Thanks for the memories, Philippine Plaza
Six days before the 51-year-old Sofitel Philippine Plaza closed its doors on July 1 — for now, for good — its president, Esteban G. Peña Sy, treated our Bulong Pulungan press forum core group to a last look at the hotel and a sumptuous buffet at its famed Spiral restaurant.
Virtually every Tuesday from 1986 to 2020, Bulong Pulungan, founded by journalists Jullie Yap-Daza and the late Deedee Siytangco, Letty Magsanoc, and Donnie Ramirez, had been holding regular press forums at the Sofitel.
“The pandemic put an end to Bulong Pulungan,” says Jullie, whose sharp and witty questions never failed to enliven the forum.
Peña Sy, president of the luxury hotel’s owner Philippine Plaza Holdings Inc., announced in May the closure of the iconic hotel, which was designed by National Artist Leandro Locsin and Ildefonso P. Santos. It is a structural masterpiece, with its geometric chic style.
Peña Sy pointed out that Sofitel would close its doors to guests due to safety issues, possibly wear and tear of essential equipment like water pipes and electrical wires.
“The first time I read about its closure, I felt like my world fell apart,” said its former vice president for PR Zeny Iglesias, who worked in the hotel from 1995 to 1999. “I hope that the owners will reconsider their decisions. In the meantime, I hold back my tears.”
Built in 1973 and opened “without interruption” in 1976, the hotel “had a long legacy as the hotel of choice for almost five decades for heads of state, celebrities and global corporations alike, and it has been home to celebrations and milestones of our beloved patrons and clients,” according to a statement released by Sofitel.
Among the world leaders who stayed at the Sofitel were former US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
I loved the hotel because it was a tropical, palm tree-lined resort in the midst of the city with spectacular views of Manila Bay and its famed sunset. Its picture-perfect swimming pool was a destination in itself. Later, its Spiral restaurant also became a destination within a destination, with its lavish buffet and majestic spiral staircase.
But I will remember Sofitel most because of Bulong Pulungan. For years, all roads led to the Sofitel on Tuesdays. It wasn’t just work for me, even if I had to write about the personalities who graced the forum. It was a tradition. A fellowship with fellow lifestyle journalists who often dipped their pen in political issues. I remember we had then presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr., former First Lady Imelda Marcos, then President Noynoy Aquino, then Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim as some of our numerous guests.
I was introduced to the forum around 1988 by Deedee Siytangco, who was then covering Malacañang for the Bulletin. I was then an editor at the Malacañang Press Office. In 1989, Deedee became my boss.
With able support from her co-founders and Star columnist, the late Domini Torrevillas, the late MOD editor Ernie Sioco, Inquirer columnist Rina Jimenez David, Tita Ernie’s successor Chay Santiago, Ellen Tordesillas, Mandy Navasero and Beth Tagle, Deedee steered Bulong Pulungan through the years. She was the forum’s moderator and when the audience became too animated, she would quiet everyone down by tapping a fork on the side of her glass. Clink, clink, clink. “I am also the dictator here,” she would quip. And the room would fall quiet.
“No guest could say no to her,” recalled her daughter Sandee Masigan during our reunion, which she organized with the Sofitel’s Cynthia Esteban.
Even President Noynoy Aquino couldn’t say no to Deedee. During the six years that Noynoy was president, he attended all Bulong Pulungan’s Christmas parties.
“She was our logistics expert,” added Jullie. Deedee always found donors for our Christmas party raffle, and she would make me go around the room to collect tips for the waiters — quite a hefty sum would always be put in my “begging bowl.”
Sadly, Deedee, Letty, Tita Ernie, Domini, Donnie, Rina, Time’s Nelly Sindayen, Frank Evaristo, Bobby Joseph, Resty Vergara, among others, from our core group have passed away and are probably holding their own forum now in heaven.
Our goodbye meal at the Sofitel brought back memories of happy times with the “gang.”
We ended our lunch at the Spiral, which by the way was teeming with people, by remembering Deedee and other members of our gang, with a poem shared by Bob Zozobrado, the new chairman of the Philippine Retirement Authority.
Excerpts from “The Dash Poem” by Linda Ellis that Bob shared with us:
I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning to the end.
He noted first came the date of the birth and spoke the following date with tears.
But he said what mattered most of all was the dash between the years
For that dash represents all the time that they spent life on Earth.
And now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not how much we own, the cars, the house, the cash.
What matters is how we live and love, and how we spend our dash.
It closed with this stanza:
So, when your eulogy is being read with your life’s actions to rehash,
would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?
To Deedee and the gang who have completed their dash, and perhaps, even the Sofitel Philippine Plaza (it may resurrect, but perhaps under a new name), it was a helluva dash, guys. And all of us who remember you, know it. *
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