The private side of Manny Gonzalez

In this fast paced dog-eat-dog world where 24/7 connec-tedness is the norm, how do you describe a very successful entrepreneur who doesn’t own a cell phone? Not because he can’t afford one, but because he sees cell phones as a form of imprisonment.  If you find this odd, well read on.  This is just for starters.

What about someone who prefers uncooked vegetables and tofu to meat (at least for the duration of his detox diet), downs a daily glass of blended pineapple and cucumber, and spends a few minutes a day hanging upside down? You’re probably by now thinking of two words: Eccentric Yogi.  Eccentric: probably yes. Yogi: a little. Perhaps you have to be a bit of both, if you’re the designer and principal owner of one of Asia’s premier resort destinations – Plantation Bay. Meet Manny Gonzalez.

A true Renaissance type, Manny topped the entrance exams to Ateneo, then finished at the head of his MBA class at Columbia University, attending both schools on full scholarships. He can conceptualize living spaces better than most licensed architects (witness Plantation Bay), dabbles in fortune-telling for fun (graphology, astrology, and I-Ching divination), teaches Salesmanship and Prisoner’s Dilemma Game Theory to resort employees, enjoys riding and stand-up jetskiing, cooks a terrific roast beef, once wrote a column in The Philippine Star called “Sex and Status”, does a little ballroom dancing on the side, and writes love poetry “when suitably inspired”.

Basically shy but obliged to deal with the public a lot, he started life a nerd and an introvert. Too afraid to ask girls to dance as an adolescent, he had only one date — senior prom — throughout high school, and recalls it was a disaster. He also got dumped repeatedly while in college.

However, he slowly, very slowly, became more confident living and working as a banker in some of the world’s great cities— San Francisco, London, Paris, New York. Also Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong, not to mention lots of travel to Latin America and the Caribbean. And now he splits his time between Vancouver, Canada (where he relocated his family a few years ago) and Cebu. The man has definitely been around the block a few times.

He won’t say what city it was written in, but one of his poems goes

“Your breathlessness at dusk returns

To restless seas we calmed

By sands our summer warmed”

Evidently he had gained a little confidence by this time. Another poem is touching, even haunting, and concludes “We share no past, and have no future, so we must love a lifetime, in one night.”  The word “passionate” hardly even comes close.

A gracious host, he used to love to entertain.  At his penthouse apartment in Paris (which had an unobstructed view of the Eiffel Tower), he received guests throughout the year. Next time you plan a trip to the City of Light, consider dragging him along as your guide. (Though he still proudly states that Plantation Bay’s croissants are better than any you can now get in Paris.) And yes, he learned at least enough French to get slapped.

What kind of woman would he most like to get slapped by? He is honest enough to agree that looks are important, but quickly adds that more would be needed to attract his attention. “Intelligence and quick wit, of course. And a girl who is fundamentally happy is a big turn-on.  A happy girl radiates warmth to everyone around her. She’s also low-maintenance.”

Advice on recognizing when you and someone have long-term prospects? “Follow your intuition. People whom you merely have the hots for, you may not really feel warm with, or attuned to. So ask yourself: Do we both feel good, deep-down good, when we’re together? (A surprisingly simple but revealing test which many couples would fail, if they are honest.) Do we have a mutual sense of connection, of being on the same frequency? If you answer these questions honestly, you will usually be guided in the right direction, regardless of your hormones.”

To indulge his need for quiet, for the past year Manny has been building a log cabin in the town of Whistler, British Columbia, which along with Vancouver will host the 2010 Winter Olympics. Though only 10 minutes from the town center, the cabin is sited on a pristine lake which freezes in winter, and enjoys classic Canadian Rockies vistas of glaciers and evergreens. Actually it’s a little bigger than a “cabin.” The logs are 16-inch diameter red cedar, each of the four bedrooms is in a different corner of the house for privacy, and the great room chimney is three stories high. This is one place that would light my fire! Completion is due before Christmas 2008. Guess I’d better renew my passport.  

A strong believer in the power of God’s Grace, Manny G describes his life as a series of lucky breaks. Most of the good things that ever happened to him resulted from, as he puts it, “dumb luck, meaning Divine Providence from start to finish. Highly improbable coincidences, unpleasant events with silver linings, help from unexpected sources, and so on. It’s better to be lucky than to be smart.”

By way of acknowledging his debt to God and the community, Manny actively pursues various civic and charitable pursuits. Plantation Bay runs a school-bus service for children in its neighbourhood, funds a day-care center in a poor district of Cebu City, has given tuition-and-living-expense scholarships to over a hundred deserving youths for vocational training at Don Bosco, and is now starting a new initiative in mangrove reforestation throughout Cebu Province. Several million pesos have been budgeted for the mangroves and related projects.

And that’s on top of spending serious money to regularly send hotel officers for training at Cornell University in New York and the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley (the annual bill for which now approaches $100,000), while in one way or another helping all the hotel employees enrich their lives and enhance their careers (even if it means they will someday be pirated by other properties abroad). Plantation Bay is one place where enhancing employees’ lives come before corporate profit.

When asked if he is happy and fulfilled, Manny G sums it up as only he can. “Happiness and fulfilment are moving targets.  I always want to walk down the road and see what’s around the corner. The joy is in the journey, not in the destination.”