Three years old siya nang magpa-Maynila siya (She was three years old when she went to Manila)," confirmed Dalanon.
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