Highlands in Tagaytay

The First Philippine Mount Everest Expedition Team who successfully conquered Mt.Everest are expected to plane in tomorrow evening from Bangkok, Thailand via a connecting flight from Nepal. Heracleo Oracion and Pastor Emata, the first and second Filipino, respectively, to have climbed the top of Everest and planted the Philippine flag are coming home together after more than a week with their celebrated first-ever feat. The two Everest conquerors are accompanied on their return flight to Manila by their team leader, former Department of Transportations and Communications (DOTC) undersecretary Arturo Valdez.

The third Pinoy to have reached Everest, Romeo Garduce, was the first to return to Manila and arrived here earlier Friday. While the three Everest climbers respected each other’s feats, a fourth climber, Dale Abenojar has yet to settle his own claim as the real first Filipino to have reached Everest on May 15 with Tsiring Sherpa on Everest’s Tibet side – reportedly a harder route. Oracion reached the peak of 8,848-meter-high last May 17. Emata came second 17 hours later while Garduce reached the top last May 19.

Abenojar is still in Kathmandu recuperating in a hospital with a swollen toe due to severe frostbite he got in his climb to Everest. I saw on television Abenojar’s wife Liza saying doctors are still trying to save his toe from being cut off. On the same interview, Valdez explained the delay in the return to Manila by Oracion and Emata were not due to their rumored illness after their Everest climb. Actually, Valdez cited the two climbers decided to trek back down through the same friendly villages they passed through en route to the Everest peak to personally thank the people who cheered them on and helped them in so many ways to achieve their goal.

Whatever comes out of this 1-2-3 and 4 finish by our high adventure climbers, we are so proud of them for their display of the true Filipino spirit of perseverance, persistence and sacrifice to get to our goals if we only set our hearts and minds to it.

I was literally in high lands over the weekend in Tagaytay City. At 2,000 feet above sea level, we were treated to a tour of the Tagaytay Highlands.

We had an up-and-down drive through the mountainside and had a breath-taking view of the placid Taal Volcano Lake to its south, the mist-shrouded Mount Makiling to the east, and the serene view of the Laguna de Bay to the west.

It is a high adventure for me, though a little less dangerous than climbing the Everest peak, as my ears and nose popped which was my body’s way of telling me we’re on higher altitudes. Going there through the South Luzon Expressway, it took us only about 60 to 90 minutes drive, entering at the Sta.Rosa Exit in Laguna.

Our visit to the Highlands was actually an invitation to the "open house" of the latest condominium project of the Highlands Prime Inc. (HPI) called The Horizon at the Tagaytay Midlands. The Horizon is a nine-hectare, low-rise condominium constructed as private residential haven for golfers. Each unit is being sold fully furnished and complete with interior decorations. We were told by our HPI hosts that the cheapest unit is priced at P10.1 million at the first floor and as the unit goes up, the price goes up too because of the better panoramic view of the Taal lake.

The cool year-round weather and the invigorating mist of Tagaytay are enough come-ons for those interested to have their dream vacation houses here at the Highlands.

It is a highly secured place of over 1,200-hectares of land with many recreation attractions that include horseback riding and equestrian parks. Going up and down from Highlands to Midlands is an adventure in itself by taking the ride in the Philippines’ first and only cable cars and the country’s first Swiss 48-seater funicular system which looks to me like a monorail.

During our guided tour of the Highlands, we were told that 80 percent of those who have bought their house and lot or condo units here are Filipino-Chinese and the rest are either overseas Filipino investors, mostly from the US who purchased their property here as their retirement haven. The rest are expatriates who chose to make the Philippines their second home. And most of their buyers, we were informed, paid in cash.

The latest HPI project is within the Highlands which is actually an exclusive membership recreation and residential golf community that have so far 6,000 of Filipino members and foreigners. I was told by our hosts, membership in the golf club in Highlands would cost you about P950,000 to enjoy the two 18-hole golf facilities and amenities available for their members. It is cheaper however, to become a country club member of the Highlands by paying P650,000. If you have that kind of extra income, it would be a good investment considering the high returns you could expect from HPI.

The HPI is a publicly-listed conglomerate which is majority owned by the family of Filipino-Chinese taipan Henry Sy Sr., the guy behind the Shoemart chain of malls all over the country. Yes, he is the same man who recently opened to full commercial operations last week the SM Mall of Asia they put up in the Diosdado Macapagal (DM) Avenue along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City. No less than President Arroyo led the inaugural rites of the SM Mall of Asia which boasts of the Imax as the biggest theater in the country today.

The Sy family owns 57 percent of HPI while Belle Corp. owns 38 percent – that belongs to Willy Osier. Mr.Henry Sy Sr. himself chairs the HPI while Antonio Henson is the president of the company. The HPI is the high-end leisure property development company of the SM Group that includes SM Development, the SM Investment Corp. and Sysmart. This coming June 14, the HPI will hold its annual stockholders meeting in their new head office at the Mall of Asia.

By way of anecdote, I have traveled in a number of presidential state visits abroad with Mr.Sy as among those invited as member of the Filipino business delegation. And I have seen how this self-effacing tycoon command respect from his peers by simply being quiet and unassuming. Yet, we have seen his SM businesses grow by leaps and bounds. Honestly, I must admit, I came to know about Mr. Sy’s business in property development only after my son noticed in the Highlands’ letterhead in the invitation the name of SM Corporate Offices at the Central Business Park in the Bay City at DM Avenue. It was a learning experience for me to know that Mr. Sy is into such kind of environment-friendly property development business.

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