The Christmas Buzz

(Last of two parts)

Hotel publicist Sharon Samarista and her husband Oliver Beigel in Germany.

WHEN you are many miles away from your homeland, you can’t help but feel somewhat nostalgic and start missing the many things that make the Christmas season so special and festive in the Philippines. Of course, there are a few who say that because they are with their families with whom they practice Filipino Yuletide traditions—like attending Simbang Gabi or dawn masses or partaking of the usual holiday dishes—they rarely miss the Christmas rush back home. 


Here, we conclude this two-part series with some more kababayan scattered around the world talking about how they now spend the holidays, and what they yearn for about Christmas in the Philippines. 

SHARON SAMARISTA (Muscat, Oman, since 2011) 

CHRISTMAS is always about being with family and friends. Because I have been away from home for many years, I try not to be sentimental during Christmas. I keep the celebration simple and use the entire day calling family at home and friends all over the world. In the recent years, I celebrated Christmas by going to church and having a lovely dinner with my husband, Oliver, in a hotel or restaurant. 


Writer/artist Mar-Vic Cagurangan (far left) and family.

I certainly miss the Christmas rush in Manila. I used to have a long Christmas list and shop for so many friends and family members. I love the Christmas bazaars and late-night shopping. These days, I write cards and e-mails. I miss going to the traditional family get-together in my uncle’s place and listen to screaming nieces and nephews who are now grown up. 

And there were so many Christmas reunions and get-togethers, staff parties and preparations for dance numbers where I would always end up embarrassing myself. 

Above all, I miss my family. I miss cooking a big Noche Buena feast together with my siblings in our home in Legaspi and attending Christmas evening mass. I miss my ate’s pastel de lengua and my mom’s macaroni salad. Next year, I have to go home. 

MAR-VIC CAGURANGAN (Guam since 2003) 


A very young May Agaran (far right) and her siblings.

I WOULD’VE said I miss spending Christmas with my two sons, but since they have joined me in Guam, I can’t say that anymore. I have been in Guam for nine years and this is the first time I am actually celebrating a traditional Christmas. The first time I bought a fresh pine tree and decorated my house with lots of Christmas lights and other Christmas stuff. 

My Filipino friends who have no families here are joining my boys and me on Christmas Eve. I have also arranged to spend Christmas with my mom, brothers and sister via Skype (the wonders of technology!). Guam’s Christmas celebration is pretty much like in the Philippines. We have Simbang Gabi, bibingka and the holiday rush at the department stores—minus the horrendous traffic which I don’t miss at all—and other adorable Christmas clichés. I totally feel at home. But I guess I miss Susan Fuentes’s song: “Ang Disyembre ko ay malungkot, pagkat miss kita...” 

Former Manila-based journalist Dennis Serfino, wife Portia, and their cute toddlers in Phoenix.

MAY AGARAN (Hong Kong since 2007)


I MISS going to Simbang Gabi and singing with the choir, eating goto, puto bumbong or bibingka after Mass, seeing parols twinkling outside homes, the sound of Pinoy Christmas songs (not the cheesy or recycled ones though). Most of all, I miss having a complete family—my two nanays, tatay, tiyo and my four siblings. I miss us having Noche Buena together and the little traditions we used to keep. I haven’t really celebrated Christmas since 2004, because I will always associate it with the loss of my nanay who died of leukemia and passed away just before the New Year. 

DENNIS SERFINO (Phoenix since 2006) 

WE can replicate family, kris kringle and Noche Buena here in the States, but only in the Philippines can one quite literally feel Christmas in the air—the weather is pleasurably cooler, the surroundings livelier, businesses busier, and the people just generally happier. 

Publicist/PR specialist Popoy Los Baños, wife Elle, and their son Yuji in Dubai.

And, of course, there are a few Christmas traditions back home that Filipinos in America like me can only yearn for. On top of my list are those that usually involve children, such as caroling. I have always loved seeing neighborhood kids, with rudimentary musical instruments fashioned out of tin cans and rubber tires, go from house to house to sing Christmas songs in exchange for a few coins. It’s even more fun if they sing out of tune or mispronounce the lyrics! Oh, I can still hear it in my head: “Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her King. Ambre-embre-embroooom, Ambre-embre-embrooom...” 

ART 'POPOY' BAÑOS (Dubai since 2001) 

IT was raining this morning (December 17), a rare occurrence in Dubai. Last night was the second Simbang Gabi in our parish. Since I am with my wife and son, we don’t really miss Christmas back home. Dubai has changed in the past decade. Back in 2001, almost all malls and hotels did not display Christmas trees. Now even commercial buildings and small grocery stores have Christmas decorations. 

ROD AND GAIL ATIENZA (Delaware since 1992) 

WE remember the unique ways we celebrated Christmas back home. 


Dentists Rod and Gail Tanchanco, with their kids in Delaware.

It began with the distinctively Filipino parol that would begin to adorn every home and create a festival of vibrant, colorful and animated lights and shapes. Every year we would vow to complete all the pre-dawn masses of Simbang Gabi. Every year, we would fall short. But on the drowsy mornings that we did manage to attend, the aroma of freshly made bibingka and puto bumbong would waft in the air and make that early morning ritual worth the effort. We remember caroling at friends’ houses and singing Filipino carols, as well as classic Christmas canticles. Christmas Eve culminated in the Midnight Mass followed by Noche Buena. This meal would include Chinese ham, queso de bola, chicken macaroni salad and fruit salad. Extra treats would include special holiday fare such as roasted castañas, apples and grapes. Christmas morning was always a frenzy, and it seemed to worsen the older we got as we impatiently ripped open our presents, followed by good-natured bashing of each other’s gifts. 

We may be 18,000 kilometers and 20 years removed from the Philippines, but at least we still have a parol, still eat chicken macaroni salad, queso de bola and ham for Noche Buena; we still go to Midnight Mass, and still get delirious on Christmas morning. This holy season remains special in our adopted country, and it will always have a Filipino flavor in our home. 

(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. This piece was published on Dec. 28, 2012. Photos provided by the interviewees.)

Christmas...only in the Philippines!

(First of two parts) 

CHRISTMAS can be the most poignant time of the year for many Filipinos working and living abroad. 

Banker-turned-microfinancier Joey Bermudez (standing) with his brood in Ontario, Canada.

While they have established themselves in their host countries, becoming successful professionals and gaining acceptance among their foreign peers, most admit that when the Yuletide season comes around, they can’t help but long for the Christmases past spent in the Philippines. 

After all, the celebration here is probably the longest in the world, and maybe the most unique. As soon as September rolls in, Christmas carols start playing on the radio and in the malls. Sidewalks start teeming with puto bumbong and bibingka vendors, and their sweet smells just fill the nighttime air. 

There will be endless parties and reunions in companies and among families by December 1, and by the 16th most homes will be brightly lit with their festive lanterns (parols) guiding the way of sleepyheads trying to complete the nine-day Simbang Gabi (dawn Masses), then culminating in the Misa de Aguinaldo on Christmas Eve and after, a massive Noche Buena feast. 

The celebration officially ends by the first Sunday of January, the feast of the Three Kings. Only then will families take down their Christmas décor and start going to the gym to burn the fat accumulated from all the Yuletide feasting. 

My old pal from San Miguel, Chec del Mundo, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. 

While Filipinos abroad have created their own unique Pinoy Christmas in their new homelands, many of them agree, the Philippines is still the best place to celebrate the holidays. There’s just something magical in the air that lifts our spirits and moves us to give joy to others, in a warm and caring way most unique to our country. 

Here, a few friends based overseas share their thoughts about what they miss most about celebrating Christmas in the Philippines: 

JOEY BERMUDEZ (Oakville, Ontario, since 2009) 

I MISS the Simbang Gabi and the puto bumbong after Mass. I miss the stream of fruitcakes, prune cakes, brownies, pies, cheese, chocolates and all sorts of delicacies that people give each other during the season. I miss the bright lights of Ayala Avenue and the illuminated fountains of Ayala Triangle. I miss our dry roads at Christmas time unlike the wet and snowy roads in Canada. 

I miss the big party at home on Christmas Eve where my parents-in-Iaw, our househelp and some guests join us in a sumptuous feast. In Canada we have the usual Noche Buena and opening of Christmas gifts, but it’s just my family that gets together after the Christmas Eve Mass. 

Lit. major, now tech solutions provider, Susan "Swannie" Morrow (right), with her husband Jesse Avraham and her late mother, Tessie Vasquez, in Brooklyn, New York.

I do not miss the intolerable traffic in almost all roads any time of the year, the inebriated drivers on the road going home from Christmas parties, the overcrowded shopping malls and Christmas bazaars, the long lines at the cash registers of stores, and the jacked-up price tags in restaurants and department stores. 

There is no Christmas like Christmas in the Philippines. About that, there should be no argument. 

CHEC DEL MUNDO (Brisbane, Australia, since 2004) 

THERE are three things I miss the most about Christmas in Manila. 

First is my family and friends and in knowing that you share the same sentiments and joy of the season. Second is the Christmas spirit that you feel as soon as September sets in. Everyone is on Christmas mode leading up to the day of festivities. People shopping in bazaars and in stores, traditional matriarchs shopping in Quiapo in the hunt for dried fruits for their homemade fruitcakes and Chinese ham, and some others making their vows to complete the nine days of Simbang Gabi. Third is the food. I miss most the puto bumbong that you team up with ginger tea, bibingka, queso de bola, and Chinese ham. Well, you can probably have them overseas, but there is so much that go into it that you can’t find here. For example, the smell of Christmas in the air, the traffic, the buzz. 

Graphic designer Chet Vergara in Los Angeles since 1987.

SUSAN MORROW (New York since 1995) 

CHRISTMAS to me is really not the glitter and gold but the simple joys of Christmas the way I knew it as a child growing up in Manila, like having puto bumbong in slightly burnt banana leaves complete with sugar, Star margarine, and coconut shavings; my grandmother’s hot pancit molo on Christmas Eve; and the excitement of waking at dawn with my mother to join her on her Simbang Gabi vigil. Then on Christmas Day itself, scrambling into my new dress to go to Church to hear Christmas Mass. After which, most unforgettable of all, is lining up in long queues to get my aguinaldo from my lolo and lola, titos and titas! P1 from each one of them! 

A semblance of this kind of Christmas was still possible here in New York when my mother was alive and my siblings and our better halves gathered around her. She would spend all week cooking our favorite Filipino dishes—beef caldereta, embotido, pancit bihon, and my only contribution to the feast, mocha chiffon cake. She passed away in January 2011.  

CHET VERGARA (Los Angeles since 1987) 

OF course, there’s the FOOD. Nothing like puto bumbong straight out of the bumbong. Aling Mameng’s lengua, Estrella’s caramel cake, countless variations of lechon, morcon, pancit Malabon—shall I go on? 

Journalist Jojo Dass in Dubai, UAE since 2008.

I miss the impulsive gift-giving and receiving gifts without judgment or suspicion. (OK, I will judge your gift but I really do appreciate it regardless!). Over here, I have stopped giving gifts at work after all the puzzled looks and outright indifference I got distributing gifts one year. 

I guess the thing I miss most is the warmth. The genuine expression of caring and sharing the joy of the season no matter what emotional or financial situation one happens to be in. To feel the collective excitement that elicits smiles from family, friends and even strangers. The thought that life can be good, love can be found and everything will be alright. 

JOJO DASS (Dubai since 2008) 

I MISS the big family gatherings with the big buffet spread—a reunion of sorts with the people you rarely meet during the year, or almost don’t see anymore. Of course, I miss Makati’s tinseltown, the dawn Mass at UST, puto bumbong and the carolings. 

JAMES ONG (Singapore since 2007) 

When we were younger, the most exciting part of Christmas was buying everyone gifts. A few days before the Eve, we’d be given a gifts allowance and we would join the mad crowds at Philcite or Harrison Plaza to look for cheap presents. After I moved to Quezon City as an adult and living with fellow bachelors, I counted on others to feed me. Inspired by Gilda Cordero Fernando’s “leftover party,” I would ask close friends (most of them single) to come to the house on the 25th and bring highlights of their Noche Buena. 

Lifestyle editor James Perez Ong in Singapore since 2007. (Photo by www.style-anywhere.com)

One time I set up a 20-seater Italian-style dining table al fresco and guests were arriving hour after hour. It was a magical night, everything was makeshift, nothing fancy at all, but for me it captured the essence of Christmas: love, friendship and togetherness. Until now, friends ask me when I plan to do another leftover party. I can’t wait to host the next one. Most of these friends are now married with kids so it should be exciting. 

(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. This piece was published on Dec. 21, 2012. All photos provided by interviewees.) 

Pinoy stars share their fave Noche Buena dishes

THE Noche Buena (literally, “good night”) is the meal all Filipinos look forward to as a way to honor the God and tradition, as well as share our bountiful blessings with friends and family after a year of challenges in our careers and personal lives.

The traditionalists among us will usually have a Chinese leg of ham topped with pineapples and caramel glaze, a tray of rich and buttery ensaymada topped with grated quezo de bola with a steaming cup of hot tsokolate on the side, and a creamy fruit or buco salad for dessert.

Like many of us, our kapatid in the entertainment profession also partake of classic yuletide fare that epitomize our Spanish-Chinese-American influences, even as a few dream up of delightful (or zany!) dishes to enliven their midnight supper.

• LORNA TOLENTINO – Every Christmas, I always look forward to the food made by dear friends. Sandy [Andolong] makes the best sardines, Bibeth [Orteza] gives tuyo, Tita Pilar’s [Pilapil] ham is very good. I also look forward to the roast turkey my best friend will make. Basically, my Noche Buena feast is food made by friends. I can feel their love for me through these gifts. (Click Celebrity Noche Buena Feasts for the rest of my piece.)

The true spirit of Christmas is in giving

(First of two parts)

I’M sure that like me, you too are at a loss on how we can still make merry during the holiday season with what just happened in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City and other areas struck by Typhoon Sendong’s fury.

It is a common feeling especially among survivors, that sense of guilt over why we are alive or doing well while our neighbors, the victims, are not.

And we wonder why this tragedy happened so close to Christmas, as if it will hurt less if it occurred any other time of the year.

What I do know is that because of this tragedy, we are now better attuned to what the yuletide season is really all about. It’s about sharing and giving, not just among friends and family, but also with complete strangers. We help them not because they can help us back, but because they are hurting from the loss of their homes and their loved ones.

Ramon Jimenez Jr. (Photo NPPA Images)

This time of the year, it’s usually about how big a gift one can give, or how much we’d like to impress a boss, or a lover with our presents. But in the case of Sendong’s victims, any donation, large or small, will be much appreciated. These are gifts that will truly mean something and make a difference in a person’s life.

With everyone helping out, we can make the victims of Sendong less cold, less hungry this Christmas. Please keep those donations rolling. And if you haven’t done it yet, please give now. Check out the Internet for the different organizations that are assisting in the relief effort, such as Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Red Cross. Thank you.

****
Rosanna Roces

FOR my annual Christmas forum, I asked a number of leaders in government and politics, business executives, artists and food enthusiasts what their fantasy Noche Buena feast would be. Most of them were actually quite happy with their usual midnight spread, although a few did unleash their creativity and came up with an eye-popping, lip-smacking sumptuous array of dishes.

A number of them actually cooked the dishes served for Noche Buena, while others mentioned family members as the geniuses behind this dish or that. There were those who stuck to the traditional dishes with recipes handed down from relatives who’ve passed on, while a few—like foodie JJ Yulo—gladly dreamt about “a plate with roasted bone marrow with the marrow quivering like a freshly-made flan, and eaten with toast points, sea salt, and a parsley salad.” (I, on the other hand, want a foie gras-stuffed cochinillo. I don’t know how that will taste, but I bet it’ll be good!)

But amid all the food and festivities, most underscored that what’s great about the Noche Buena is having the entire family around to share it with. My friend Leah Castañeda put it best: “To me, there is no need for steak, lobster or foie gras as long as everyone is present and having a great time.”

Malu Gamboa

To everyone, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Peace, love, and prosperity to you all. And thank you for your continued patronage of this column.

Ramon Jimenez Jr., Tourism secretary—The centerpiece of my Noche Buena is the Christmas ham that I cook myself, which contains the secret family recipe handed down from my grandparents. It’s more than just a dish. It represents history and tradition which I would like my family to observe for generations to come. When you think about it, that’s actually what Filipino Christmas is all about—family and tradition, two essential ingredients that complete the Noche Buena experience.

Rosanna Roces, actress—I thought of bubble tea and pizza for Noche Buena, just to have something new on the table. But Pinoy tradition is hard to miss. We always have kaldereta and other Pinoy food. I want to dine on banana leaves.

Malu A. Gamboa, general manager, Azuthai, Cirkulo and Milky Way Restaurants—Our Noche Buena menu has been the same for as long as I can remember. Mama (Julie Gamboa) always serves the same family favorites at midnight. First comes a hot cup of chocolate laced with peanut butter that Chu, our yaya of 50 years, whisks to perfection with a very old batidor that has been with the family forever. At the bottom of the cup is newly harvested duman, the eagerly awaited Christmas present from our relatives from Guagua, Pampanga. Duman, toasted green malagkit rice, is a Pampanga delicacy that is only available around Christmastime.

Mike Navarrete

Queso de bola (microwaved for five seconds), Majestic ham, Hizon’s ensaymadas and our own Milky Way Macaroni Supreme Salad with bits of Spam, peas and pineapples are always star on our table. We don’t get to enjoy these dishes on regular days, which is why we look forward to celebrating and feasting on these once a year all together as a family.

Miguel “Mike” Y. Navarrete, adviser-Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (former CFO, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.)—For our Noche Buena here in Atlantic, Canada, we enjoy with friends and relatives delicious Atlantic lobsters, Digby scallops, steak, prawns, haddock, eggnog, etc. My wife Gina makes excellent leche flan for dessert. However, we do miss the lechon, queso de bola, bibingka, puto-bumbong, etc. back home.

My dream Noche Buena would be to combine the best of what we used to regularly have in the Philippines with what is special here. Lechon stuffed with Atlantic lobsters and Digby scallops enjoyed during a White Christmas, perhaps? Sarap!

Leah Castañeda with daughter, Carmen

Leah Castañeda, vice president, Bank of Commerce—Our Christmas Eve celebration ends at dinner, which I will prepare this year, and starts again at lunch on Christmas Day. I’m keeping it simple on Saturday—chicken relleno and a killer lasagna that takes five hours to make. I will prepare a light salad of greens (with arugula), feta cheese, honey roasted walnuts and Parmesan shavings. Dessert will be a rum butter cake baked by my classmate/architect Nina and brewed coffee aero-pressed (hopefully) by my dad.

In the off-chance that we get hungry after Midnight Mass and don’t fall asleep while walking home from the church, my mother will prepare a cheese platter (with Marca Piña queso de bola) and Virginia ham from the US, I’ll ask her to prepare authentic tsokolate the way her lola used to make it (with butter and sesame seeds). She also has a bowl of grapes to counter the richness of the cheeses. Let’s not forget the castañas.

If I had it my way, every year would be celebrated simply and quietly, but with the family complete at the dinner table.

(Conclusion next week...)

(My column Something Like Life, is published most Fridays in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. This piece was originally published on Dec. 23, 2011. Photos courtesy of interviewees, except where stated.)

'Paskuhan sa Paseo' draws 'em with the best Filipino Christmas treats

(Bangus embotido)
MANILA, Philippines - Say “food festival,” and I’m usually there in a heartbeat.

The latest one being raved about is the “Paskuhan sa Paseo” at the Mandarin Oriental Manila’s Paseo Uno interactive buffet outlet, ongoing until December 18.

Chef Ed Quimson, a veteran of many of the metro’s best restaurants, whipped up a line of traditional Christmas treats and Filipino comfort food, with the help of his associate, Chef Booj Supe of M Fine Foods, especially for this feast.

It proved to be another belly buster, as only Mandarin’s food festivals are wont to be. The best thing about this particular feast is, we get to eat our favorite Noche Buena dishes weeks before Christmas!

(Pomelo or suha salad)
Of the many foods laid out, the clear winner for me—among the cold appetizers—was the suha (pomelo) salad. It was prickly sour and sweet at the same time, the flavors playing off each other but still making for a cohesive whole. Certainly, it’s a favorite of the other diners as well, because it ran out quickly when I tried to get seconds!

The bangus embutido was a delightful surprise. Moist and flaky, with very balanced flavors. And thankfully, no overly fishy (malansa) taste. Truth to tell, I am not really an embutido person. But made with fish, the embutido (our local version of meatloaf) flies in the face of convention, thus providing a welcome alternative to diners who wish to eat light.

(Prawns with Aligue)
I thought the most awesome dish in the entire lineup, just because it was so perfectly Christmasy, was Chef Ed’s Chicken Relleno. A usual staple at the Noche Buena table, this chicken relleno was certainly one of the best I’ve tasted in a long time. The fowl’s skin was just lightly singed a golden brown, while the stuffing was so succulent, brimming with an all-meaty goodness. There was none of the usual extenders of hotdogs, hard-boiled eggs, and pickles as with most commercial chicken rellenos. It was pure holiday joy at every bite.

I also liked the braised beef belly adobo—and again, I’m one person who can live without adobo (so I’m weird, sue me!)—and only eat it if it’s deep-fried in oil. But braising it, not only broke down the beef belly, but it also reduced the vinegar and soy sauce blend into a light sauce, not cloying and heavy like some adobos are made that I try to steer clear of.

Of course, it was impossible to eat everything. My tummy was already bursting at the seams, and so I had to reluctantly move to the dessert table. The only dishes I managed to partake of were the light and fluffy cheese bibingka—loved this!—and the leche fan (milk flan) with dayap (native lime). The latter was still a bit too sweet for me, despite the dayap, but what I liked about it was its luscious creamy texture.

(Afritada)
Chef Ed, of course, has been involved in many well-respected and long-favored establishments such as La Tasca, Via Mare, Nielsen Tower Club and Restaurant, Broker’s Lounge at the Philippine Stock Exchange, Giraffe, Subic Bay Yacht Club, Rastro, Chef Ed’s, Club Noah, Splendido, Petra and Pilar, and Delimondo, to name a few.

He started working professionally at 17 years old, and considers his passion for cooking a legacy from his grandmother, Doña Consuelo Tuason Quimson, with whom he shared well-spent moments in the family kitchen when he was a wee five years old.

The dishes he creates are traditional Filipino home-cooked delights with some Spanish influences. “Filipino food is so diverse and flavorful and we are incredibly excited to bring Chef Ed’s specialties to Paseo Uno this Christmas season, just in time for festive gatherings and family reunions with balikbayans,” says Chico Angeles, MOH’s director of food and beverage.

“We look forward to again working with Chef Ed,” notes Executive Chef Rene Ottlik “and present to our diners his divine recipes that are as rich in taste as they are in tradition.”
(Crispy pork belly)
Diners will expectedly find themselves lining up at the carving station for the scrumptious lechong Cebu and crispy pork belly. Other specialty favorites in the menu include Tortang Alimasag with Fresh Lumpia Sauce, Paella Tinola, Tinapa Paté served with melba toast, Kilawin Na Tangigue with Gata in wanton cups, and Crispy Kare-Kare.

Also on the menu are more than a half dozen of mouth-watering Filipino desserts, including Palitaw filled with Langka, Halo-halo with Gata and Moscovado, and Pastillas de Leche Cheesecake.

The festive buffet spread is priced at P1,650+, while Friday and Saturday dinner is priced at P2,200+ inclusive of Paseo Uno’s Luxury Buffet.

(Braised Belly adobo)
(For more information on “Paskuhan sa Paseo Uno”, email momnl-fb@mohg.com. For reservations, call Paseo Uno at 750-8888. My piece was originally published in InterAksyon, Dec. 14, 2011.)

It must be love, Sabel

Sure, I admit that I was among those who were cynical about their relationship in the beginning. Those of us in the sidelines watching his career in government and were aware of the chismis surrounding Roxas’s and Sanchez’s respective love lives before they encountered each other, didn’t give the coupling a high batting average, so to speak. (Click Something Like Life for the rest.)

(Sen. Mar Roxas serenades fiancée Korina Sanchez with the song “Gaano Ko Ikaw Kamahal” in a traditional Filipino pamanhikan to the Sanchez family in Merville, Parañaque, with entertainers Tado, lef, and Jason Gainza. Roxas formally asked for permission from the Sanchez family to marry Korina on June 14, 2009. PHOTOS COURTESY OF SEN. MAR ROXAS’S OFFICE)

(That's certainly not the Cha-Cha!)
(Sanchez with friends: former beauty queen Dang Cecilio and ABS-CBN head of special projects, Chit Guerrero)
(The couple's respective families pose for a souvenir shot. From left, seated, Roxas' aunts Stella Marquez-Araneta and Baby Araneta Fores, mom Judy Araneta Roxas, aunt Ruby Roxas, Sanchez' aunt Leticia Baluyut, and civic leader, possible ninang Rosa Rosal; Standing, from left: Roxas' uncle Vicente Roxas, Sen. Roxas, Sanchez, Roxas' uncle Jorge Araneta, and Sanchez' uncle Eduardo Baluyut.)