Soul-searching in the country

Businessman Bienvenido “Rico” Tantoco Jr., son of Rustan’s founders Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco and the late Gliceria “Glecy” Tantoco is a passionate man.

Touring members of the media round the lush 245-hectare Sta. Elena Golf & Country Estate in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, Rico enumerated his three “passions”: family, golf and planting trees.

Today, he has a place where he can indulge in all three passions: the Sta. Elena Golf & Country Estate, a refuge from the chaos of the city for the weary soul — and yet near enough to it.

“The Sta. Rosa area is developing at an exciting pace,” says Sta. Elena marketing manager Beatrice Tantoco Reyes. “But despite the conveniences of living here, Sta. Elena still offers the serenity that you can only find amidst a natural environment.”

Perhaps, Bea’s father Rico has seen city dwellers with empty looks in their eyes, no spring in their steps, no spontaneity in their smiles. That’s why he developed this oasis, which his family describes as “off the eaten path.”

According to Rico’s older daughter Katrina Tantoco Lobregat, general manager of the estate, “Finding peace in today’s modern world has become the ultimate luxury.  At Sta. Elena, your soul is at peace, it’s a place where you can breathe, where you can connect with nature and your loved ones.  It offers the luxury of living with soul.”

Rico’s beauteous and creative wife Nena, who laid out a feast and a program for their guests “befitting state visitors,” recalled that Rico used to be a government forester in the ‘80s. His task was to oversee reforestation in many places in the country, even rebel-infested ones.

So when her husband acquired the 245 hectares of sugarcane land in Sta. Rosa 25 years ago, he transformed the plantation into an orchard, carved a golf course within it and tucked a farm with sheep and carabaos in another part of it.

At Sta. Elena, Rico was determined to put Philippine golf in the world map. He wanted to create a golf course that could compete with the best the world had to offer. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., the all-weather Sta. Elena Golf Course has been selected by Golf Digest as one of the top 100 golf courses outside the US.

But a world-class golf course was just the beginning of Rico’s vision.  As a forester and nature-lover, he wanted a place where flora and fauna would flourish alongside living spaces.  He envisioned an intimate community with properties luxuriously located around the fairways. For those who love the outdoors but do not play golf, he wanted the area to be a sanctuary where one could commune with nature and bask in its beauty.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was Sta. Elena. It is still a work in progress, meticulously planned to the last car garage for residents.

There are no unsightly overhead wires and cables (just like the Ateneo de Manila campus in Quezon City) just a zipline in the fun farm — where, by the way, I rode a carabao-drawn cart.

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Sta. Elena today reveals the fulfillment of Rico’s vision.  It has developed into a beautiful golf and luxury residential estate surrounded by clusters of hardwood trees that have been painstakingly planted and nurtured. In fact, the estate was certified as a Cooperative Sanctuary by Audubon International, a society devoted to the conservation of the environment has become home to over a hundred bird species whose distinct squawks, warbles, chirps and whistles are like an orchestra playing out a symphony.

Today, Rico is ready to unveil the third part of his vision. Sta. Elena has lined up more developments in the future, from a world-class country club, expansion of current residential villages, to creating new spaces with soul. Rico has enlisted his daughters Katrina and Beatrice to help bring his vision to fulfillment.

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After a sumptuous lunch in Rico and Nena Tantoco’s modern Filipino home at Sta. Elena, where floor to ceiling glass doors melt the barriers between indoor living and the lush beauty of the outdoors, we were toured around the farm.

We were driven to the Banahaw Village, an “island” village completely surrounded by the fairways of the golf course. Then we were off to the Sierra Madre Village, where there are service roads behind most lots for garages, cars and other activities you don’t want in front of the house.

Then we were taken to the Makiling Reserve, situated on the front nine of the golf course and the special Gliceria Place, which has fairway views in front and behind each lot.

Finally, we were like children again at the Fun Farm, a 1.6 hectare-development with picnic areas, a lagoon, animal feeding stations, horse stables and a zip line. Bonfires are also held here.

I remember going home to the province in the summers of my youth, and I got the same ol’ feeling here. Except of course there’s cable and Internet and paved roads at Sta. Elena.

When I heard the birds chirping when I left the farm, I knew my soul just heard a symphony.

(For more information, please contact Nerissa Capistrano, at 0919-9114616).

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)