Unforgettable, favorite Christmas gifts

FREQUENT readers of this space will probably know the answer to this. My favorite Christmas gift was a talking Barbie given to me by my Mama. It wasn’t the gift per se, but how I got it.

I was probably 7 or 8 years old then, and was tagging along with my Mama in Cartimar, Pasay, where Filipinos used to go to for their PX goods. Yes, I am a child of America, what can I say? Hahaha.

I saw my Mama looking over the Barbie which was in a fuchsia box (then everybody still called it “hot pink”), and I pestered her who she was buying it for. She wouldn’t answer me but I kept on nagging her about it, because I was so incensed that I, her bunso, wouldn’t be getting any gorgeous thing like that doll for Christmas.

She silenced me with that “wag kang makulit” look, and I shut up. (Yup, back then, kids were nakukuha sa tingin.) But I was seething inside, so jealous of that little girl—probably one of my Mama’s godchildren—who would get that Barbie for Christmas. I earnestly hoped and wished that I would get a Barbie as a present, too.

Of course, when Christmas midnight came, I excitedly opened all my gifts, and lo and behold! I got the very same Barbie! I couldn’t contain my joy over my new precious doll, and kept on pulling on the string behind her neck to make her “talk”. I thought then that my Mama probably got me the same gift as her inaanak just to pacify me. Silly me, I still thought she had given the doll she had earlier bought to another lucky kid, hahaha. Ay tanga.

But it made me realize then, which I still believe holds true today, if you deserve the present you have been hoping to get, you will receive it. The Secret? No. Just an eternal belief in how the universe just works for everyone’s benefit, and we all get what we deserve.

(DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo with his wife, Lovely, and their grandchildren.)

So for my Christmas and New Year columns this year, I asked several well-known personalities in government and industry what were their most unforgettable or favorite Christmas gifts of all time. Their answers, as usual, are heartwarming, a few terribly funny yet endearing, and give an honest insight into each person’s character.

Let me wish one and all a Happy Christmas with your loved ones, and peace and prosperity for all in the New Year.

(Antonio Moncupa, President, East-West Bank)

Secretary Alberto Romulo, Department of Foreign Affairs

All the gifts my grandchildren give me are unforgettable, whether it be a handmade card, a painting or sketch they made themselves, or a book they bought because they felt I would enjoy it—all of these are my favorites.

Antonio Moncupa, President, East-West Bank

In my grade-school years, I always looked forward to Christmas because it was the only other time (the other one was birthdays) when my parents would buy us a new set of nice clothes outside the simple T-shirts and short pants for daily public-school attire. While I thought they could afford to buy clothes more often, our parents always told us they needed to save for the bigger expenses for high school and college. It must have been hard to manage a brood of nine children for a couple who only reached second-year high school and who started with practically nothing.

(Bianca Gonzalez, TV host and model. Photo from her blog.)

While those clothes were not presented as gifts but a normal course for the season, I treasured those “gifts” the most. Although my parents wanted to be frugal, they also could not bear to see us without new clothes like other children. As I got older, it acquired a bigger meaning for me. I learned to appreciate the values it represented. It helped me realize what vision, firm resolve, and love could do to achieve an objective.

Bianca Gonzalez, TV host and model

My brother JC, who I love most and who hasn’t been home in five years, is coming home for Christmas. Nothing material can ever beat being with family during the holidays.

Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin Jr., Writer and pundit, former congressman of Makati City

My most unforgettable Christmas gift was the model of the German battleship Bismarck which I specifically pointed out to my parents. I was trying to rebuild the Nazi fleet. Instead, I got an American battleship, the USS Missouri I think, which so enraged me that I stomped all over the box which had a picture of the wrong ship and tried to kick the Christmas tree down, but it stood on a wide X and couldn’t be shaken. At such a young and impressionable age, to expose me to such disappointment. Anyway, I never cared for any Christmas gift after that.

But the best Christmas gift I ever got was the long-distance phone call of Cory Aquino just before Christmas 1985, that I return home from San Francisco to join her in the snap-election campaign. I like fights and this looked like a good one. The gift package itself came a little over a month later, around the 25th of the month, when she turned to me upon being told by the US ambassador that Marcos had taken off on a plane for Hawaii—and smiled. I had almost forgotten that gift because joy is not as instantly recallable as disappointment. But it was the best gift ever. I hope to get the gift of another great fight because that is the only time I am happy. Several more would be nice.

Chef Chris Locher, C’ Italian Dining

As a kid, my most favorite gift must have been my Carrera racing track received sometime in 1975. Most sporting goods gifts were usually reserved for Easter. Also, my first sky blue bike “Flipper” in 1974 would be among the top favorite gifts I received.

As time went on, material things became less important. I love giving gifts as much as receiving them. I do love them even more if some thought was placed by the gift-giver. But today, a joyful and noisy evening with my loved ones, some great home-cooked food, and a glass of wine spell perfection.

Annabella S. Wiesniewski, President of Raintree Partners Inc.

My favorite unforgettable Christmas gifts have been from our boys. For example, when Martin was six years old, he made a “GC” with scribblings of a car, entitling me to three free personalized car washes! Andrej gave me a down duvet when he was about 14, and that was an enormous amount to save from a paper route. He had been hearing how I wanted a real fluffy down duvet but could not afford it! I guess what made them memorable most of all was that they truly came from the heart.

(Conclusion on Friday, Dec. 31, 2010. My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. Photos courtesy of the interviewees.)

Angara, HSAI Raintree partner to boost tourism in Aurora

(Dikasalarin Cove in Aurora province.)
THE province of Aurora promises to be the next go-to travel destination with the establishment of two new resorts: one for high-end tourists, and the other, a mid-priced hotel to cater to the average middle-income travelers.
In an interview with select reporters, Sen. Edgardo Angara, who hails from the province, said these resorts will be built on land his family owns and will be managed by HSAI Raintree Hospitality Management Inc.

HSAI Raintree president Annabella Wiesniewski said: “We want to open Aurora as the newest exciting tourist destination in the country. It is paradise, undiscovered.” The province sits on the northeastern portion of Luzon and faces the Pacific Ocean.

The first establishment is an 88-room hotel that will be located on a three-hectare property in the capital of Baler.

“It’s ready to break ground,” she said, and will be designed by architect Ed Calma, which promises a modern aesthetic but “will incorporate organic materials that are native to Baler,” such as local wood and stones, and its unique flora. The hotel is projected to be completed by June 2012.

It has a 150-meter beachfront on Sabang beach and will be geared primarily for local travelers. The Angara family already has a beach resort there called Bahia de Baler.

“It will be moderately priced, about P4,000 per night, and will be geared for domestic tourists. The provinces around Aurora are mostly land-locked so Sabang is the nearest beach for them. We have to make [the hotel] reasonable, but still very nice. Government offices and corporations around there can hold their meetings, conferences and seminars there,” said Wiesniewski. A 300-seat ballroom will also be built on the property where functions like conferences and wedding receptions can be held.

The second resort will be 20 minutes away from Baler central on a 100-hectare property located at the private Dikasalarin cove. On it will rise “60 rooms or villas of SLH [small luxury hotels] quality,” she added, ranging from about 50 square meters (sqm) to 200 sqm.

(Traversing one of Aurora's many clean rivers.)
“It’s like Monterey [California]. You drive along the coastline, and you see a very big cove,” she said. The beach is off-white but as fine as the sand of Boracay and with clear waters, she said, so it’s ideal for lounging about and swimming.

The villas, she said, “will be modern with glass, set against the mountains,” taking advantage of the picturesque view of the land- and seascapes. It will also feature a wellness center with a world-class spa. Those who are staying in the Sabang resort, she added, will be given the privilege of taking a day tour in the Dikasalarin property and enjoy its facilities and scenery.

Adjacent to the luxury resort, Angara donated a 10-hectare property, where an artist’s village is currently under construction. “This will give an opportunity for artists to just be away and indulge in their passions. We’ll take care of them, they won’t have to worry about [food and accommodations],” the senator said. The village will also feature an amphitheater where the artists can show off their works or perform.

“We’ve already been able to solicit the assistance of several well-known Filipino artists here and abroad to build individual cottages where the visiting artists can stay,” he added.

Angara cited the many activities that could be pursued in Aurora such as hiking, diving, trekking, mountain biking, bird watching and surfing.

“Baler was the first to introduce surfing in the country with its swells reaching 10 to 12 feet,” he said. A portion of the film Apocalypse Now where soldiers were catching waves was filmed at Charlie’s Point in Baler. A number of international bird societies also have been tracking migrating birds that summer in Baler.

“We have natural beauty - every 10 km. spectacular waterfalls—we have abundant water sources, we have streams, rivers, clean seas that’s why we nice dive sites there. We have a rich supply of marine life—Blue marlin, tuna, Spanish mackerel.” He stressed that travelers are safe in Aurora, being “the first province that was declared insurgency-free.”

(The historic Baler Church which 57 Spanish soldiers turned into a fort during the year-long Siege of Baler.)
Baler is also rich in history, he said, because it is where the infamous “Siege of Baler” happened. Fifty-seven Spanish soldiers held out at a local church for a year against Filipino troops, not knowing the Spanish-American War had already ended. The story was actually made the basis for the local film Baler, which was said to have helped boost travel arrivals in the province, as it showcased the local tourist spots. The event is also commemorated every year on June 30 during the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day.

Asked why he decided to collaborate with HSAI Raintree, Angara said, “We hear they’re the top in the business [of hospitality management].”

HSAI Raintree currently manages the Discovery properties of the Tiu family (of the JTKC Group) in Ortigas, Tagaytay and Boracay Island, and opened Albay to high-end travelers when it initially managed Misibis Bay Resort in Cagraray Island. (It terminated its contract with the resort’s owner, the Sunwest Group, in March.) HSAI Raintree is a partnership between Wiesniewski's Raintree Partners Inc. and the Tiu family's Oakridge Properties.

Although travel time from Manila to Baler currently takes about five hours—“it’s just like going to Baguio”—Angara said the completion of the SCTEx until Aurora will cut travel time by about 1.5-2 hours.

The proposed 60-km. four-lane expressway will start from La Paz, Tarlac and pass through Nueva Ecija, and traversing a scenic route to Baler.

“So it’s going to be such a beautiful drive like going from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe,” Wiesniewski said. Construction on the Tarlac-Aurora portion of the SCTEx is scheduled to start next year, Angara noted, and will be completed in time for the resorts’ opening.

Wiesniewski added that HSAI Raintree is already talking with major carriers Philippine Airlines, Southeast Asian Airlines and Cebu Pacific so they could explore the possibility of flying to Baler, once the resorts are completed.

There are two main airports in Aurora—one is the Dr. Juan C. Angara Airport in Baler with a 1,100 meter-runway, where Seair used to fly a twice-weekly route. Another airport with a 2-km runway is currently being constructed in the municipality of Casiguran, which will be able to accommodate larger jet aircraft and will turn into an international airport.

Currently, a provincial bus line connects Manila to Baler, passing through the Sierra Madre mountain range.

(Photos courtesy office of Sen. Edgardo Angara)

Adversity becomes her

(Discovery Shores Boracay, one of the many properties managed by Raintree Partners Inc., in partnership with the Tiu family of the JTKC Group.)

The Fajardos also owned the famous Luau restaurant along Roxas Boulevard, and which Mrs. W said was actually her feasibility study of a Polynesian restaurant for Cornell. “Can you imagine? My mother built my master project just so I would come home?”, Mrs. W laughingly recalls. Although she stayed for a year-and-a-half to help run it, the young Annabel returned to New York to complete her graduate studies, much to her mother’s consternation. Without her mother’s financial support this time, she had to juggle several jobs just to pay for her tuition and living expenses.

“I had to be an assistant professor in the undergraduate school. And I had to be a graduate resident in the dorm. In other words you had to supervise all these giggly young freshmen. You have to make sure everybody’s in by midnight. Then I worked as a restaurant cashier so I can get my meals for free, so I’d get extra money. Magtitipid ka, panay window shopping walang binibili. Pero masaya naman kami. So you learn. In distress times, you have to be creative.” "(Read the rest of my profile on Annabella Santos Wiesniewski.)

(Another Raintree property, the Hotel Venezia in Legaspi City, Albay.)