Tenacity

The dictionary defines tenacity as the quality of being persistent, resolute, and unwavering in the pursuit of a goal. It is the mental toughness that prevents one from quitting, especially when faced with adversity, difficult obstacles, or slow progress.

I have always held two Cebuanos as great examples of leaders with the tenacity to get their dreams realized. Unfortunately, neither of them became national leaders.

Mayor Tommy Osmeña and Plantation Bay’s Manny Gonzalez had grand dreams they were able to execute into realities.

Over the weekend, I helped celebrate the 30th anniversary of Plantation Bay, a top-end resort in Mactan. The resort is special to me because I saw it when it was just an idea in the minds of its proponents.

Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmeña took me and my son to the site of Plantation Bay and all that could be seen at that time were large boulders and an empty shoreline. I was amazed to see it a few years later, a well planned and executed dream of a resort with colonial style cottages that reminds a visitor of the Caribbean and the American South.

Mayor Tommy introduced me to Manny Gonzalez, the man responsible for developing the idea and executing it. I admire people able to successfully execute projects. We are screwed today because our leaders are only good up to the feasibility study stage. They fail in execution or take too long.

Manny also treats the resort as his baby. I haven’t seen a more hands-on manager anywhere. He lives on the resort and every aspect of operations reflects his taste and demand for excellence.

Everything in the resort exhibits Manny’s touch – from the recipes of menu offerings in its various restaurants to the whimsical names of the cottages.

I have visited the resort every now and then over the last 30 years. It has always been a perfect place for me to decompress. Once I have made myself comfortable at the resort, there was no need to go elsewhere.

Plantation Bay is isolated from the traffic mess of Cebu and if I really have to go to the city itself, the new ultra-modern MetroPacific bridge takes me to the South Reclamation Project (SRP) on the other side of the Mactan channel in minutes.

The SRP, now known as the South Road Properties was the brainchild of Mayor Tommy, a visionary leader. It is now a thriving business center, the picture of the new Cebu City. But it was not always like that.

The SRP took years to complete from Tommy’s initial conception to completion. Mayor Tommy sought the help of JICA which provided the loan (equivalent to roughly P5 billion at the time) specifically for the reclamation. They also extended a separate loan to construct the crucial Cebu South Coastal Road (CSCR) that runs through it.

Japanese engineers designed and supervised the construction of the SRP’s seawall. This engineering feat successfully protected the 300-hectare area from sea-level rises, powerful typhoons and storm surges.

But Tommy went through a gauntlet of immense political opposition, personal health battles and economic strain in pursuing the project. Tommy spent multiple terms as mayor constantly under fire from short-sighted political opponents for “sinking the city into debt.”

For years, the city had to scrounge for debt service until the city finally managed to aggressively liquidate land sales to clear the balance. For a while, the SRP sat largely empty, earning it the mockery of political rivals who labeled it a “white elephant” and a “desert of sand.”

But Mayor Tommy, tenacious as ever, endured relentless public skepticism for tying up the city’s future in 300 hectares of vacant land until his foresight paid off big time for Cebu City.

Manny Gonzalez, on the other hand, was an investment banker before he became a successful tourism entrepreneur.

The quality of execution in Plantation Bay shows attention to detail and Manny’s impeccable taste.

On a recent visit, I witnessed Manny personally training staff.

Manny said that his investment on training staff is often lost because they end up working in cruise ships, hotels here and abroad. He said he considers his training efforts as his way of giving back to Cebu.

His biggest test happened when Super Typhoon Odette struck Cebu in December 2021. The resort suffered over P540 million in damage from the storm.

High winds ripped roofs off several resort pavilions. A heavy storm surge flooded the property’s beachfront structures and its Japanese restaurant. Powerful winds uprooted a vast number of trees across the 11-hectare property. By the time Odette left the area, the beautiful resort looked like a disaster area.

The priority was to make sure the power generator works. They had to use the swimming pool water for basic needs… Manny said he taught his staff how to take a bath using just one pail of water and a “tabo.”

But the “kapamilya” corporate culture at Plantation Bay helped the resort recover. Many of the staff live onsite, so they had workers eager to begin cleaning up the mess the morning after.

The worst part is its insurer refused to cover the full cost of rehabilitation. This is where the government should have helped an entrepreneur who has invested much in the tourism industry recover from a natural calamity.

But Manny got the resort back to its old glory.

Tommy dropped by last Thursday morning, straight from his hospital bed. When I asked what he was up to these days, he said he is trying to define what being mayor after dark means.

He saw the needs of BPO workers for 24/7 government services and he has organized a one-stop shop for that. Tommy credits Jun Ventura, a publisher of tourism books and magazines, for the idea.

If we had people like Tommy and Manny leading the country, we probably wouldn’t be in our current mess.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X @boochanco