Social Media: THE RAPE OF PEPSI PALOMA

Pepsi Paloma was a Filipino-American dancer and actress in the Philippines. She was one of the popular Softdrinks Beauties introduced in the 1980s along with Sarsi Emmanuelle and Coca Nicolas.

Undoubtedly one of the most intriguing pop culture figures in the country’s history, the life story of Pepsi Paloma is as sad as it is mysterious. Although having happened three decades ago, the tale of Paloma continues to get a good amount of attention especially after the Eraserheads supposedly made her infamous rape at the hands of three well-known comedians the subject of their song Spolarium (some sources say this is just an urban legend). Born Delia Duenas Smith to a Filipina and an American father, Paloma was known as one of the “soda starlets” of the 1980s—so-called because they used famous soft drink brands as their stage names. Only 14 at the time, Paloma quickly earned notoriety for going nude in the 1981 film Brown Emmanuelle. Months later, in 1982, she met Vic Sotto, Joey de Leon, and Richie D’ Horsie (Richie Reyes) while she was promoting her film. 

In a case reminiscent of Maggie dela Riva’s two decades earlier but without the same fanfare, Paloma reported to authorities that she and fellow actress Guada Guarin were both allegedly drugged and raped by the three hosts in Quezon City’s Sulo Hotel.

Pepsi’s mother sought the legal assistance of Sen. Rene Cayetano (the father of Sen. Pia Cayetano and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano) to serve as the private prosecutor of the case which made the headlines of the major newspapers. If convicted of the rape charge, the three comedians faced the death penalty, a sentence that was meted out previously on June 26, 1967, to the four men convicted of raping movie star Maggie dela Riva. Three of the dela Riva rapists were executed in 1972 on live TV while the fourth escaped the electric chair by dying in prison.

To prevent the same fate from happening to his brother, Sen. Tito Sotto, went to see Pepsi Paloma. According to her account of this visit, Pepsi said that Sen. Sotto “coerced” her into signing an “Affidavit of Desistance” dropping the rape complaint. 

In her November 3, 2012 column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Rina Jimenez David reported that: “Paloma eventually dropped the charges after she was allegedly visited by one of the trio who said he had only talked with her, but only after placing a pistol on the table in front of her.”

Three years after her rape, on May 31, 1985, Pepsi was found dead in her apartment with a rope around her neck. The police concluded that it was a suicide caused by monetary problems, a motive disputed by her manager, Babette Corcuerra, who said that Pepsi was financially secure and was looking forward to acting in three movies. The suspicion persists that she was murdered barely a year before she was set to celebrate her 18th birthday.


“Eat Bulaga” is now entering its 35th year as the longest-running noontime variety program on air in the history of television making millionaires of its comedic stars. Sen. Tito Sotto is still in the Philippine Senate serving as the proud champion of the Roman Catholic Church in his staunch opposition to the Reproductive Health Act and to all forms of contraception.