If i were stranded in boracay...

I’d be totally fine honestly.

I’ve seen too many weary cityphiles who have moved to these sunny shores, and they look oh-so-happy. Case in point is Freida Dario, former Manila party girl and forever stylesetter, who now divides her time party hopping as a job chronicling Boracay society for Metro Society. Another shining example is Bacchus Zulueta, with his shirt open and abs tight, a Bora fixture, who divides his time between constructing homes and hotels and his dragon-boat racing.

Sibling act Jon and Rosario Herrera of Styles Entertainment gathered some of their dearest colleagues in the industry and gave them the same premise. The only thing is they spoiled everyone rotten with survival kits that were filled with L’Oreal and Lancome goodies and made everyone overdose on Pepsi Max (Yay! No sugar, no calories!) and Bacardi. They stranded everyone at White House, but made sure everyone got good sleep. (I don’t know about you, but I had some good zzzs.) There were no cheesy games where you had to mention the sponsors in every sentence — it gets tedious you know — and the parties were really parties. Boracay pre-peak is still paradise — wait, what am I saying? Boracay peak or non-peak will always be paradise. Just the sight of my godson Tyler, son of Datu and Claire Sumndad, can make any bleak day sunny as summer.

I even saw some people using Smart MyTV on the beach! Blame it on technology, but that’s the good part of this futurist mode; it brings convenience right in your fingertips. A couple of guys were tuned in to the NBA at the bar — and they were watching it from their Nokia N77! I borrowed one and tuned in to MTV and made it our eye-candy for the beachfront as people-watching became the background of my boob tube surfing — on the beach! But for me, the real background music was Bora, Bora, Bora, sung by Armand Tajanlangit, Bora’s homegrown singing sensation, who also manages his dad Steve’s Boracay Terraces Resort, better known as BTR.

Bora events, etc.

Not to say that not a lot of things were happening on the island.

Bora events range from the whole A to Z of eventology. From a star chef cookfest at Discovery Shores — where my AIM classmate Melissa Sison and other chefs displayed their culinary skills — to a Bliss lubricant wrestling match at Summer Place spearheaded by the King of Lubrication Mark Chang. This was part of the “Sem-Break Confidential” parties that Stephen Ku planned for the kids away from their folks.

Of course, The Tides was fully booked, and more design hotels are opening as we speak. Two Seasons formally opens today. It’s a stylish 30-suite hotel located at Station One, owned by John Penaloza. His brother Jason Penaloza, a photographer based in Los Angeles, went back to the Philippines to help man their family’s new hotel ventures.

Let me be the first to tell you guys that if you’re planning to book for the holidaze season, you better book now — rooms are already fully booked as I finish this sentence. It’s about one month to go before Christmas, so aside from planning all the gifts and yuletide cheer, might as well plan where you intend to be stranded — and who you’ll be with, too.

Now to complete the sentence that is this article’s title: If I were stranded in Boracay… I would choose to be stranded with the people you see on this page.