More than a Pen-chant for Perfection people

Of the grand dames on hotel row in Makati City, she is the last one standing. An icon but not a relic. A landmark as well as a home.

The Peninsula Manila, only the second hotel in the world to use the trademark Peninsula name, was conceived in 1974 upon the prodding of a visionary businessman who felt the time was right for Manila to boast such a prestigious address.

According to The Peninsula Manila magazine. “ (Patricio Luis) P.L. Lim was reported to have said to Lord Lawrence Kadoorie, the company’s chairman at the time, ‘we need a Peninsula in Manila’.”

Lawrence was said to be initially reluctant, but Lim was persuasive and eventually delivered all that he had promised: the land and the building.

“When you come to the Philippines, I’ll take care of all of that — your board, your partners, the land, you name it!”

His best friend Carlos “Charlie” Palanca Jr. threw his full support behind this venture, and both men became The Peninsula’s twin towers. They wanted to embody the best of the very first Peninsula in the world (Hong Kong) but wanted the hotel to be unmistakably Filipino.

In 1976, the waters cascaded victoriously down the tiered waterfalls that joined the two towers of the Peninsula Manila, as its doors opened to the public.

Forty years later, with the iconic 600-kilo sunburst on the ceiling of its famed lobby (an icon within an icon, with 21 textured rays, each anchored to the dome) symbolic of the Filipino aesthetic Lim and Palanca wanted in the hotel, plus that unmistakable pedigree that comes only from being a Peninsula, The Peninsula Manila truly dazzles like a ruby.

Double celebration

“Our hotel is inextricably linked to the past, present and future of the Philippines and the city of Manila, where we have welcomed guests for 40 years. With its wonderful location at the heart of the Makati district, The Peninsula Manila Lobby quickly became the place ‘to see and be seen.’  Our hotel has created unforgettable memories and witnessed the variety of life in all its drama and excitement,” Sir Michael Kadoorie, chairman of Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited, said at the glittering black-tie reception held at the hotel’s lobby to mark its 40th year. Some 1,700 guests partook of a river of champagne and elegant hors d’oeuvres as Manila’s movers and shakers trooped to the place that has meant something to them at one point in their lives.

The day also happened to be the birthday of Sir Michael’s wife, Lady Betty, who says she feels very much at home in the Philippines because she is of Cuban descent and shares the same Latin temperament and customs of Filipinos.

Sir Michael recalled: “The hotel opened just in time for the International Monetary Fund-World Bank Conference in 1976. We welcomed local residents and overseas visitors during the turbulent years leading up to the People Power Revolution of 1986 and beyond. Today, we are witnessing the Philippines’ rise as one of the most dynamic emerging markets in the East Asia region. The Peninsula Manila has become a legacy in its time…”

Aside from paying tribute to his uncle Sir Horace, who was chairman in 1976, Sir Michael also paid tribute to the Peninsula’s staff over the past 40 years, especially to its pioneers: Monzie Uy, Danilo Basallo, Gesela Fernandez, Luisito Roa, Mila Sicat, Jimmy Padua, Michael Esquivel and Robbie Nacino, the tall, lanky doorman who welcomes all those who alight on The Pen’s driveway like he were welcoming them to the manor where they were born. For who doesn’t recognize Robbie?

“For almost 40 years, Robbie Nacino has been employed as a doorman and welcomed my friend on each visit. He actually sought him out to personally apologize that he could not be there to greet him the next time he came to Manila, explaining to him that it was because he was retiring,” Sir Michael related.

“This to me is the epitome of the personal service of our staff, who genuinely care about the guests they serve. I understand that Robbie’s last working night is this evening at this party. Thank you Robbie,” a grateful Sir Michael said, heading to the corner of the stage where Robbie and all the other pioneers were, and raised his glass in a toast to them.

* * *

Because of its strategic location on the corners of Ayala Avenue and Makati Avenue, and being the show window of the economic health of the Philippines, the hotel not only witnessed yellow-confetti rallies during the EDSA people power revolution, it was actually besieged by rebel soldiers in 1989 and 2007.

Former Peninsula Manila executive Didit Castro recalls that during the coup of 1989, the hotel’s employees and guests were marooned in the hotel for two days so as not to be hit by stray bullets. During the coup attempt of 2007, Monzie Uy was the only executive left in the hotel as the rest of the team led by GM David Batchelor were in Tagaytay for  a team building activity.

“Miss Uy called Mr. Batchelor and we immediately returned to Makati and assisted guests in relocating to other hotels.  There were a few guests who stayed put in the hotel and hid. When we left, government rebels and their tanks stormed into the lobby,” Castro, who was with the hotel for 26 years, recalls. But to the credit of the staff’s resiliency and steadfastness, the hotel immediately was back in business, none the worst for its ordeal.

Mariano Garchitorena, its public relations director, remembers how the team posed for a Christmas shoot in the Lobby a few days after the Nov. 29 siege. Life went on, with bells and whistles at that.

Garchitorena, who has been with the hotel for 19 years now, also remembers how he welcomed the New Millennium by the grand fountain of The Peninsula, as the revelers were serenaded by a 1,000-voice choir and songbird Regine Velasquez.

Mark Choon, The Pen’s GM for the past six months, encapsulates the uniqueness of the hotel: “I have a friend who brings his clients to The Lobby as it’s the only place you can get a decent martini at 5 a.m.,” Choon told The Peninsula magazine. “When you mention The Peninsula Manila, everyone stops, smiles and shares a story with you about the hotel at a specific time, very often with family and friends. We’re an icon in this city, and The Lobby is not just a breakfast-lunch-dinner dining venue, it’s a 24-hour meeting place.”

A place where one welcomes new friends, new loves, new dawns, new years, and who knows, another New Millennium?

Here’s to more perfect memories, The Peninsula Manila!

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