Behind the Byline: How a Corporate Executive Became the '90s Most Famous—and Secretive—Astrologer

 

Astrologers Resti Santiago and  Paloma with journalist  turned lawmaker Loren Legarda and Anthony Vivero, around 1999

By MARGE C. ENRIQUEZ

The late Zenaida “Kid” Garcia, better known to readers as Paloma, first reached out to BusinessWorld in 1991 with a complaint that another astrologer had copied her work. She sent proof, then offered to write. The paper ran her first essay, and she soon became a regular columnist.

Writing as Paloma, she kept her identity private to pursue a mission to explain astrology. The aim was to counter the view that astrology is only planetary positions or past-life claims. Her column educated general readers and showed that life involves both destiny and personal choice. Change rests with the individual, not with the moon or planets. Years of practice, she said, deepened her faith and clarified the laws of cause and effect. Astrology, in her view, can reveal patterns behind turning points and highlight universal laws whose neglect leads to consequences. Religion, for her, is the psyche’s core rather than an institution built on rules.

Paloma wrote on feng shui, profiles of presidential candidates, relationships and the pace of change. When readers asked why her byline had no photo, editors said she preferred to keep attention on the work. The newspaper’s Arts & Leisure section valued substance over personality, and Paloma fit that approach. The astrologer avoided talking about her personal history. 

She came out of a corporate career, where rising through the ranks left her uneasy about material success, and went to the United States to study astrology as a personal reset. In the Philippines, critics brush off astrology as hokey and devotees treat it as occult practice. She said it is neither. Many countries regard it as an exact science and a tool for decision-making, that some U.S. universities even offer doctoral programs. 

Her push was to improve standards and ethics among Filipino astrologers and to address public miseducation. She said many practitioners have inadequate, theory-heavy training that often proves irrelevant. Some chase attention and bury clients in jargon and complicated charts without turning findings into usable guidance.

"I am not the kind of astrologer who amplifies the client’s virtues found under a horoscope," Paloma said. "Those are positive, given factors that need less attention. I focus more on the problem areas of a chart where growth must occur. I also do not attempt interpretations that confuse the reader. Unfortunately, this is what happens with most astrologers who pander to shallow or obsolete occult books and pass their readings off as gospel. They block new intuitive discoveries and the open-mindedness of a sensitive astrologer."