Throughout his life, Meliton “Mel” Velasco Velarde, president and chief executive of NOW Corp., has been a consistent achiever.
At a very young age of 8, he received an award as “The World’s Youngest Professional Photographer” handed to him by 14th Supreme Court Chief Justice Felix Makasiar. The trophy came after he was appointed assistant photographer of the 1971 to 1972 Philippine Constitutional Convention headed by former President Diosdado Macapagal.
His task then was to help his father and namesake capture vital moments as official photographer of the exercise with their lenses. The elder Meliton was suffering from an eye disease that started when the son was born, eventually leading to total blindness.
At age 11, he was adjudged national chess and Games of the General finalist, and national Siege game champion.
At 14, Mel won as national quiz bee champion and brought home the grand prize—a brand-new Toyota Corolla. He drove the car to school for one day, then sold it for P45,000, gave P40,000 to his parents for family expenses, then bought a used Volkswagen beetle with the remaining P5,000.
At 15, he was elected secretary-general of the Professional Photographers’ Association of the Philippines (PPAP). During summers, he dabbled on guitar, piano and fine art drawing.
He taught photography during weekends while helping run the family-owned Velarde Studio in Ermita, Manila, even as he attended elementary and high school at St. Anthony School in Singalong, Malate, Manila.
At 19, Mel was designated chairman of the Philippine delegation to the 1983 International Youth Conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
But raising money for the ticket was a big problem, Somehow, the Philippine Airlines gave him 50-percent discount on the fare, and with help from some friends and relatives, Mel made it to the United States.
At the UN conference, Mel was chosen as the leader of 110 youthful representatives from across the globe.
Later on, Mel was accepted as a SERVAS exchange student at Princeton, New Jersey where he stayed with Dr. Earl Simon, a top American eye physician.
Mel was also a consistent honor and working student through elementary and high school. Mel went through higher learning by dint of hard work, and later completed Bachelor of Liberal Studies from Boston University, where he was awarded with the highest Latin honor of summa cum laude with near perfect GPA of 3.9.
Success indeed came to him in no small measures. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies Major in Interdisciplinary Studies at Boston University, Massachusetts and acquired a Master’s degree in Business Economics at the University of Asia and the Pacific.
In 1999, he established his own holdings company, Velarde Inc. VI, which specialized in transforming and expanding telecom, media and technology resources. It invested in Altimax which transformed the company into a “high-value potential asset” for Broadband Internet Business, Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) and Multi-point Microwave Distribution Service (MMDS). In 2008, 86 percent of Altimax was acquired by Globe Telecom, with the remaining 14 percent purchased in 2021.
Apart from being CEO of the listed NOW Corp., he is also co-founder of the operations of ABS-CBN subsidiary Sky Cable. He had an overload of responsibilities on other corporations linked to his other businesses such as Gamboa Holdings Inc. Foodcamp Industries & Marketing Inc. and Emerald Investments Inc. He is also chairman of Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication.
In 2012, Mel launched his new digital brand under NOW named NowPlanet.TV, a new media service platform that delivers digitized content in the enterprise, education and entertainment across all devices and around the world to vast and targeted audiences.
Early on, he headed and reorganized the News and Public Affairs Department of ABS-CBN, the Philippines’ largest broadcasting network, and also worked as news director – trainee at KTLA Channel 5 News in Los Angeles, California.
In 2003, the President of the Philippines appointed him as Philippine Commissioner to the UNESCO, where he served as chairman of the Committee on Science and Technology.
In 2009, he was conferred the Top Taxpayer Award by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for Revenue Region No. 8, which covered Pasay, Muntinlupa, Paranaque, Las Pinas, Taguig, Pateros and Makati.
