“My daughter is 30 years old. Why will I try to look 30 years old?”
That question made a lot of sense, and it was asked over dinner by mom Maricris Zobel who, while she may not look 30 years old, doesn’t look old enough to be the mother of a 30-year-old, either. She was reacting to what I just said about “fillers.”
From GMA, who looked on TV news that night like she’s suddenly aged a couple of decades (the Hannibal Lecter-like metal head contraption didn’t help), our talk turned to the filler-and-collagen contagion that seems to have engulfed women of various ages in the country.
Apparently Maricris, one of the most glamorous and beautiful Filipinas yesterday (when she was a favorite muse of Pitoy Moreno) and today, isn’t one of them.
“The filler must be the worst invention today,” she said, referring to the cosmetic procedure of injecting “filler” into the face to cover up laugh lines or lift sagging jaws or puff up cheek bones. When overdone, it produces a lumpy face—the features look good in photos, but up close, in the flesh, you look like a forged Picasso.
“And all these women are beginning to look alike,” a guest piped up, backing Maricris’ declaration. “They all have this xxxx (cosmetic surgeon’s name) look.”
“They say that when they have it done, some can’t stop and get addicted to it,” another said.
Then still another recalled a hilarious encounter with one such filler “addict” who makes a killing sprucing up homes of matrons. “(He/she) has done so much on that face that when (he/she) opened the door to let me in, wearing an apron at that, I didn’t recognize (him/her). I thought it was the help. So I said, ‘Tawagin mo si (mistress of the house). Of course, (he/she) slammed the door on my face. So I rang the bell again.”
When the laughter died down, yet another dinner guest recalled how he, pointing to his chubby features—from happy, over-sufficient eating—was offered a “filler” job. “No, thank you, I said.”
No fruits for dessert
Then it was time for dessert and we ordered fresh fruits.
“Actually you shouldn’t take fruits for dessert,” Maricris told the table. “Take fruits in the morning.”
I didn’t realize until then how much of a stickler Maricris is for healthy, slim-down eating. It’s fruits and yogurt and flaxseed oil for her at breakfast—good for the health and figure, she said.
In fact, aside from Maricris, many of the beautiful women we know who have kept their looks through the years—and gracefully, at that—have two things in common: they don’t let technology alter their face, and they have well-defined, sensible—and happy—eating habits.
The past few weeks, I’ve dined with Gilda Cordero Fernando, who, in her 80s, remains one of the youthful and vibrant women around, and Margie Moran Floirendo, the former Miss Universe who doesn’t seem insecure at all about growing old, and whose time and energy are spent working for causes she believes in, like the Ballet Philippines and building a local audience for ballet.
(Ballet Philippines will stage the milestone-setting “Rama Hari” in November next year—the Alice Reyes-Ryan Cayabyab ballet musical that advanced the careers of Kuh Ledesma and Leo Valdez in the ’80s. Reyes will fly home from the US to choreograph it.)
These are women who have purposeful interests—and excitements—to fill their days.
I remember Gilda, over lunch, expressing dismay with a celebrity, who’s not even in her mid-20s but who had her face altered somewhat. “There’s nothing wrong with that face at all,” she said. “She’s still young. What happens when these girls grow old?”
Over another dinner, Margie also cringed when the topic turned to the “filler” craze.
Last week’s dinner with Maricris, however, wasn’t about beauty at all. This mother of five, whose eldest, Bianca, is getting married in January, is busy this time of year with preparations for the annual UST Christmas Concert Gala on Dec. 1.
The UST Christmas Concert Gala not only kicks off the holiday celebration in Metro Manila, it has also become one of the biggest fundraisers in the country, thanks to Maricris and her two friends who introduced her to the cause—the investment banker Andrew Gan and noted interior designer Jonathan Matti.
Ninth year
Along with Maricris, the Gala’s chair is Fr. Isidro C. Abaño, OP, executive director for the UST Quadricentennial Activities and Highlights.
This is the Gala Concert’s ninth year—also the quadricentennial year of UST, Asia’s oldest university.
The Concert held in the UST chapel has become a tradition and the past four years it has been turned by the Zobel-Gan-Matti trio, with Fr. Abaño, into a fundraiser for the heritage conservation efforts of UST.
“Not many know perhaps that that campus is home to Unesco World Heritage sites,” said Jonathan. “There’s the main building, the ‘plaza mayor’ or quadrangle, and the iconic arch.”
To open this year’s concert, the newly installed carillon bells will ring.
Just like in the olden days, Christmas music will fill the UST Chapel (also known as the Santisimo Rosario church), rendered by the university’s renowned choral performers—the UST Singers, Coro Tomasino and Liturgikon Vocal Ensemble. The vocalists are Rachel Gerodias, Sim Sung Hye, Nenen Espina, Thea Perez, Naomi Sison, Lemuel de la Cruz, Eugene de los Santos, Ronan Ferrer and Andrew Fernando. Prof. Herminigildo Ranera will conduct the UST Symphony Orchestra.
Every year, early December, this Christmas Concert Gala is the hottest ticket in town. Tickets are not sold; donations are given instead to the UST heritage conservation efforts and the Conservatory of Music’s Scholarship Fund.
The event is by invitation. Manila’s A-listers will thus have to wait to be invited.
One high-profile self-proclaimed billionaire, it is said, promised to donate—if he could be photographed alongside Maricris Zobel. He wasn’t.
That was just one turn-off. Another was this society media who kept on asking practically each woman guest which designer made her gown. That turned off the guests.
By the way, this year’s attire is not strictly long gown. If you read your invite, note that it just states “formal”—if you have your invite.
