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Embracing Change Graciously
By MAFELOU C. LEAGOGO –AGRIAM

Who was it who said that one of the most powerful secret weapons a politician can have is a beautiful wife who can charm and work up a mammoth crowd to near frenzy?
Such perception was common long ago. That time, people in the villages readily threw in their unwavering support to a politician for the simple reason they have been won over by the movie-star beauty of his wife (and her singing or dancing prowess, if any). Thankfully such narrow and naïve tactic of choosing the country’s leaders has long died. Nowadays it takes more than a lovely face to win votes or gain the sympathy of the people.
Without question, a wife who is not only good to look at but is also her own person – highly educated and accomplished – is a great source of pride of any politician. If she is able to blend effortlessly into his world, such female specie is a gem. When her own outstanding achievements enhance her husband’s worth in the public eye, by all means she is a priceless gem.
Dr. Candice Alumisin-Tupas, the young, smart and attractive better-half of Iloilo City Councilor Lex Tupas, is working her way into being an excellent politician’s wife. Ever since she set-up residence in Iloilo City, the Manila-born lady doctor has assimilated herself into the mainstream, learning the dialect, following the customs and mores of the Ilonggos, and opening herself to wider opportunities where she can meet people from all walks of life.
Married to the city’s number one councilor for almost two years now, Dr. Candice has embraced whatever her husband holds dear to his heart as her very own. A few years back, she must have felt quite crushed to leave her family in Manila, the serene and privileged confines she was raised in, and her early professional aspirations, in order to follow her husband to the province. Like they say, when love beckons, all else come second.
It’s amazing how destiny works to bring two far distantly-located strangers closer together. Before Candice figured in his life, Councilor Lex was a typical young bachelor squiring a number of pretty girls in Iloilo City but always prayed for the girl of his dreams to come. On the other end of the pole, the lady doctor, who was voted the loveliest face in her freshman year in medical school at the University of Santo Tomas (UST), had her own string of male admirers but never committed and always believed in waiting for the right one.
Their common denominator was Ilonggo Dr. Mikhail Pador, then chief resident doctor of the Ophthalmology Department of the Makati Medical Center. He was the relentless matchmaker, among others.
Dr. Pador is a cousin of Lex and a friend of Candice since her Post-Graduate Internship stint at the Makati Med. It was in one of the Alumisin residences located in a plush Makati City condominium where Dr. Mikhail first introduced Lex to Candice.
Councilor Lex must have enjoyed the lady doctor’s company immensely that what was originally planned as a very short visit dragged on for more than two hours of animated conversations in the Alumisin’s living room. After all, it is not every day that a man gets to meet a woman who is not only pretty to him but is his intellectual match.
And the chaperoned dates followed with both parties observing each other’s traits and winning ways. When she agreed to have a meal with him at Mang Inasal in Manila, he knew she was different from the other girls.
“I introduced her to my (rough and tough) world,” Councilor Lex intoned. “Although she was more used to dining in high-class places in Manila, she never showed any sign of displeasure at Mang Inasal.”
Dr. Candice herself was pleased with what she saw in him. “He knows what he wants and he has a commanding presence. His eyes are intense and they look straight at you. Some guys look unfocused when they talk to me, which I find disturbing. And besides I like the fact that he is frugal.”
Dr. Candice was a favorite daughter, the princess in the family being the youngest among three girls and one of the five children of Engineer Homer Roxas Alumisin – a native of Mindoro – and the former Carina Quiogue of Manila ( and of the family that owned the famed Funeraria Quiogue of yore). From among her siblings, Candice fulfilled her father’s dream of having a doctor in the family. This noble profession eluded Homer in his younger days to the utter dismay of his own father, a noted obstetrician in his time.

After Dr. Candice’s two older sisters settled down and with her younger brothers studying abroad, she was her parents’ only child in the house. Naturally, they doted on her.
She describes the Alumisin’s family as conservative and close knit. She grew up with her siblings and they were her best friends. Her parents may have married very early but to their credit are flourishing businesses established through hard work – among others, construction, landscaping and manpower services – and raising well-grounded children.
“My parents really worked hard to give us a very comfortable life and to put us all to good schools. In return, I took it upon myself to do well in my studies.
“My father was a disciplinarian and my mother a nurturer who led us in reciting the rosary every night. They both put a high premium on good education.
“They said being with the right people is important to values formation and perhaps for future networking. They always told us never to invest in anything less and to always aim for what is higher. Libre naman mangarap, they often said, eh di kung mangarap ka mangarap ka na lang ng mataas!”
The Alumisin children studied in premier schools. Dr. Candice went to the exclusive Poveda School (originally called Institucion Teresiana, and now elevated into the Pedro Poveda College). Then she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at the Ateneo de Manila University. She took up medicine at UST, passed the 2009 medical board exams and earned her license as a doctor.
Her older sisters both went to Assumption College in San Lorenzo. One entered the Asian Institute of Management, the other took up culinary arts in Switzerland.
Her younger brothers, meanwhile, also went to Ateneo, the International School, and later in college studied at the Fordham University, Columbia University and College of the Holy Cross in the United States. Further enriching their life experiences were annual family trips abroad – to Europe, the US and parts of Asia – to soak in the cultures of other countries. In short, the Alumisins were a very cosmopolitan lot.
Candice had her own professional advancement plans. Priority was pursuing a medical residency program in dermatology in the United States, only to be overtaken by her marriage after a seven-month courtship. In 2009, she wedded Councilor Lex at the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park, Makati City with the politically influential Tupas family in full attendance to rally behind the groom, the youngest child of former Iloilo Assemblyman, Congressman and Governor Niel Tupas, Sr. and ex-Barotac Viejo Mayor Myrna Causing-Tupas.
Today, her medical residency temporarily takes the backseat as Dr. Candice focuses on her being a politician’s wife and the mother of a beautiful baby named Alexa. She may have always had a finely structured life but the lady doctor admits to enjoying exploring the barangays in Iloilo City where her knowledge and skills in the medical field oftentimes are put to good use. The simplicity and sincerity of the local folks inspire her. She is amazed no end at their limitless capacity to please.
“During fiestas, they give us their best plates, their best spoons and forks, their best food, their best table. Sometimes even when they don’t have enough food, still they go out of their way to offer us anything to eat and drink.
“I am so touched by their affection that when they tell me somebody is ill in the community, without much thought at all, I go there to minister even if I’m in high heels and need to walk carefully on the narrow wooden footwalks to reach the patient’s house. In some measure when I do this I also want Lex to know that his wife is supporting him and the people he loves.”
What also gives her much pleasure is taking care of one-year-old Alexa. The baby girl is such a doll that when Dr. Candice carries her to a social function, people can’t help but admire the beautiful baby who Candice says is her mini-me. “She is such a blessing to me. Now I have someone to put all my energy on. Having Alexa sort of saved me from being alone especially when Lex is out of the house performing his duties to his constituents.
“Having a baby changed a lot of my perspectives in life. Where once I only thought of what can make us happy, now she has made us less self-centered. The baby’s welfare comes first than ours.”
Still her thoughts continue to linger on improving her professional life. With a young family in view, doing her residency here in the Philippines sometime in the future (than in the US) is the wisest option, she says.
“I still dream of being the best specialist I can be. I wish to one day build a clinic and set aside two days a week for ordinary people in Iloilo City to come see me for free professional consultations.”

What can one say but her husband’s compassion for the underprivileged and the needy has obviously rubbed well into her. Dr. Candice is a valuable asset in his life, and so is he to her.
“God really gave Lex to me. He is able to stand up for me and to take care of me and Alexa,” she said. In return, she has resolved to be his willing partner and ally.