SCM Dines with the Mabuhay Guides

SCM stands for Susan Calo-Medina. The Mabuhay Guides is her pet project. It was at a time when the Secretary for Tourism Ace Durano saw the need to upgrade the tour guides to hike his targets for the previous administration. She is also the, and I quote Secretary Ramon Jimenez, singular face of Philippine tourism for whom a volcano should be named after.

Every so often when SCM has news to tell us or when we have some catching up to do, we meet at CIBO in Rockwell  for dinner or merienda cena. I was in Banaue on official business while some members were not free to meet for Saturday, so the meeting had to be rescheduled to Sunday, 19 February, 2012. I picked up Yael Fernandez and we were scooting off to the Powerplant Mall. We met Ms Goya at Cibo and then who should pop out of CIBO but actor Jericho Rosales with a date. Ms. Goya nearly fell off her seat.  =)

SCM arrived with Mr Edu Jarque, then under-secretary for tourism prior to the Aquino administration. We started catching up on what we were doing and on how things had developed in our recent proposals to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. No news on what we sent NCCA. So we have to be more creative with our marketing strats.

The great news is that Secretary Jimenez just heard of the Mabuhay Guides and he's actually asking SCM for a guided tour of Intramuros with the Mabuhay Guides, no less. There's a need for the MGs to do the National Museum tours as well. We'll have to undergo training for that. But that's added income for all of us. Actually not all of the active MGs were there at the dinner. In attendance were Yael, Dustin, Jeff and myself. Everyone else was in absentia.

Needless to say, we had lots of great food by Gaita Fores' restaurant. And of course, lots of talk! Mr. Jarque was pitching his sales of strawberry jam from BSU. Ms Goya was constantly haggling for it. In my haste to get to Yael's house I left my pasalubong to her of Terraces Brew, my christmas present for her and her grandchild. Oh well, I promised to bring them next time we meet. I'll have to keep a mental note of that!