'On Being Mellie'

The beautiful, elegant coffee table book printed by Vibal Publishing and entitled “On Being Mellie” is described as a “pictorial biography”. Accordingly, it is replete with photos of Mellie (Amelia Romero Ablaza) recording periods, phases and episodes of her life, from childhood to adulthood, as well as diverse circles she moves in.

The book, written in simple, straight-forward, readable style by Jojo Silvestre and Boysie Villavicencio, is edited by Chit Lijauco. Because the foreword is by Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, a former classmate of Mellie in the UP College of Law, I learn, therefore, to my immense surprise, that Mellie is a full-fledged lawyer although not a practising one.

Justice Santiago describes Mellie with the cliché “hostess with the mostest,” this formerly ascribed to Hollywood hostess Elsa Maxwell. In any case, it is the best-known aspect of Mellie’s life which I shall dwell on later. For now, I shall prematurely borrow a word from the English writer Isaac Walton who titled an essay of his “The Compleat Angler,” “compleat” just about summing up Mellie the woman.

Growing up with two sets of parents, the biological ones — her father was a military physician — and an uncle, the Mayor of Manaoag, Pangasinan, and his wife, sister of Mellie’s mother, Mellie had an early surfeit of fiestas, of riding on carrozas, of portraying cherubs, angels and a variety of other creatures from her First Communion to her debut. This was quite a social event even then, with V-P Diosdado Macapagal and his wife Evangelina as guests of honor. The debut was at the Sky Room of Jai Alai, the fashionable “in” venue at the time.

Another cliché might be applied to Mellie: “beauty and brains.” She obtained high marks in her academic subjects. In law school, furthermore, she exhibited a sense of style by being always smartly dressed. This penchant for style extended to her ability to design fashionable attire: in fact, she generously designed dresses for her classmates in law school! This, of course, was an indication of the stylish woman she would be in society.

Before I proceed further, some chapters are devoted to Mellie’s future husband, Louie Ablaza. He was a student leader in San Beda College and later in the UST where, as president of the Central Student Board, he gave formal names to the streets of the UST campus — a considerable service to the university and the country as well.

From student leader, Louie progressed to civic leader, becoming president of the Capitol Jaycees, and later receiving the “Most Outstanding Jaycee President of the Philippines” award.

More importantly to Mellie, Louie was her most persistent suitor. Mellie and Louie complement each other perfectly: as parents to Marc, Junjun and Czarina; as civic leaders and business partners in their thriving pawnshop, construction and real estate concerns; in diplomacy, with Mellie as consul, a.h. of Guatemala; Louie, of Gambia. In December of 2009, Mellie became the first Filipina Dean of the Consular Corps in the Philippines in its 35 years of existence. Her most distinguished Guatemalan guest was V-P Juan Francisco Reyes Lopez whom she and Louie welcomed in 2003.

To the general public, however, Mellie and Louie are best known for their socials which are called “theme parties.” A party can be Hawaiian, Chinese, a “tiara ball,” a “fairy ball,” a “wonderland ball.” Daughter Czarina is the creative “genius” behind these socials which are invariably fabulous or fantastic for their décor, gourmet fare, and the dancing and entertainment which follow. Of the countless guests pictured in the book, I shall single out two for personal reasons: the affable Paqui Ortigas whose father Francisco, Jr. was the professor of my brother Sixto, Jr. at De la Salle, and Fausto Preysler, Jr. whose late mother, the lovely Doña Consuelo, I used to take to concerts.

Lastly, there is Mellie the civic leader and art patron. She was twice president of the Friends for Cultural Concerns of the Philippines, and the funds she raised for the FCCP and civic organizations are still the topic of conversations.

All the foregoing makes Mellie the compleat woman who has her feet on the ground while remaining unassuming, amiable and charming.

Leafing through the book, after having read it thoroughly, I find the subtitle “a pictorial biography” most apt. As I earlier observed, Mellie’s photos fill the book, each showing her in a different attire. It now occurs to me to ask: How or where does Mellie keep her gowns? Even a dozen wardrobes can’t contain them all!