Vicki Belo: Innovator, rebel, my friend, my hero

I still remember the first question I was ever asked in the first-ever press conference for my first-ever movie. It was at Viva Films, and I was quite excited to talk about the process of filmmaking, the ups and downs of being on set, or the stories and characters from the movie. After the introductions, a reporter finally raises his hand.

“Anak ka ni Dr. Belo, diba? Ba’t di ka pa nagpalipo?”

This, my friends, is what it’s like to be the son of Vicki Belo.     

It’s weird, but people get more excited when they find out that I’m Vicki Belo’s kid than any other occupation I might have. But then again, why wouldn’t they? Here is a woman who single-handedly revolutionized the beauty industry of the Philippines. It still boggles the mind after all these years, how she achieved this by making cosmetic surgery “in.” We’re one of the only countries in the world where people actually boast about getting a lipo, or where celebrities randomly tweet about getting a treatment done. I only found out yesterday that according to Google, the Belo clinics are the second most visited place in the Philippines, next to Boracay. It’s weird thinking of the clinics as a tourist spot.

My mom, she’s an innovator. When we were kids she’d always look for something to get into. She put up a bakery called A Taste Of Heaven, and made a pretty good career out of being an aerobics instructor. I remember when she finally became a dermatologist and got her first-ever laser. She was elated, and from then on she was at the forefront of any technological advancement in the beauty industry. She would always leave the country to attend talks and conventions on beauty.

These days she still leaves at least once every two months, but now it is she who’s invited around the world as one of the top experts on Asian skin.

A brilliant family: Author Quark Henares, Cristalle Henares, Vicki Belo and Atom Henares

That’s my mother, the rebel. I remember her always getting into trouble with her teachers when she was in med school. After all was said and done, she had a vision, and beliefs she was willing to fight for.

They’d tell her dermatologists couldn’t use lasers. “But it’s for cosmetic enhancement, why can’t I use lasers?” she’d retort. Now, every dermatologist in the country uses one. When she introduced the tumescent technique of liposuction they all forbade her from doing it, since it was a procedure done below the epidermis. She did it anyway, and of course everyone followed suit. Then they all got on her case for advertising and using celebrities to endorse the clinic. “Why shouldn’t they, if they believe in my services anyway?” she said. These days a big chunk of the billboards on EDSA are about advertising cosmetic services, including the ones of the people who tried to stop her.

I guess I can’t fault my mother for being forgiving, or loving, because she’s one of the most generous people I know. Like her father, Atty. Enrique Belo, she’s generous to a fault. Her heart is so big that she will still believe in the best in people no matter how many times she’s been burned or hurt by them.

It’s always difficult when kids inevitably face the reality that their parents aren’t perfect. I had to face this at a very young age. Lucky for me, I ended up finding something better. I remember the days she was heartbroken about her separation from my father, when she’d listen to Toni Braxton’s Unbreak My Heart or Whitney Houston’s If I Don’t Have You on repeat for months on end (I know all the lyrics, yes). I’d stay with her every night to make her feel better, and at the age of 11 we’d talk for hours. She wasn’t invulnerable to me anymore. She had her faults, and her weaknesses. During those days, she became more than a mother to me — she became my friend. To this day, I feel that I can tell her anything without fear of being judged, and once in a while, we still have those talks about relationships and dreams and how we live our lives.

My mom has been through more hurt, judgment, betrayal and gossip than anyone deserves in a lifetime. But she survives. More importantly, she survives with a good heart and a stronger resolve to make the world a better place. I’ve never seen her cynical or bitter. This, more than anything, is the reason why she’s my hero.