25 years with First Pacific

GRAND! That is how I would describe First Pacific’s 25th anniversary bash and thanksgiving celebration recently held at the Grand Ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong.

First Pacific is a Hong Kong-based investment and management company with operations located in Southeast Asia. Its principal business interests relate to Telecommunications and Consumer Food Products. The company’s investments include PLDT, Indofood, Metro Pacific and Level Up.

Philippine guests were flown Business Class to Hong Kong and were billeted for three days and two nights at two five-star hotels – the Four Seasons Hotel and the Ritz Carlton Hotel.

A day after arriving and enjoying the shopping in Hong Kong, guests were invited to attend a noontime thanksgiving Mass held at Hong Kong’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception located in the Mid-Levels. The Mass was officiated by His Eminence Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, Archbishop of Manila. Of course being First Pacific, transportation to and from the hotel and the cathedral was provided. On that evening, the festivities were to begin. At 6 p.m., guests started to arrive and were welcomed outside the ballroom by First Pacific managing director and chief executive officer Manuel Pangilinan and chairman Anthoni Salim for cocktails prior to the sumptuous dinner and gala concert. The ballroom doors were closed but based on the decorations and large flower arrangements on the outside, everyone already had an idea of how grand the ballroom would look.

Dinner started with sautéed scallops and foie gras on parmesan cheese risotto flavored with virgin olive oil followed by an asparagus soup with caviar cream. The main course was a choice of roasted turbot on celeriac puree with morel cream sauce or a roasted wagyu beef sirloin with red wine jus and cepes cream, bei eggplant, mashed potatoes and vegetables. The dessert was an irresistible fromage blanc (white cheese) mille-feuille with calvados ice cream and apple coulis, followed by petits fours.

The concert featured the best of the Philippines including Las Vegas headliners (at the Golden Nugget and Bally’s Hotel) Martin Nievera and Lani Misalucha, Asian divas Kuh Ledesma and Zsa Zsa Padilla, the hottest new singer in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia Christian Bautista, 2006 winner of the London International Jazz Festival Mon David and the "megastar" Sharon Cuneta. The concert was a labor of love conceptualized by Metro Pacific’s David Nugent and producer/talent manager Joji Dingcong and directed by Robbie Carmona. The performers sang everything from Broadway and opera to standards and popular music to the delight of the crowd.

Seen at the festivities were former President Corazon Aquino, SM’s Tessie Sy, PLDT’s Napoleon Nazareno, and Ambassador to the United States Albert del Rosario, The Philippine Star president and CEO Miguel Belmonte and wife Milette, editor-in-chief Isaac Belmonte and wife Isa, Stargate president Babe Romualdez, STAR’s Mons Tantoco and Ipe Cruz, among many other hotshot guests.