Miguel Belmonte’s legacy

I met Miguel G. Belmonte, or MGB, way back in 1987 when I joined The Philippine Star. It was his mother, Betty Go-Belmonte, or BGB who recruited me, and Miguel was then head of the Human Resources Department.

BGB dominated The STAR during her time – overseeing management, the editorial, and the paper’s various other departments,  and actively sharing her strong faith in prayer meetings, with Miguel almost always dutifully by her side and learning how to run the publication.

BGB passed away from cancer on Jan. 28, 1994, with Max Soliven taking over as chairman of the company before the board elected MGB as president and chief executive officer in 1998.

Slowly, quietly and humbly, MGB took over the reigns and gradually expanded the Star Group of Publications to include not only The STAR, but also Pilipino Star Ngayon, PM: Pang Masa, The Freeman, Banat and eventually BusinessWorld.

The STAR remained at the Port Area from 1986 to November this year, and leased a property owned by the Philippine Ports Authority. The transfer was delayed due to the COVID pandemic and multiple construction problems that MGB had to resolve so that we could finally move to our new home this year.

Last-minute construction hiccups saw us missing transfer deadlines several times, from the second half of the year until the determined final push this November, with various departments moving in separately, and the editorial the last to transfer and finally move in Last Sunday, Nov. 12, to the new building in Amvel City in Parañaque.

Coming into his own

The transfer to the new building solidifies MGB’s own legacy, once and for all discarding the mantle passed on by his mother and formalizes his own achievement.

MGB admits that he had tried looking for a property near the city center, but prices were already way too high, or the potential area was not big enough to accommodate both the office and the printing press.

The construction of the P800-million STAR building is a feat in itself having started before the 2020 pandemic, with MGB doggedly pursuing the completion of the project during the three-year lockdown and dipping solely into the company’s savings account in lieu of bank loans.

Allow me to gush over our new building, especially if you have seen or visited us in our old office at the Port Area in Manila. There are two separate buildings – the glass-encased office building and the printing press building which is connected through a walkway from the second floor editorial and circulation offices.

The main office building glows like a jewel at night, with its reflection shining from across the bridge access from Sucat Road.

The spacious ground floor lobby now greets visitors with the welcoming and benevolent bust of BGB to one side of a huge marble reception table, and two elevators to transport employees and visitors to the upper floors.

The mezzanine floor is where the Betty Go-Belmonte library is located, and the new Star Cafe or our in-house cafeteria (which was housed somewhere in the back of our old Port Area digs and to which I never ventured to visit). The second floor houses the circulation department and the main editorial office that is now bathed in sunlight and has a good plane spotting view of airplanes landing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

The third floor is where the marketing and advertising offices are, while the fourth floor is where the executive offices are located. Lastly, we have a roof deck where there is a gym for employees.

Movie in my mind

Our new offices has inspired us (well, at least me), especially since each floor has their own pantry where employees can properly eat their meal and socialize. It is complete with a refrigerator, oven toaster, electric water pot heater, and a hot and cold water dispenser, with a banquet-style couch and a bar style table and high chairs where reporters who choose to visit the office can also opt to work.

Oh! Our air conditioning system is so cold....brrr...compared to our old office where we even had to bring our own small desk fans and mosquito zapper to supplement our barely cooling air conditioners and drive away pesky flies and mosquitos.

Whereas in our old Port Area office, we would wince if some dignitary would visit our office, we are now eager to invite and show off our fresh smelling, organized, and proper editorial office.

The connecting bridgeway from the editorial office to the printing press building, with a proper viewing balcony to observe the machines when printing begins, has inspired this movie in my mind wherein our EIC and one of the television host of “The Chiefs” on One News, Amy Pamintuan rushes out of her new office and quickly walks (of course in full TV make up) to the bridgeway, pushes the doors and crosses over to the printing press building to shout out – STOP the presses!!

In reality, however, such an order is a very costly one since each photographic negative film for printing costs around P10,000 to P15,000 based on my last inquiry. So it, most probably, would have to be done on the very rare occasion of an assassination or death, or some catastrophic event. But it would be so cinematic!

So, thank you MGB for making your dream a reality!