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Thursday, April 21, 2005
Magsaysay: Spectacular Santacruzan, sweet little notes
By Jo Magsaysay
Whatever
A perfect choice for Reina Emperatriz in the forthcoming Santacruzan organized by the Hotel Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC) Clothes for Life Foundation and the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino is the Governor of Cebu, Gwen Garcia. So petite, a mere wisp of a girl who can be blown away by a breath of air but feisty, oh-so-spirited she can stand up to any man including the Cebu City mayor…(aw, come on, Tommy, stop acting like a spoiled brat to show off you can cow people with your power and why not, instead, find it in your heart to be compassionate and win the people’s love). Governor Garcia should lend glamour and guts to the event. She will wear a gown that only the magical hands of the El Supremo Philip Rodriguez can create, befitting royalty.
No less a stellar attraction is Carmi Durano whom I have yet to meet and see but who, I’m told, is herself quite a beauty, the wife of Tourism Secretary Ace Durano, who has been chosen to be Reina Elena. (Aside! I am quite dense and confused over the dramatis personae in the Santacruzan so I must ask my dear good friend, Jaime P. the infallible one, whether the Reina Emperatriz, Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine who elevated her as Augusta of Rome ranking her as Empress, would be the self-same Helena who searched for the Cross in the Holy Land where Jesus Christ was crucified and found it, bringing it with her to Rome, the Reina Elena?) The timeless, unparalled Felix Yu whose name is synonymous with vintage elegance is creating her gown.
Can you imagine 32 other lovely ladies selected not only for the beauty of their faces and figures but for their poise and gracious ability to wear and show off the gowns to parade as sagalas. The gowns that Cebu’s coterie of designers, members of Clothes for Life Foundation who are going to unleash all their creativity and talent for this glittering extravaganza. I just hope that in their efforts to shine and outdo one another, our couturiers will not go overboard and come up with outlandish, horrendous and bizarre creations.
Our topnotch designers of whom Cebu is rightfully proud to broadcast to the world are Felix Yu, Philip Rodriguez, Minnie Yuvienco, Leonardo Igloria, Joy Bernaldez, Jun Escario, Arcy Gayatin, Dexter Alazas, Protacio, Albert Arriba and Marichu Tan, president of Clothes for Life Foundation who is all heart and soul for the spectacular show not only because it will showcase the irrefutable talents of Cebu’s fashion designers but it opens its arms to charity, helping youthful underprivileged boys and girls to get a scholarship in dress design but most of all reach out to the Mission Society of the Philippines, a group of Filipino priests bringing the Word of God to the Asia Pacific region who are the beneficiaries of the Santacruzan. Having shepherded the brilliant success of Santacruzan in Cebu Plaza for many years past, Aissa dela Cruz HRRAC executive director, is now at the helm of this first Santacruzan of the HRRAC which is starting to smell with the sweet smell of success.
****
A billet-doux, a sweet little note from my reclusive friend, Zelia Borromeo brightens up my day. Happiest when she is puttering around in her garden, talking to her plants and winding the business of Montebello along with her brother, Paquito, Zelia writes:
…I was deeply touched by your mentioning my name in your recent column about the Ikebana exhibit. I would not mind at all just standing by the backstage but I do feel warmly fulfilled viewing the expressive arrangements of my former students. I used to tell them that they should not work only with their hands but more with their hearts trying to express outwardly their own feelings and emotions thus reflecting their own personalities.
…I am happy that you still vividly remember the arrangement I made with the brilliant red Echuete pads, explaining to you the philosophy of Ikebana-Shin, Soe and Tao-heaven, man and earth.
…and for that flowering vine at Montebello that enchanted you, the name according to the book “A Pictorial Cyclopedia of Philippine Ornamental Plants” is the Thunbergia Alata named after Karl Peter Thunberg, a professor of Botany in Uppsala, Sweden. As I told you this shrub is a native of East Africa and introduced to the Philippines in the 50’s.
…I feel sad to let you know that we had to remove this vine to give way to an annex by our El Jardin banquet facility. But hopefully you will see it again when I will replant it by the trellis near the lagoon. Still on the drawing board is our dream of putting up a gazebo by the lagoon, that would look like a floating gazebo with waterlilies, Egyptian papyrus waterplants all around.
This would then be an added attraction to our garden much more for wedding parties…I plan to give a short course on Ikebana this May. I will give you the details when set…”
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Along with the note written on a paper printed with an exquisite reproduction of an arrangement by the Japanese guru, Senko Ikenobo, Zelia sent a collage of flowers from Montebello: yellow daisies, butterfly flower, miniature papyrus, variegated bougainvillas pink, white and red, orange santan, weed blossoms, white aster, yellow cosmos leaf and pink euphorbia. The collage meticulously made by Zelia…”one of the hobbies that I enjoy very much” is mounted on a frame and now adorns a wall in my bedroom. It is not just a work of art, it is a labor of love. Thank you, Zelia.
***
O happy day that I should receive another love letter! This one from somewhere in a very long time...15 years seem very long indeed…that I have not seen nor heard from a dear old friend, Aida Deen-Gonzales Fisher.
The life of every party in our heyday, Aida was incandescent, Tall, lean and mean-ingful, Aida bears the Deen family trademark: smouldering deepset dark eyes framed with a thick sweep of lashes and shapely brows, a Theda Bara type of the silent movies. There is nothing silent nor reclusive about Aida whose rich throaty voice resonates with drama and passion, an earthy woman with an outrageous sense of humor whose gay repartee and glorious misadventures remain Jaime P’s favorites among his treasure trove of quotables from Aida, most chaste among them being a toast, “Our eyes have met, our lips not yet”. Anyway, Aida who never troubles to pick out a card with a couple of messages from the writings of Emily Matthews who expresses our sentiment best…”We have a treasured bond that goes beyond the “everyday”..And I hope you’ll always know that, even though you’re far away, we’ll always have our friendship and no matter what we do I know that you’ll be missing me as much as I miss you…” Thank you, Aida for bringing memories and feelings of so far away and long ago as if they were only yesterday.
(April 21, 2005 issue)
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