The economics at Casa San Miguel

By: Amadís Ma. Guerrero

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Between the mountains and the sea, in a mango orchard in the still idyllic town of San Antonio, Zambales, stands the chateau-like Casa San Miguel, a haven for the arts owned by the Bolipata family of musical fame. (On the maternal side, the grandfather of the Bolipata musicians was Ramon L. Corpus, a noted prewar composer and violinist.)

Off and on throughout the year, and especially during weekends, Casa San Miguel is a beehive of activity: Performances, exhibits, day tours, summer camp and, above all, workshops on the seven lively arts (make that more than seven): Music, literature (creative writing), visual arts, theater, films, and photography.

The center’s main activity was the recently-concluded, five-month Pundaquit Festival of the Arts, which started way back in 1993. Casa executive director is acclaimed violinist Alfonso (Coke) C. Bolipata, on whose shoulders lies the task of raising funds for the center’s many programs.

“We started 18 years ago with a budget of only P1.2 million a year,” recalls Bolipata. “This came mostly from our family’s income. We only had 12 students in music and ten in the visual arts … it was manageable then … but we have been growing. And now our students number 142.”

And the budget increased to close to P3.5 million this year.

The turning point, as Bolipata put it, was an article about the center in a glossy magazine with a reportedly high-end readership: “We were noticed by some organizations and we received our money for last year.”

“We have a few corporate sponsors,” he shares. “Our biggest sponsor is Starbucks, which has been with us for the last seven years. It has sustained us; it is our bread and butter.”

Most of the young musicians and other artists are scholars from low-income areas in the province: Gifted children of farmers, carpenters, fisherfolk, tricycle drivers and sari-sari store owners.

“Seventy percent are from our barangay of San Miguel,” says the violinist-administrator. “Twenty percent are from San Antonio and environs. The rest are from Olangapo, Castillejos and farther down …”

Then there are paying students (about 10 percent) from middle-and upper-income homes in Manila (tuition fee about P10,000 a year). “The payback is great for those who can afford it,” enthuses Bolipata. “They get noticed, they perform, they win awards, they get to travel abroad, they’ve been to Indonesia …”

There are also personal donors who give from P10,000 to P50,000, and the corporate sponsors with a corporate social responsibility budget. The center, however, cannot rely on dole-outs alone, and so the stately manor has been transformed into a bed-and-breakfast inn.

“We are making money out of this which funds our scholarships,” Bolipata says. Even better sources of income are the workshops. This year there will be chamber music wokshops, bringing in a string quartet from New York; and students from Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong have been invited.

For film buffs, a more exciting event will be an indie film workshop to be handled by film greats like Brillante Mendoza, Lab Diaz, Raymond Red and Kidlat Tahimik.

“I also teach, of course,” says the violinist casually. “But all the money goes to the Casa. All the money I earn goes to the Casa.”

So the rewards here are hardly financial. You might say these are on the spiritual side, no doubt a sense of fulfillment in helping young artists grow. They may not necessarily become professionals but being talented in the arts will hopefully make them better persons, or help them in one way or another in the future.

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Think Positive' warbler from Angeles wins 'Total Performer' grand award

By CRISPINA MARTINEZ-BELEN

Marie Joyce Tanana receives a facsimile of her check for P300,000 for winning as ‘OPM@PAGCOR, A Nationwide Search for the Total OPM Performer.’

MANILA, Philippines -- A 23-year-old “Think Positive” Angeles City beauty emerged as grand winner of the first national search for the “OPM Total Performer” undertaken by the Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mangaawit (OPM) and the Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp. (Pagcor). The finals night was held Saturday at the PAGCOR Grand Theater in Parañaque City.

Marie Joyce Brade Tanana garnered a score of 94.7 percent, and her prizes include P300,000 cash, a P500,000 performance contract with PAGCOR, and a recording contract with a major recording company.

Twenty-one year old second-placer Charles Kevin C. Tan Jr. scored 92.8 percent and won P200,000 cash prize, a P300,000 performance contract with PAGCOR, and P20,000 as grand finalist. He is from Sum-ag Bacolod City.

And the third placer, 19-year-old Renz Ruther Robosa from San Carlos City, Pangasinan, scored 91.82 percent and won a cash prize of P100,000 and a P200,000 performance contract with PAGCOR.

All the other grand finalists, 11 of them, received P20,000 each.

The “OPM Total Performer Award” was a partnership project of PAGCOR and OPM that began last February this year. There were about 2,000 applicants who auditioned for the song festival.

PAGCOR President and COO Jorge V. Sarmiento said that PAGCOR found it very significant for having been involved – for the first time – in the national search for the OPM Total Performer through its partnership with OPM.

The board of jurors were composed of Ms. Celeste Legaspi, OPM founding president; Mrs. Tet Naguiat (wife of PAGCOR chairman and CEO Cristino Naguiat Jr.), PAGCOR president and COO Jorge V. Sarmiento, Regine Valeazquez-Alcasid, and OPM President Ogie Alcasid.

Practically all the grand finalists sang patriotic songs. Erik Santos, Laarni Lozada and the PAGCOR Voice Choral group rendered musical numbers.

Hosts of the program were Nanette Inventor and Audie Gemora.

Gerald performs 8th solo concert

June 18, 2005 was a significant date for Gerald Santos, the balladeer from Navotas, as it was on that fateful day that he defeated the seven-week champion of GMA-7’s reality show “Pinoy Pop Superstar Season 2” with his song “Hanggang.” He got a score of 99 percent from the judges, which up to now has remained unsurpassed. Gerald went on to win as grand champion of the PPS Season 2 on May 6, 2006. On June 18 this year, Gerald is set to mount the biggest concert of his career.

Aptly billed as “Gerald Santos: Major Move,” it will be the 8th solo concert of the “Prince of Ballad” and it will be held at the Music Museum.

After winning in PPS Season 2, Gerald signed up a five-year contract with GMA Artist Center. He made his first record under GMA Records and came out with a hit single entitled “A Day On The Rainbow.” His second album “Gerald Santos, Pinakahihintay” was released in 2008 under a different label. His life story was told in “Magpakailanman.”

Gerald will have as guest Joseph “The Artist” Valerio who is the “Ultimate Talentadong Pinoy 2011,” Eula Caballero (Star Factor champion), the Knights Band, Dance Squad, the UP Concert Chorus and Wency Cornejo.

“Gerald Santos: Major Move” is written by Rommel Ramilo, choreographed by Nancy Crowe and directed by the well-known lighting director Joey Nombres.

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Persistence

By: Conrado de Quiros

Philippine Daily Inquirer

MOST PEOPLE I know favored Miami. Probably because it reminded them of the great Chicago team of Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen and Dennis Rodman, whose faces and figures adorned posters liberally plastered on the walls and ceilings of jeepneys and buses. If indeed they had not been lovingly painted onto them, along with Kiss and Bon Jovi. Miami had its own triumvirate in the form of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.

But the only thing I myself had going for Miami was its coach, Eric Spoelstra. In case you still don’t know, Spoelstra is half-Filipino. His father, Jon, has Dutch-Irish origins, while his mother, Elisa Celino, hails from San Pablo, Laguna. I’m surprised he hasn’t been written about or featured extensively in local media. He’s certainly one huge success story as success stories go, and one certifiable Fil-Am as Fil-Ams go.

It’s impressive how he has managed to get as far as he has. He was player himself once, and distinguished himself as a point guard. Which must have taken epic skill and even more epic effort given that he isn’t particularly tall. You can see that in his players towering over him during huddles. But he has the brains, or basketball IQ, to make up for the lack of height. He rose through the ranks of coaching by showing an extraordinary aptitude for it. “A lot of players want the discipline,” said Pat Riley when he turned Miami over to him, “they will play [hard] for Spoelstra, because they respect him…. He’s a man that was born to coach.”

But I’ll leave him for another day. There’s a more inspiring story there. There’s a story that should tug more at the hearts of Filipinos.

That’s the story of Dallas.

Interviewed on the basketball court right after they won the championship, Jason Terry had a brilliant reply to the question of what it took to win the championship. It was, he said, the individual stories of the Mavericks cast. It was the story of Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, and himself. It was the story of their coach, Rick Carlisle. It was the story of the people who were laughed at for believing in them.

It was the story of a bunch of losers who were not supposed to win. But did.

Nowitzki epitomized that story. Possessed of vast skill and talent, he led his team to victory upon victory during the regular season only to fade in the playoffs. It happened several times, the worst in 2006 when Dallas lost to Miami in the Finals after leading 2-0. Dallas made a lot of excuses for it, which led Wade to lash out: “Dirk says they gave us the championship last year, but he’s the reason they lost. He wasn’t the leader that he’s supposed to be in the closing moments. At the end of the day, you’re remembered for what you did at the end.”

For years after that, Nowitzki—and Dallas itself—would be remembered for what they did in the end, which was to fail again and again after coming tantalizingly close to greatness. Nowitzki—and Dallas itself—would gain a reputation for being soft, a bunch of people who had talent but no character, who had promise but no capacity to fulfill.

So when they came face-to-face with Miami again, most everyone gave them up for lost. Sure they blanked out the Lakers, sure they put down the pesky Thunders. But Miami was another animal entirely. Five years ago, when they faced them in the Finals, they were the heavyweights, Miami had only Wade. And they lost. Now, they were a ragtag band of recruits from teams that also had a long history of losing, while Miami had James, Bosh and Mike Bibby in addition to Wade. Win against them? That was like winning the lotto.

The Finals were really decided in the second game. Miami already had one game tucked under its belt and needed one more to hold serve. And they were well on their way to it. Up 15 points with only five more minutes or so into the game, they were bumping chests and whooping it up on the court. And then everything changed. Slowly, arduously, miraculously, Dallas started closing in, inch by long inch, point by scrappy point, shot by impossible shot. The last, courtesy of Nowitzki himself who had the announcers gasping for breath, and superlatives, at the unbelievable-ness of his moves. Fittingly, he would make the winning shot, and Miami never knew what hit them.

“Persistence,” Nowitzki would say after the game. “Persistence,” his teammates would say after the game. “Persistence,” his coach would say after the game. That was what hit Miami. The Mavericks knew they were behind, they knew the lead looked formidable, they knew Miami was formidable. But they had been in that place before, they had bit the dust before, and always they had fought back, always they had climbed back. They were just too damned persistent.

The rest of the games would feel anticlimactic after that. The second game was the flashpoint, the turning point, the character-defining moment. It brought inevitability with it, character shaping destiny as it does in a Greek tragedy, except that this would not end tragically, this would end triumphantly. Nowitzki would rush off from court at the moment of victory, he had tears in his eyes and wanted some quiet space in the locker room to take all of it in. It was redemption. It was vindication. It was liberation.

Surely that must have a special resonance for us? Surely that must hold some deep meaning for a country that has been laughed at, scoffed at, counted out for getting tantalizingly close to greatness and always faltering? Surely that must have some profound lesson for a people who are said to have boundless talent but no character, so much promise but so little capacity to fulfill?

The lesson is simple. Hard work pays off. Never giving up pays off. Persistence pays off.

Enough to get you to the top of the world.

Pacquiao moves to Forbes but not mother

By Bayani San Diego Jr.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK Boxing legend and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao will soon be moving into this house on Cambridge Street at North Forbes Park, Makati City. This early, residents on Millionaires’ Row are reportedly eager to welcome their newest neighbor. His immediate neighbors include Sen. Loren Legarda, Tonyboy Cojuangco and the Thai ambassador. RAFFY LERMA

Boxing icon Manny Pacquiao will soon be moving to Millionaires’ Row, but will Mommy Dionisia bunk in with her celebrity son?

Pacman, as the Sarangani congressman is known the world over, has reportedly bought a multimillion-peso property in Makati’s Forbes Park, probably the most expensive gated community in the country.

The Pacquiaos’ new home on Cambridge Street, North Forbes, cost a reported P388 million and was reportedly bought from a bank president. Celebrity architect Anton Mendoza has been put in charge of renovating it.

Pacquiao’s business manager Eric Pineda confirmed the boxer’s purchase of Forbes Park property, but declined to comment on the price tag.

“It’s true, but the cost is confidential,” Pineda said. “I’m not at liberty to divulge the figures. I’m sure journalists would have an idea about the cost of a Forbes Park home.”

“He can very well afford to buy a house in Forbes Park,” he added.

New neighbors

Felipe Gozon, chair and CEO of the GMA 7 television network who is a Forbes Park resident, is happy to count Pacman as a neighbor. “It will be an honor if he moves to our village,” he said.

Pacquiao will also have for new neighbors Senator Loren Legarda, businessman Tonyboy Cojuangco and the Thai ambassador to the Philippines.

Gozon said he had heard that Pacquiao was eyeing a 3,000-square-meter property in neighboring Dasmariñas Village.

“But if he becomes my neighbor, that would be a great privilege. He is a worldwide celebrity,” he said.

Pacquiao “makes us proud to be Filipino,” said Gozon whose network is preparing a new TV show for the boxer to replace his old sitcom, “Show Me Da Manny.”

“No one else has achieved Pacquiao’s historic accomplishment of eight division championships. He made boxing popular in the country. As a result, we are now discovering other talented athletes who are following in his footsteps. He inspires everyone to do well and rise from the ranks,” Gozon said.

Good investment

According to a source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the “deal will soon be finalized.”

But he said the cost of the property is actually lower, “the rumored price is exaggerated.”

“I think he has made a good investment in the Forbes Park property. It’s a new, modern house. They need a lot of space because they have quite a lot of people in their staff,” the source said.

But will Mommy Dionisia be moving in with the Pacquiaos?

“I believe Mommy Dionisia won’t move to Makati because she has her own mansion in General Santos,” the source said.

“Manny built a house for her that’s a replica of his own home in the province,” he said.

Wilson Tieng, president of Solar Entertainment which broadcasts Pacquiao’s prizefights in the country, said the boxer “deserves to own a house in Forbes Park. Imagine how painful each punch he gets in the ring.”

“Based on his earnings, he can afford to buy that real-estate property. His most recent fight alone earned him a guaranteed purse of $20 million (about P865 million),” commented another source.

Drop in the bucket

Whether exaggerated or not, the reported value of the Forbes Park home is just a drop in the bucket of the fabled Pacquiao wealth.

Recent reports put Pacquiao as the richest legislator in the land. He’s the only billionaire in Congress, according to an Inquirer report.

The Sarangani congressman’s net worth stood at P1.1 billion as of Dec. 31, 2010, according to the statement of assets and liabilities and net worth he filed with the House of Representatives.

His assets at the time included P397.9 million in real properties and P736.3 million in personal and other properties. He has no liabilities.

These figures do not yet include his earnings from his latest fight.

The Inquirer reported that Pacquiao stood to earn P1.3 billion ($30 million) from the Mosley fight, which he won.

This is because apart from the guaranteed purse of $20 million, Pacquiao would get a percentage of the pay-per-view buys, closed-circuit tickets, gate receipts and merchandise sales, according to Top Rank’s Bob Arum, the promoter of the fight.

Pacquiao also gets a considerable income from endorsement deals here and abroad. US computer company Hewlett-Packard has hired him as pitchperson for $1 million.

He is also a prized talent of the GMA 7 network.

When in Cebu City, please visit gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.

Avail of the opportunity to own a condominium unit in Cebu City for only P12,000.00/month with its own parking lot. Hurry while the supply of units last. Just call the Tel. Nos. (053)555-8464/09164422611/  09173373687