Vicki, Hayden kick off precious memories for Scarlet
Doctors Hayden Kho and Vicki Belo did what they normally wouldn’t do in the middle of the schoolyear — they let their daughter Scarlet Snow be absent for a couple of days to watch a soccer event. In Paris! Scarlet is a soccer fan and a player in her school.
The event, the Ballon d’Or (“Golden Ball”), is an annual football award presented by French magazine France Football since 1956 to honor the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season. Past awardees include Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembele and Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati won the top prizes at the 2025 Ballon d’Or awards ceremony, reportedly the “Oscars” of soccer.
“I want to build and collect memories with Scarlet,” more than material things, says Vicki, known as the “dermatologist to the stars.”
“Her mommy wants to make memories, so I kidnapped her for three days. She’ll miss three days of school,” laughs Vicki.
“My mom is kind, giving and caring,” Scarlet said during our Zoom interview, which was held on their way to the Ballon d’Or. Scarlet’s soccer favorites are Ronaldo and Jude Bellingham.
Why is creating memories precious to Vicki?
“I think it’s because I’m getting older, and I’m an older mom. So, Hayden and I were having this discussion. He goes, you shouldn’t (take her to Ballon d’Or). I said, you know, Ballon d’Or, the tickets are not sold. And we’re invited. I have no idea when we’ll be invited again, right? So, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And Scarlet is really, really into soccer. So, if I were at her age, it would mean so much to me.”
“Because I remember my mom, my crush then was Tom Jones. So, when I was 11, she brought me to London to watch a concert of Tom Jones even when I had school. So, I said, for Scarlet, soccer is her super love. It’s all about memories. Three days of school, we can make that up. So, pinagbigyan ako. I told Scarlet, this won’t happen often, Scarlet. Because it’s really just, it’s just that we don’t know when we’ll be invited again.”
(I remember myself when my parents let me stay up until 10 p.m. on a school day when I was in third grade. It was for the Voice of Democracy finals for student representatives from various schools. I don’t remember now who won but the delivery and eloquence of the student speakers left me in awe and with more than a dose of confidence. From then on, I never had stage fright.)
Hayden, who seems to be the disciplinarian in the family, says he made sure he talked to each of Scarlet’s teachers to ask for advance assignments.
Her dad, according to Scarlet, is “kind, funny, and disciplined. A disciplinarian.”
Hayden then clarifies, “Disciplined or a disciplinarian?”
“He’s both. Disciplined and a disciplinarian.”
“I think experiences are more valuable than material things,” says Hayden. “Experiences wherein the whole family are together are obviously more precious than just going here alone. I mean, what’s the point of attending Ballon d’Or without the people who are closest to you, right? We love being together, the three of us.”
The trio would have gone to the “Trillion Peso March” on EDSA on Sept. 21 if they were in town.
“Because I remember Quark and Cristalle (Henares), we joined the EDSA rallies of long ago, of ’86,” explains Vicki. “And Scarlet would have had an experience also if she went.” This early, Scarlet has an opinion of government, and why.
“I think looking back, as you get older, you realize it’s really experiences that count. It’s not what you bought. It’s not what you know. Right? So when we look back at our lives, with 10 years with Scarlet, it’s Niseko, Lapland. Memories like those,” reveals Vicki.
“And she’s not at all materialistic,” the proud mom says.
I asked the couple, who have been together for 20 years now with Scarlet coming into their lives 10 years ago, who is in the center of their perfect love triangle?
Hayden turns to Scarlet to answer the question.
“Jesus,” answers Scarlet, who doesn’t believe in Santa Claus.
Hayden then asks his daughter, “And then among the three of us, who? I always tell you, between me and Mommy, who’s the priority?”
“Mom,” chorus father and daughter.
Kiko says ‘Ball is in Marcos’ court’
received a strong reaction from Kiko Aquino Dee to this portion of my article, “September,” that came out on Sept. 19:
This Aquino, a private citizen who says he has absolutely no intentions of running for public office, is willing to give this Marcos, who is the highest-ranking official of the land, a chance — 53 years after the declaration of martial law that put the Aquino and Marcos families on virtually immovable positions on opposite sides of the political fence.
The ICI (Independent Commission for Infrastructure) is a step in the right direction, but he needs to exert his authority to rally Congress to pass the law to give the ICI proper powers to actually have a meaningful investigation, Kiko told me.
Kiko texted me to say, “The ball is in Marcos’ court.”
“And the juxtaposition with martial law invalidates the suffering of my family and the thousands harmed by the Marcos dictatorship.” *
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