For Love of San Antonio

The Santuario de San Antonio of Forbes Park, Makati, dahlings, presented a most successful concert a new moon ago in honor of its patron saint, San Antonio. The Fiesta Committee whose chairman was that indefatigable woman of taste, Justa Tantoco and co-chairman, the one-of-a-kind Danny Dolor, mounted the concert aptly called For Love of San Antonio.

The concert sought to raise funds for an adoration chapel to be patterned apres the Porziuncola. It was a night of superb music with the renowned soprano Camille Lopez who jetted in from Vienna; in-demand tenor Nolyn Cabahug; the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of world-class maestro Ruggero Barbieri; and the gorgeous voices of the Coro de San Antonio and The Seedlings, palanggas.

Camille showed off her versatility as she sang The Habanera from Carmen and Regina Caeli from Cavallera Rusticana. The program also featured light Spanish and Tagalog songs like Jurama, Mutya ng Pasig and Sinta Amor which the audience loved, particularly the Pamaypay ng Maynila. The capacity audience of namedroppables clearly enthralled by the beautiful music which made the night hard to forget.

Through this column, San Antonio parish priest, Fr. Tony Rosales and fiesta chairman Justa Tantoco would like to thank all who made the concert a real success. Yes, palanggas, San Antonio must have been pleased.

The fun place to be ‘in’

Well, hello again, palanggas!

It was truly a sensual and sensational night during a new moon when that popular, unsinkable place to see and to be seen in, Dish (natch!) honored its passionate followers in style.

Dish’s much-awaited happening was again an astounding success. One couldn’t miss such hot names as famous broadcast journalist, Riki Kwek; glamorous Margarita Locsin; eye-catching Lexi Schulze; dashing Dindo de Villa; and gorgeous working young achiever, Vanna Calalang-Severino, who also just happens to own the Italian resto, Luna, one of Dish’s popular eateries.

Naturellement, when Dish throws a happening, palanggas, you can expect to see a bunch of beautiful and famous personas like Amanda Griffin; Bianca Araneta who is seeing a lot of eligible bachelors; Juan Elizalde; Kimmy Johnson; our palangga, witty movie columnist Dolly Ann Carvajal; Happee Sy; Michelle Estevez; Olga Havran; Popsie Eligio; plus others like them too delicious to mention. Easily the party dude-hunks of the night were Javi Berenguer-Testa; Jay Pou; Hubert Tan; George Schulze; Enrique Vasquez-Prada; Paolo Araneta; and tons of other tomcats on the prowl.

Party people were enthralled as MOG’s groovy beat had them rocking until past the brink of dawn.

As always, one lucky persona took home a prize. This time, the one chosen "Pearl of the Night" was Riki Kwek who received a stunning pearl pendant courtesy of one of the best there is, Jewelmer. Other tres generous sponsors who pitched in to satisfy the swinging pack’s zest for fun were Jose Cuervo Tequila, Johnny Walker Black, Happy Living Wines and Ray-Ban which awarded Ray-Ban sunglasses to four lucky eye-catching winners–Lexi Schulze; Vanna Calalang-Severino; Dindo de Villa and Rikki Dee.

It goes without saying, palanggas, that Dish is absolutely the premier fun place to party in.

Goodbye and hello

Hotel InterContinental Manila hosted a super successful appreciation night, dahlings, to thank members of the government, the chic diplomatic corps, hotel industry colleagues, valued clients and naturellement, pals for their continued patronage and support for the past 33 wonderful years.

The InterContinental, palanggas, is the longest operating international five-star hotel chain in the Philippines. Apres decades of continued growth, InterContinental Hotels and Resorts refuses to rest on its laurels. It recently invested a whooping $1 billion for the acquisition of new properties and the refurbishment of existing ones to adapt to the changing needs and standards of its clients. Its rallying slogan is "We know what it takes!"

Hotshot namedroppables bid farewell to out-going general manager Michael Herrman who is moving to Thailand as the Six Continents Hotels regional director for operations for Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines. As such, the muy simpatico German with the charming Latino temperament will visit us now and then to oversee the operations of InterContinental Manila and its sister hotel, Holiday Inn, Clarkfield.

Taking over this sympathiek (as in, simpatico) Dutch man is the new GM, Stefan Walter Voogel, dahlings, who has held various management positions in Six Continents Hotels in London, Dubai, Jakarta, Bali, Bangkok, Jinan, China and Katmandu, before coming to Cosmo Manille. He is Dutch but his mother is Indonesian so that makes him part Asian as well, palanggas.

Singer and theater actor Calvin Millado, premier vocal group The Company and sultry songstress Janet Basco wowed the crowd with fantastic musical numbers. Wine and champagne flowed to drown the yummy cocktail finger food prepared by executive chef Cyrille Soenen.

Seen at the Grand Ballroom were Ayala Hotel COO Costas Vafopoulos; Ayala Land VP for human resources, lawyer Eliseo Tanlapco; Hotels and Restaurants Association of the Philippines chairman Larry Cruz; el muy amable Cuban Ambassador Ramon Alonso Medina y esposa Lili Mercedes Medina; Peruvian Ambassador Jorge Chavez Soto with Second Secretary Wilbert Haya; Columbian Charge d’Affaires, Stella Marquez-Araneta; Chilean Embassy’s Frank Tressler and Jose Miguel Menchaca; Italian Embassy’s Alfredo Panetta; US Embassy’s Bill Gannon and John Cooper; former Solicitor General Raul Goco; Cathay Pacific Airways country manager, tall cool and popular Adrian Harley; Continental Micronesia GM Ramon Magno; Gulf Air country manager Robert Hukom; Saudia country manager Faisal Saddik; and Philippine Airlines tours division manager Lourdes Martin.

More? You could not have missed Holiday Inn Manila GM Bill Vincent; veteran director and Cinemanila founder Tikoy Aguiluz; Gallery of Prints curator Rudolf Lietz and his wife Elizabeth; MTV Phils. marketing director Rod Nepomuceno; DHL Phils. magnum chairman and top golfer Rodolfo Feliciano; Siemens’ Gerhard Mueller; Genesis Hotels and Resorts managing director Antonio Lim; Mondial Travel’s Mr. and Mrs. Juan Berenguer-Testa; Pamatec president Hubert d’Aboville; Carousel Productions’ Mr. and Mrs. Ramon Monzon; Cruise Professionals president Eve Cayaban; Tagaytay Highlands GM Nick Celdran; Teletech’s Maritess Pamintuan; designer Eric Pineda; plus so many others like them too nice to mention.

"For all the happy memories and business support, a heartfelt thank you from InterContinental Manila," said a nostalgic Michael Herrman.

Well, what a week, dahlings!

Smile and enjoy your weekend!