Make more memories like Mel Tiangco, Julius Babao & others

MANILA, Philippines - We don’t stop playing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop playing!          —George Bernard Shaw                                             

And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.              —Abraham Lincoln                                                    

There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.     —Sophia Loren

The recent typhoon Ondoy disaster reminds us that cars, houses, material wealth, power and even our very own human lives are so temporal. Time, like the deluge of

floods during angry maelstroms, washes away everything. What then should we aspire for and hold truly dear? I believe we must treasure family, true friends, health, honor, art, love for others, faith in God and priceless memories.

Thanks for the numerous emails we have received about your most memorable events. This a special project of the Philippine Star and Unilab’s Enervon Prime – an adult nutritional milk for active adults.

As people add to their years, lives can be enriched by making more memories via a second career, travels with family, taking up a new hobby or sport, learning something new and many others. When these unique opportunities come, it is best for us to be prepared to maximize each experience with a sharper mind (I believe drinking Enervon Prime can help) and by maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Among those who shared their memorable events were TV hosts Mel Tiangco of GMA 7 and Julius Babao of ABS-CBN 2, also topnotch lawyer and sometime marathon runner Atty. Sabino Padilla III (who I researched is grandson of the late Justice Secretary Sabino Padilla after whom the old Calle Gandara in historic Binondo, Manila was renamed after).

Other interesting “memories” letters also include those from Marietta Lucas of Zamboanga City whose 92-year-old dad Jose Ma. Lucas has been drinking Enervon Prime for some years to slow down memory lapses. Other letters will be published next Sunday.

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Wilson, I always read Philippine Star and your columns. I don’t want to reveal by age, but I keep fit by doing treadmill and gym work-outs at home every other day for 45 minutes, and I am careful about my food. My most unforgettable memory was my 1984 first trip to Sinariri, Mansabay in Oriental Mindoro which became the catalyst of my passion for public service. Not even the local government there knew where it was. I saw Mangyan tribal people; not only their poverty, but their admirable moral values were intact despite the poverty. What hit me also was the fact that despite their almost nude women and guys wearing only G-strings, there was no immorality such as wife-swapping, no adultery, no rape. That visit inspired me.

Carmela “Mel” C. Tiangco

Executive vice president, GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc.

Hi, Mel, I researched that you’re 54, but you look like you’re only in your 40s on TV! And blessed with a gift of gab that clearly exhibits a sharp mind. Regular exercise and careful food choices indeed help maintain good health for people of any age. My cousin, the medical board topnotcher cardiologist Dr. Dy Bun Yok, also advised that we should avoid smoking (and smokers, I’d like to add!). You will definitely bring your civic endeavors to new heights and thank you for helping people so they, too, can make more memories!  

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When I married my soulmate Tin-tin and when our daughter Antonia came into our lives in 2005, those were the happiest and most memorable events in my life.

Julius Babao

You and Tin-tin inspire parents to keep a sharp mind… to be able to educate themselves and be better parents for creating more memories with family. Congratulations to you and your wife Christine “Tin-tin” Bersola for your ParenTinTv Internet website show and for your soon-to-be-born son!

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I am Marietta “May” Lucas of Zamboanga City. I am 44 years old and I wish to share one of the most memorable events in my life. When I turned 40 in 2004, I decided to shift my career. I went back to school and took up nursing. Since my first course was AB Mass Comm, for most of the 20 years I’ve been employed, my work has been in writing or teaching. In nursing school, I took on student life “head-on.” The course required a lot of memory work — from anatomy and physiology to medical-surgical nursing and then, of course, the board exams. Aside from a lot of memorization, critical thinking was also vital. Having a sharp mind did pay off. After two years, I graduated with an honorable mention, I thought, not bad, considering that I was almost 42 during my graduation.

P.S. My father, Jose Ma. Lucas, is 92 years old, and is already experiencing memory lapses especially of recent events but has preserved memories of the distant past. We have been giving him Enervon Prime for some years now in the hope of delaying his memory loss. More power to you!

Thanks for reminding us of the importance of a sharp mind for never-ending self-improvement. I believe one of the secrets to eternal youth is nonstop learning, whether outside the classroom or back to school again. Continuing education and starting a new career is great way to start making more memories. I wish you success and good health always, also best regards to your dad!

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One of my most memorable events is when my father Atty. Sabino Padilla, Jr. was knighted. He was bestowed the Papal Award Knight Grand Cross of St. Gregory the Great. The award was in recognition for his lifelong work for the Catholic Church. The last such award bestowed in the world was in 1938. It was not the regular St. Sylvester or Malta award. Even Knight St. Gregory has three levels: he was honored with the highest level or rank in December 2007. Dad is a very private person. He didn’t want this honor to be publicized. Only the religious group he serves, close family and friends were invited. The only publication was in the Santuario de San Antonio (Forbes Park) weekly bulletin at the initiative of our parish priest.

Atty. Sabino Padilla III, Makati City

It’s touching that your memorable event pertains to your dad, whom I researched has been doing extensive legal services free of charge for decades to Catholic schools and universities nationwide without fanfare or publicity. Your filial love for your dad and your father’s selfless love of God expressed through his legal services, these are examples we need to emulate in our society where, sadly, many of our social and political elites are morally depraved and excessively corrupt. I believe among the secrets to longevity and eternal youth are having a sharp mind, spirituality or sincere faith in God, selfless love for others and a purpose-driven life.

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By the way, I’m pleasantly surprised at how my column circuitously flew from Manila to Butuan City in Mindanao and later ended up wrapping the dried fish sent to you four days later in Tondo. Regards to the good people of Tondo (where I spent the first seven years of my childhood). Keep on reading the Philippine STAR, with or without delicious dried fish!   

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Readers are welcome to share your most memorable events via email to willsoonflourish@gmail.com or at my Facebook account and get gift packs from Unilab’s Enervon Prime.