Bong Quintana’s journey from the airline industry to the academe
The aviation industry has inspired countless movies and television shows about the adventures of cabin crew members. Imagine working as a flight attendant wearing a stylish, tailored uniform and smiling while greeting passengers, ensuring their safety and comfort as you fly high above the clouds and across the miles.
Our local entertainment scene is teeming with celebrities who used to work or whose relatives were flight attendants (FAs) and flight stewards (FSs) of Philippine Airlines. Before BB Gandanghari revealed on nationwide television about her sexual identity in an emotional moment on “Pinoy Big Brother (PBB),” former matinee idol Rustom Padilla was a flight steward prior to joining showbiz.
Enrique Gil’s parents, Barbara Bacay-Gil and Ricky Gil, worked as flight crew. Gabbi Garcia’s mother, Marites Lopez, has been a flight purser of PAL for years. The late AJ Perez was the son of FS Gerardo Perez. Chanda Romero’s brother is FS Tammy Romero. The airline experience of “It’s Showtime”’s “Tawag ng Tanghalan” finalist Anton Antenorcruz includes being a flight steward.
My partner, Bong Quintana, a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight attendant from the late 1980s until the late 1990s, still demonstrates to our family the safety procedures we should observe during a flight. He would even sing Love at Thirty Thousand Feet, the classic commercial jingle of PAL composed and sung by Jose Mari Chan. As the song goes, “Closer to heaven, we’re thirty thousand feet up in the sky. Here among the stars, our spirits will fly.”
Bong has indeed spread his wings and is soaring high in his academic career. I’m proud of him. He is currently a faculty member of the Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST), where he teaches event management and quality service management to undergraduate students at the College of Hospitality and Tourism Management (CHTM). “The best part of being a teacher is the time I spend with my students because we get to exchange stories and experiences,” he shared on his role as a dedicated mentor of young minds since joining EARIST in December 2023.
He recently served as a project leader and resource person in a two-day seminar organized by CHTM through its regional extension program. The engaging learning experience was in collaboration with Kabankalan Catholic College, Inc. (KCC)-College of Management, Accountancy and Tourism (CMAT) in Negros Occidental. The seminar marked a significant milestone, as the regional extension project was the first of its kind in the history of EARIST.
Bong facilitated the highly informative sessions on “Public Speaking and Basic Flight Attendant Training” together with CHTM Dean Maria Rhoda Dinaga, program chair for extension services Dr. Tenie Lirazan and EARIST Alumni representative John Erwin Matol. The participants learned essential skills through interactive discussions, live demonstrations and hands-on exercises that they can apply to their future careers in the hospitality and tourism industry.
The seminar “Public Speaking: Mastering the Art of Talk” was conducted on the first day. It was attended by 150 participants from the CMAT Council, BS Tourism Management, BSED English, The Chronicle, The Herald and select elementary pupils. The session taught them how to enhance their communication skills, boost their confidence and master the art of delivering messages with clarity and impact.
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