Manny & Brenda Padilla’s home has lots of stories to tell

Having just moved into a brand-new home, homeowners have lots of stories to tell of the frustrations and glories they often experience in the complicated and exhausting process of building a house. Don’t we all love to relate our personal trials and tribulations?

Amid the luscious grandeur of the home of Manny and Brenda Padilla, who would have suspected that a great tragedy once took place here? The story goes that two weeks before the couple made their eagerly awaited move into their new place, a conflagration took place, almost razing the Rolly Mercado masterpiece. The reason for the fire? An irresponsible house painter mindlessly threw a cigarette butt into a can of thinner and boom! An explosion set the entire house up in flames.

Brenda, a Holy Spirit alumna-turned-housewife who’s happily rearing a brood of four with doctor husband Manny, tells me how she selflessly offered the devastating tragedy to the Lord. With heavy hearts, the religious couple picked up the pieces and started to rebuild their house. Following the original design plans, everything had to be replaced as the fire rendered even the posts and beams unusable because of their brittleness.

But today, while seated in any part of the large house, you see hardly a trace of that monstrous fire. The Rolly Mercado design hallmark is evident all over the house. High ceilings and spacious, perfectly dimensioned and clean-cut rooms are there for everybody’s comfort and enjoyment.

Standing in front of a cul-de-sac, a narrow entrance leads to the house, gated with a pair of wrought iron panels elaborately accented with Baroque-like gilded scrolls. The entrance court, with lush plants on all sides, leads guests to a reasonably sized foyer connected to a capacious lanai. To its left is the formal dining room and to its right is the enclosed formal living room. A narrow lap pool runs the entire length of the covered porch.

The furnishings of these major rooms are very traditional. A long dining table that can seat 14 has straight back chairs in rich hard wood with a Chippendale pattern. Two sides of the air-conditioned room open into moderately sized pocket gardens. One houses a wide melange of potted herbs while the other is lush with pranjipani and heliconias, lending a tropical atmosphere.

Two independent rooms border the huge covered porch. Half the lanai faces the breakfast nook that connects to the kitchen. Next to it is an altar alcove that has received several miraculous images and icons on their stopover prior to being brought to the main altar of St. James Parish Church. The same alcove/altar has been the centerpiece of many a prayer meeting or discussion by groups where Manny and Brenda are active members.

The luxury of total privacy is enjoyed by the young couple while they spend every available quality time with their children. Brenda intimates that she and Manny are gifted with two (out of four) special children. Eleven-year-old Nuel, a namesake of the late Senator Ambrosio Padilla, paints like a pro. His forms and colors are reminiscent of some European figurative paintings. Born with a sweet disposition, the boy paints endlessly, making some parts of the house resemble an art gallery.

The whole second floor of the Padilla residence is a house in itself. Meals prepared in the family kitchen downstairs are hoisted to the second floor through a dumb waiter. A big family room connects to all the bedrooms and is complete with a dining table. There’s a large sitting room that has a view of the lap pool and garden on the ground floor. This floor is a strictly private area, hence we have no photos to show you of the rooms there.

A descendant of the prominent Baluyot family of Tarlac, Brenda is known to close friends as an ace in the kitchen. She makes such divine, to die-for pastries! Her love of chocolates, particularly the Belgian variety, inspired her to concoct a brand now popular among chocolate connoisseurs as Theobroma, found at Shangri-La Edsa and Alabang Town Center.

That life is not a bed of roses is a lesson both Brenda and Manny learned early in their marriage. A loving family blessed with a legion of friends, they’re gifted with the strength and faith to see them through. As a physician (he specializes in internal medicine), Manny is able to help other people. For her part, Brenda is a businesswoman, involved in the successful Roving Cinema and Advertising Ventures that tour the countryside to provide entertainment to rural folks.

Win some, lose some. You just have to meet Brenda and Manny to realize that the many bitter disappointments that come our way make us better persons.

* * *

If you have questions or suggestions, write xtnsprit@mydestiny.net