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MANILA -- Noted cosmetic doctor Vicki Belo admitted that her clinic was badly hit by the pandemic.

Pivoting her widely-known clinic after three months of being in lockdown in 2020 with no income at all, the 65-year-old Belo realized that money is not her priority in doing business, but more the well-being of her hundreds of employees.

“From the day I opened 32 years ago, two weeks into practice, I was already profitable” she said at the recent celebrity guests in the International Women’s Day special of the monthly forum, “Usapang Puso sa Puso,” presented by the Philippine Heart Association. “In my life, there was never a period where I was lugi. At least, break-even or making money.

“With 550 employees, 15 clinics, it was so hard when pandemic happened. They were family. We have to take care of them as much as we can. It was so hard when your bank account dwindled every 15th and 30th because there was nothing coming in and everything was going out.

Early on, Belo realized the most important thing was safety. A week before every establishment went on lockdown, Belo already closed 15 clinics and stopped everything.

“I came from Milan at that time and when I arrived, I went to the clinic,” she recalled. “The staff were still smiling but you could sense, they were afraid and really scared. The whole environment had changed.

“They kept on looking at me like they wanted to ask, ‘What are you going to do?’ They wouldn’t say anything, but I could see it in their eyes.

“I called my GM [general manager] and said we have to close our clinics. I don’t know what this is. I don’t know the effects. Until we know, we have to close. Otherwise, we’re jeopardizing all our employees. They looked so afraid. We were going to work with so much fear.

“Someone asked me, ‘You know how much it was going to cost us?’ I said, ‘I don’t care.’ I could feel the air. I could feel so much fear. I needed to be quiet, meditate and pray.

“I called the Ayala people to ask them if they would charge us if we closed. They asked, 'Why are you closing? Nobody is closing,’ I simply said, ‘I think this is the right thing to do.’

“We closed a few days before they announced the general closure. I think that communicated to our employees that as a company, we care that it’s people before profit. I feel that I got points for that for them and they trust me more.

“We tried to give all the employees their salary and helped employees in any way that we could during the pandemic. It’s an emotional pivot, but I think women will think like that.

“Men will probably think more logical, weigh the pros and cons, how much money. Me, I didn’t think about anything when I said, ‘Let’s close [all clinics].’ That was women’s intuition for me when we closed. Intuition is a combination of prayers, experience and all the stuff that’s gone through your life.

“Later on, you just say, ‘Tama pala ang ginawa ko.’ But I’m not logical. Hayden (Kho) is always frustrated because I’m always emotional.”

When Belo entered the world of skin care, she was readily controversial. “I was the first dermatologist to start with lasers,” she disclosed. “There were rumors that lasers would burn your brain.

“When I started Botox,. they said I was injecting poison into a guy. They were asking, ‘Why does she do liposuction? She’s only a dermatologist? Is she a doctor? Why does she look like that? Why does she talk like that?”

Belo had to go through all those things. “I prayed to the Lord. It was time to put blinders like a horse. To all the things they say about me or write about me. Otherwise, you would really get depressed.

“You might lose hope or lose your spirit. There is no bias if you’re really good and you’re smart. They say when you love what you’re doing, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”