Cadiz’s 101-year-old Lola Tiling shares her 8 secrets to longevity

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines – Although blinded by cataracts, century-old Estelita Alimpolos, from Sitio Mijares, Barangay Sicaba, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, remains physically strong and has a sharp memory.

Her 101st birthday celebration was particularly joyful on February 17 because she just received another tranche of cash gifts from the local governments of Cadiz City and Negros Occidental province three days earlier. Her centenarian cash gifts since December 29, 2023, already totalled P200,000.

By April 15, Lola Tiling will become P100,000 richer, courtesy of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), according to Anadel Ramas, the president of the Federation of Senior Citizens’ Associations in Cadiz.

The cash gifts are mandated under the Centenarian Act of 2016. Cadiz Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. said there is a local ordinance, too, which mandates city hall to recognize and gift centenarians with cash.

Lola Tiling, as everyone calls her in Cadiz, has been a prominent manghihilot (traditional Filipino healer who practices indigenous massage therapy) in Sicaba, some 18.5 kilometers from downtown Cadiz, for almost seven decades.

In an interview with Rappler on Wednesday, March 13, she recalled different turning points in her life, including her colorful love life with her late husband, Florentino Alimpolos.

She has a sharp memory. Lola Tiling, who only completed Grade 2 at the Sicaba Elementary School, still remembers the name of her last teacher, “Ma’am Lourdes de la Peña.”

Her life has been characterized by hardships, from being a poor girl during World War II to raising nine children, and being a grandmother to 15 grandchildren,

Lola Tiling said she never experienced a comfortable life until now.

Raising nine children was no easy task, and she took on numerous odd jobs to support her family amid poverty and other challenges. In her own words, she said she was a “Jack of all trades.”

Reaching 101 years, Lola Tiling, the fourth of six children, considers herself truly “beyond blessed.”

Longevity seems to run in Lola Tiling’s family. Lola Tiling’s three older siblings also lived to be more than 100 years old. 

She recalls that her eldest brother, Sotero, lived to be 110, while her sisters Rebecca and Dinky lived to be 107 and 104, respectively.

Many wonder what keeps her strong and sharp-minded.

Lola Tiling shared with Rappler what she called her “secrets” to longevity:

• Eating laswa (vegetable soup) every day
• Drinking tuba (coconut wine) before – and whisky these days
• Eating seaweed from time to time
• Using ginseng liniment for nightly body massage
• Praying every day
• Keeping a small icon of Señor Santo Niño de Cadiz under or beside her pillow as her guardian
• Not wearing a brassiere ever since she was a teenager
• Practicing hilot

Lola Tiling said bras are uncomfortable, and she believes wearing one is not good for a woman’s health.

All her life, she said, she has never been administered with vaccines and neither has she been hospitalized, a personal record she attributes to her longetivity secrets.

During the worst period of the COVID-19 pandemic, her daughter, 51-year-old Vangeline Alimpolos-Soledad, said Lola Tiling just refused to be jabbed.

One of Lola Tiling’s folk beliefs is that whenever she performs hilot on someone, she releases a healing force or positive energy, beneficial for both her body and her client’s well-being.

She said she never demands a specific payment for her hilot services, and only accepts pasanag or sanag (donations).

Mayor Escalante said many people, especially in Sicaba, have claimed to have been cured by the centenarian manghihilot.

He referred to her as a “legend, a heritage, and a treasure” a Cadiz who deserves utmost care.

Asked about her wish, Lola Tiling said she was praying to live for another 15 years. – Rappler.com