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The Festival
of Trees (FOT) lights up the city once again
when it stages its gala on Nov. 29, 6 pm at the
Manila Polo Club.
The challenge to make each year’s charity
auction and dinner event grand and exciting
continues to inspire the lady members of the
Makati Garden Club (MGC), organizers of the
Festival of Trees, to come up with creative
executions.
For its 12th year, the sale of unique Christmas
trees and decors, valuable paintings and art
pieces, and other hard-to-find items and
treasures for the benefit of a chosen
beneficiary will be concealed inside colorful
mystery boxes, putting guests in suspense on
what they’re exactly bidding on. In addition,
guests will be treated to a delectable dinner
and a night of lively entertainment.
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The Festival
of Trees is the longest running event organized
by the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP)
and the MGC dedicated to helping the country’s
less fortunate and advancing socio-economic
growth and environmental protection in the areas
that need it most.
Since its inception, the Festival of Trees has
raised more than PhP60-million to fund programs
that have helped create sustainable livelihood
opportunities and provide social services while
at the same time promoting ecological
preservation and regeneration to depressed
communities.
This year, FOT focuses its efforts on the Amore
Community Development Program, a disaster
rehabilitation initiative of the PLDT-Smart
Foundation in Albay, Bicol Region. It will be
recalled that Typhoon Reming ravaged Bicol
December last year and
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The
Philippine Business for Social Progress
(PBSP) and the Makati Garden Club
celebrate the spirit of giving with the
12th Festival of Trees gala on Nov. 29
at the Manila Polo Club. Proceeds from
the dinner event and charity fundraiser
will go to the Amore Community
Development Program in Albay, a disaster
rehabilitation initiative of the PLDT-Smart
Foundation. Photo shows (from left)
Makati Garden Club members Ging de los
Reyes, Albertine Santi, Flor Tarriela,
Marilou Laurena, Linda Miranda, Linda
Angeles, Nel Laudico, Loleng Panlilio
and Belen King surrounded by “mystery
boxes”.
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and left a
number of casualties and enormous damages to
property estimated at PhP5-billion.
In areas near Mayon Volcano, the situation was
worse as the typhoon created mudslides off
volcanic ash and debris, covering towns,
claiming lives and displacing over 200 families
of their homes and livelihood. A year after the
calamity, 1,500 families in Daraga, the town
nearest Mt. Mayon, are still temporarily housed
in evacuation and transit houses while 3,274
families remain
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unsheltered.
The initiative hopes to raise at least
PhP2.5-million through the FOT to initially help
build 30 homes in the town. The Program once
completed hopes to provide shelter for some 220
families.
PBSP and PLDT Board Chairman Manuel V.
Pangilinan, and Makati Garden Club (MGC)
President and PBSP Trustee Maria Luisa Perez
Rubio jointly head this year’s festivity with
the theme “Celebrating the Spirit of Giving at
Christmas”. |
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Plantation Bay
Unveils New Spa
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PATTERNED AFTER a 1783 Tokugawa Japanese
Village, the new Mogambo Springs Spa
extension in Mactan Island, Cebu offers
a sanctuary that combines beauty with a
touch of traditionalism designed to
enchant the client in a world of balance
and serenity.
Measuring nearly 5,000 square meters,
the spa boasts of 18 massage rooms, four
suite rooms, 10 standard massage rooms,
among others, bringing the resort’s
total number of rooms to 250.
Open from 10 am – 11 pm, the place also
features Department of
Tourism’s-certified therapists, a
communal spa for all clients, and 10
massage services such as the shiatsu,
Swedish, body massage for pregnant
women, fusion of Shiatsu and Swedish,
and traditional Philippine “hilot.”
Conceptualized and designed by Emmanuel
“Manny” Gonzalez, the resort president,
and Archt. Ma. Lourdes Martinez-Onozawa,
the new Mogambo Springs Spa also
utilizes a misting machine, phytomer,
and natural oils for |
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the
quintessential spa experience.
Clients can also indulge in any of the
three pools; hot, saltwater spring, and
cascading, each with special jacuzzi
seats, among many other amenities.
Materials used during its construction
include limestones, the treated bamboo,
bamboo leaf light fixtures, and thatched
nipa roofs, blending local character
with the signs of modernity.
Onozawa was one of the awardees of the
Ten Outstanding Cebuanos held in Cebu
last August. As a landscaper herself,
she also serves as the resort
environment officer, ensuring that the
facilities are environmentally-friendly
as well.
As Mogambo Springs spa director, Nenette
Castillon is a graduate of CHIVASOM
International Academy in Thailand and
the Erica Miller Spa School in British
Colombia, she oversees the 35
Singaporean-trained therapists.
Mogambo Springs Spa is located in the
premises of the Plantation Bay Resort &
Spa in Mactan, Cebu. |
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