Ballsy, Pinky, Viel & Kris: Four times more bonding for APEC
Having four First Sisters is better than having one First Lady. President Noynoy Aquno must have realized this by now. You get four first ladies doing four times what one spouse can do.
We saw this during the recent APEC summit where the four Aquino sisters — Ballsy Cruz, Pinky Abellada, Viel Dee and Kris Aquino — combined their hardworking and creative powers to host a city tour that would be meaningful and memorable for the leading ladies of the Asia Pacific. The tour was a mix of history, culture, art, cuisine and yes, shopping for wares that would enable them to bring home a bit of the Philippines, a country that embraced them and their husbands for the past week.
Eldest sister Ballsy enthusiastically talked about how the sisters put their heads together, with their youngest sister Kris giving her all to make it extraordinary. So Kris asked: “For the lunch program, do you want Piolo Pascual or Derek Ramsay to host?” Trust the queen of all media, this influential and lively ABS-CBN star with a social media following of over two million, to put in the kilig factor. And Kris actually delivered more than that.
The tour was set in Intramuros, the old walled part of Manila, and began at Fort Santiago, with the ladies chaperoned by our Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez and well-versed DOT guides, as they rode tranvias borrowed from Meralco, a la Universal Studios. (Good idea, they should offer this to tourists and locals as well, regularly.) Under the heat of the sun, the ladies were appreciative nonetheless when they witnessed a sayawan at a country wedding, where guests would pin paper money on the garments of the bride and groom. At Casa Manila, they wandered into a little museum and saw vintage scenes of nagsusuklayan (hair combing) and nagliligawan (courtship) with a chaperone safely in between so that an elephant could still pass through the distance between the boy and girl. The ladies were amused observing how his-and-hers wooden inidoros in one room were common during olden times. They marveled at how cookies were cooked in the kitchen, embossed with San Nicolas or San Isidro figures. And how the dining room vignette showed how rooms got cooler and fly-free with a huge ceiling pamaypay (fan) attached to a rope — a practice also observed in India, one lady noted. Watching the pastillas makers of Malolos wrap their sweets with those ornately made wrappers, the ladies asked for some to bring home to their children, together with the intricately-cut bookmarks. For some heavenly music, they listened to a choir of boys and girls with high, angelic voices singing at San Agustin Church.
Last stop for lunch was at Ayuntamiento de Manila, a most charming and elegant place we happily discovered for the first time. It is located at the corner of Andres Soriano Avenue (formerly Aduana) and Cabildo Street. Why we Manilans never saw this beautiful place before can be explained. Begun in 1599, the Ayuntamiento was destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt in 1738 in Baroque style. Destroyed again by an earthquake in 1863, a new building was constructed between 1879 and 1884 by engineer Eduardo Lopez Navarro following the architectural design of Felipe Roxas. Also known as Casas Consistoriales, the building was the seat of the Manila City Council. In 1903, it became the office of the American military governor, then of the Philippine Assembly. It was destroyed in 1945 during the Battle of Manila. Recent reconstruction began in 2009 and was completed in 2013. It now houses the Bureau of Treasury. Yes, the building is a cultural treasury.
The Ayuntamiento’s Marble Hall was the setting of the lunch with an ambience of fresh flowers — on the stage, on the tables, and even the food had a floral component. Kris asked Pam Pamintuan to put in the creative details — including the use of an allergy-tested stage. Tables were named after Philippine flowers, and we were served an interesting and sumptuous lunch by Gaita Fores. First course was organic greens, palo ferns and edible flowers with halal lamb adobo, Davao Malagos goat cheese, dried mango-American walnut crust with sugarcane-Mindoro wild honey vinaigrette. Then Japanese cod fish fillet with organic Tagaytay tomato-Davao pomelo confit, braised fennel kremas, Negros fennel pollen, mixed with Tuscan extra-virgin olive oil. Main course was a visual surprise: blue Ternate Adlai rice (colored by blue flowers) that went with the Australian short rib inihaw, Batangas cacao, caramelized onion and palm heart hay.
Gaita explained that she gets this blue rice from the farmers of the Cordilleras and Bukidnon, where it is difficult to grow rice, so she patronizes their produce to help them. The rice actually looks like quinoa, and it is gluten-free. Another good discovery! It is mixed with papaya atchara gelatina. Virgie Ramos says the Indonesian ladies at her table happily noted: “We also have atchara and we call it atcha. We have many similar words, so no wonder Christian Bautista (who is a star in Indonesia) did not have difficulty learning to speak Indonesian.”
For dessert, there were cashew-crusted Napoleones, Laguna cheese mascarpone with muscovado-poached Baguio strawberry and Chinese pear compote and Bulacan pastillas bake, Davao chocolate lava.
Kris put together a delightful musical show of talents from several stations, with hottie Derek Ramsay as her co-host. Songs were rendered by Matteo Guidicelli, Erik Santos, Angeline Quintos and Ogie Alcasid, who made the audience laugh with his usual comedic lines, starting with: “Hi, my name is Ogie and I am very famous in this country.”
The ladies soon discovered during the lunch that the world, indeed, is a village. Ballsy recounts how Akie Abe, the wife of the Japanese Prime Minister, told her she remembers meeting a Filipina named Ito when she joined the Children’s International Summer Village in the ‘70s. “Could that be Ito Luzurriaga Lopa?” Ballsy asked, referring to a relative. “Yes, that’s her!” Mrs. Abe replied, so delighted.
The APEC ladies went home with better historical insights, richer memories and flavors of the Philippines, but not without being able to bring home some items to remind them of this country that they, too, embraced for the past days. A bazaar featuring some of our best Filipino products was set up, much to the ladies’ amazement. “We have to thank Mariel Tolentino of the Malacañang socials office under Susan Reyes who patiently coordinated with everyone — NOC, PSG, Gaita Fores, the Ayuntamiento, the curators for the bazaar and the staff of Kris,” said Ballsy. “Pinky, Viel and I are grateful to Kris for her big contribution to the success of this project.”
In her Instagram account, Kris said it feels good to “uphold our treasured trait of being welcoming and hospitable to all our guests and being proud of our country and people.” In their speeches, Ballsy, Pinky and Viel expressed “hope that the bonds established during the APEC meet will grow deeper.”
The APEC ladies thanked the sisters for their Filipiniana experience made beautiful. Surely, four times more beautiful.
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