Good Businessmen

Just a fortnight ago, I was invited by a friend to attend one of those epicurean evenings of the International Wine and Food Society (IWFS) Philippine Chapter. It was held at Bianca’s on Yakal Street, Makati. I have not been exuberant about anything lately and felt I needed some lightening of the spirit, some exuberance perhaps to bail me out. And bail me out, it certainly did!

I knew the food and wine were going to be good because the name of the organization expressedly suggested this. I was not prepared, however, for the excellent food and the great wines chosen by one of its members, Swiss Club president, Marcus Ruckstuhl, who still rides his motorcycle everywhere in town. I was certainly not prepared for the enthusiasm and exuberance of its members, the air of camaraderie that was evident among the members who had been friends for decades, and who had uniformly mastered the art of simultaneous repartee and repast so well.

Even the choice of venue was good, for Bianca’s was having an "Oktoberfest." You can just imagine how the little country sausages, the ham baked to perfection, the pig’s knuckles, the sauerkraut, etc. tasted. Even the dill pickles and the mustard tasted better than those I regularly keep in my refrigerator. For someone like me who loves good food, no matter how unhealthy and no matter the calories, I knew I was entrapped. But anyway, there are always those make-believe excuses: I won’t eat at all tomorrow; this gorging, this gluttony happens only once in a while, and no one but no one should miss the opportunity; everyone around me just keeps eating and eating, and drinking and drinking, so, I may just as well do it myself and enjoy – forget the health hazards, forget the post facto scenario for goodness’ sake – just enjoy the moment provided by the excellent taste buds of the IWFS.

There has also been one basic justification for eating too much. One normally says: "after all the hard work I’ve done" or "after all the problems I’ve tried to tackle this week, there is no way this good food will bypass me!" And the wines were of course excellent, the liqueurs served in the right manner, highlighting the aroma that only a liqueur can give to the senses.

Beyond all these were the members who just simply and thoroughly enjoyed themselves, enjoyed each other’s banter, each other’s jokes effusively...nothing on politics and governance for these could destroy the comfortable ambience of great fun. But they were all men, I mean gentlemen. I think very busy men who just wanted to relax from a week of hard work, eat well and drink well. They all had earned the right to do so at the end of the day. The first person I spotted was Dong Puno, a good friend, who looked extremely relaxed. It was my first time to see him since the elections and he told me he was going back to his TV work but was still resting from the rigors of the election campaign. Dong looked good and it was good to find out that his talk show will make a comeback hopefully very soon, for he is a superlative talk show host. The president of the society is Rene Fuentes, president and chief operating officer of La Flor De La Isabela, Inc., who is extremely charming, even when he said that the only time there would be members of the "weaker" (not his word but mine) gender in their midst is when the wives and "significant others" (these are his words) are invited, and the identities of these women presumably change from month to month, or year to year. There was just a sprinkling of women – about three or four. The society apparently had not yet condescended to admit any female...and it’s probably just as well, for that enjoyable and enthusiastic get-together was great as it was. But Rene was quick to say that there was nothing in their incorporation papers or basic rules that precisely excluded the female species from membership.

Walter A. Bucher, managing director of CH Pacific Advisors, is someone I met long ago, and according to his IWFS compatriots, very difficult to please as far as food and wine are concerned, perhaps women too, for Walter is single, I mean "swingle." On my left sat Alfredo Pio de Roda, a lawyer like his Dad, from the Quasha Ancheta Pena Nolasco law firm, very gentlemanly as he kindly brought the dishes that were spread the length of the table to me. I felt guilty just by being female because he was serving the dishes to me and I wanted him to know that in government for 18 years, I had been "one of the boys," managing somehow to fend for myself.

Actually the first person I saw was my host as I walked in: Jess Villa, president of All Asia Capital Managers. I’ve known Jess for a long time, nice to talk to always, and always the gentleman, standing up to greet me. Before the end of the meal he told me that he had just remarried, in fact, just two months ago and is therefore no longer a "swingle." Across me sat Luciano Zamirato of Silver Secrets, Inc. where the "finest Italian wines" can be obtained. He gave me good insights on Italian wine but I could not exchange this with insights about the Philippines for he has made the Philippines his home and married a Filipino in the process.

As the desserts were being readied, I saw a chocolate roll with lots of cream peeping from within. I am a confirmed victim of chocolate and cream, and soon found out that this delicious smackeroo was called the Black Forest Roll, not cake. As I sliced for myself a generous slice, I remembered the absolutely delicious "Malacanan Roll" of my late husband’s family which for me is the best dessert in the whole wide world and is called such because a great, great grandmother created it, became rather well-known, and got to be served at the parties of the then governor general in Malacanan. There is history in food obviously as there is history in gluttony, but I’m not willing to go into that now. After telling the guys about the "Lichauco Malacanan Roll," I decided to bring my roll to the other table where a few members of my gender were seated, the better to gorge on my dessert like there was no tomorrow without the men looking in... I went on to ask the waitress to bring me another two slices. It was at this other table where I met some young guests...Trixie Tañada Jao, very pretty grand-daughter of the well-known and highly respected Senator Lorenzo Tañada. Together with her husband, Luther Jao, managing director of Computershare Technology Services, Inc., they came as guests of either Daniel C. Go, architect par excellence, or Eman Lim of Twin Holdings (USA) Corporation. It must have been at this point when the Black Forest Roll and the Grappa began to get the better of me – the reason why my memory is playing tricks on me right now. I felt it was time to leave.

But not before I had a nice conversation with June Periquet, president of the Metropolitan Insurance Co., tall and unassuming, someone I met a long time ago. Bernardo Simm, another IWFS member, used to sit on the board of the Alliance Francaise de Manille which I chaired for five years, and it was good to see him, obviously another disciple of good food and good wine. The only time the political dimension became the topic of conversation was when Joanne de Asis, the visiting chairman of a high-powered investment bank in New York, arrived, as I met two adopted sons of the Philippines, both distinguished British nationals. Brendan Egan, who is married to a Filipino, is in the management information systems business, and can be as Filipino as they come; and Bill Stone, a tall Englishman, who has also made the Philippines his home. By the time my host, who is chairman of a great investment bank in the Philippines, joined us, talk had really thickened on current events and politics, and I think it was at this point that the venerable, respected president of the society, Rene Fuentes, started to say goodbye. I had asked why the founding chairman of the society was not around, Fil Junterreal, and was told that he had a pressing engagement.

By the way, there was one other subject that held us for a while – male chauvinism. This, I know so well, can be a pretty dangerous topic to discuss while breaking bread with the members of an all-male society of discriminating men – engaging and interesting, hardworking but uncomplicated, just relishing a damned good meal.

They are not chauvinistic, not a single one of them, they are all just extraordinarily discriminating.