Those who live “anywhere else” cannot, however, say that all’s lost for them. After all, they have a chance to experience the south by staying in a Microtel Inn & Suites hotel. Fact is, there are two Microtels here: Microtel Sto. Tomas, Batangas and Microtel Eagle Ridge, Cavite.

Microtel Batangas is located in the First Philippine Industrial Park in Sto. Tomas town, while Microtel Eagle Ridge is inside the Eagle Ridge Golf & Residential Estate in Gen. Trias, Cavite.

Microtel Batangas at the First Philippine Industrial Park in Sto. Tomas town has suites (right) and double rooms (far right), all offering Microtel’s trademark creature comforts.

While both are located in different surroundings — one in a business area, and the other in a leisure spot — guests will be glad to know that they will enjoy the kick-back-and-relax atmosphere of the south. Plus, these Microtels are the same great hotels everywhere they go. The location may be different, but Microtel’s trademark creature comforts are the same.

Of course, we cannot miss their chiropractic-approved mattresses. Sleep well, and let the beds care for your back. There is also the complimentary breakfast, the cable TV, the multi-function phone system, the Internet-ready port, the fully automated fire safety system, and a lot more.

Microtel Sto. Tomas has met the approval of discriminating expats and locals alike who work within the 300-hectare industrial estate. It even has its own pool, and provides access to the Malarayat Golf & Country Club, and an oasis gym with covered tennis and basketball courts.

Microtel Eagle Ridge, on the other hand, has the golf and country club as its advantage. Eagle Ridge is known in the golf world for its four championship courses designed by Isao Aoki, Andy Dye, Nick Faldo, and Greg Norman. There are also provisions for sports, recreation, food and beverage, and meetings. It is also a leisurely drive to Tagaytay City.

While all these are good news to the ever-growing number of Pinoy tourists looking for excellent places to stay, these Microtels are also looking after the needs of the communities they serve.

“Microtel Batangas won the Community Relations Award last year. We represented the Philippines and competed with the other Microtel brands in the US,” says Norman Eusebio, Microtel area general manager for South Luzon. “We help maintain peace and order within the community to encourage more businesses.”

Eusebio adds that Microtel’s corporate social responsibility program extends to education, health, and sports. Their education programs are linked with schools and partnered with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). They also have the Stay & Learn package wherein students learn about basic hotel operations and management. Plus, they adopt schools and help improve learning conditions in partnership with the Department of Education.

Their feeding program adopts six schools with 40 malnourished kids from each class. Eusebio says, “We want to make a difference with this five-month program.”

“We likewise hold medical missions. Recently, we donated linens to local hospitals. Since our tagline is ‘Life could be better,’ we really take that seriously,” Eusebio says. “It is also our priority to invest in tourism. In Batangas, we are anchored on ecotourism.”

Microtel Eagle Ridge resident manager Maggie Gabutin says, “In Cavite, we do our part in helping promote the province’s tourist destinations. We did our own tour to make, say, students aware that there’s more to Cavite’s tourism than Tagaytay.”

Gabutin shares, “We have also become the choice of company seminars. We have ‘Theme Building’ wherein we offer themed seminars: Amazing Race, Wet ‘n Wild, Art Attack, Sports Fest, Iron Chef, Wild Wild West, Artistic Director, and Boot Camp. Our guests are given access to the clubhouse.”

“Because of our packages, we get to help small-medium enterprises in our own way. We increase tourism value in the area and partner with small local business,” she says.

The hotels’ advocacy also covers becoming green hotels. Eusebio says, “We want to take care of the environment. We use solar panels. The lights we buy and use are energy-savers. It is all about making a difference.”

We are very sure all this is just the start. Way to go, south.

This is an article by Lester Gopela Hallig (The Philippine Star)

Last Saturday, Amadeo held its annual Pahimis festival which gave visitors another excellent reason to enjoy its rural charm and sample its famous produce: barako cofee.

Like many famous Philippine festivals, lively street-dancing marked the opening of the Pahimis as early as 7:00 a.m. Music blared from a sidewalk chain of loudspeakers as contingents from the different schools, organizations and barangays danced their way down the main route. Everyone was dressed in creative and colorful costumes decorated with the leaves, seeds (beans) and flowers of the coffee plant.

Now on its third year, the two-day Pahimis festival was originally conceptualized not only as a rite of thanksgiving by the people of Amadeo, many of whom have grown coffee for generations, but to bring national attention to the plight of the local coffee industry, as well.

In the 1970s, the Philippines devoted 160,000 hectares for coffee trees and was known as the world’s fourth largest producer of coffee, with Liberica or Kapeng Barako as its pride. Life changed for many growers when the United States withdrew from the international quota system in 1989, causing prices to plunge and farmers to shift to other crops. Today, only 80,000 hectares remain. From being an exporter of some $15 million worth of coffee, the Philippines is now a net importer of the most traded commodity second only to petroleum. This year alone, the country is estimated to import about P1.4 billion worth of coffee beans from Vietnam and Indonesia. But things are looking up for the country’s coffee industry – and the Pahimis has helped in many ways.

In last year’s festival, large crowds packed the streets of Amadeo to view the parade, games, shows, and other events with no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as keynote speaker. This year was as well attended. Amadeo Mayor Albert “OJ”Ambagan Jr, who at 26 is one of the country’s youngest mayors, welcomed a distinguished roster of guests that included Department of Agriculture Secretary Luis “Cito” Lorenzo, Department of Tourism OIC Robert Dean Barbers, Vietnamese Ambassador Din Tich, John Jessup, EVP for Technical Division of Nestle Philippines, and Nicholas Matti, co-chair of the National Coffee Development Board.

“Since the government started its programs to save the coffee industry, production has reached 40 thousand tons from a low of 25 thousand tons, ” said Secretary Lorenzo. “As of the third week of January this year, the price of coffee from P25 is now P45 per kilo. This is good news for many of our coffee growers, ” he added. Lorenzo also stressed the value of the Pahimis festival as “an important means to boost confidence in the local coffee industry.”

Likewise, “the Pahiyas is an ideal example for agro-tourism,” said PTA General Manager and Tourism OIC Robert Dean Barbers. “It draws attention to Amadeo and Cavite as a tourist destination while providing a glimpse into the agricultural lifestyle of coffee growers and a venue of exchange of information on coffee,” he added.

Among the events lined up for Pahimis 2004 were a coffee trade fair and exhibit participated in by coffee sellers such as Nescafe, Cafe Puro and Great Taste and other allied businesses; Farm Tours; Laro ng Lahi (indigenous games); Awitan ng Kundiman; an on-the-spot photo contest organized by the Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation; Coffee seminars on Modern Farm Practices and Management and Idle Land Utilization; Investors Forum and Adopt-a-Farm Forum; awards for Model Farmer and Farm and Model Adopt-A-Farm; Valentines Night of music and dance and a fashion show of coffee wearables.

As early as the 1800s, Amadeo, a 4,790-hectare uphill town of 26,000 people, located 1,400 feet above sea level and 60 kilometers south of Manila, was already known for its coffee plantations with at least 4,000 hectares pegged on coffee farming. Today, its total coffee area has dwindled to only 2,300 hectares.

With the help of the National Coffee Development Board (NCDB), a private sector-led organization seeking to revive the country’s ailing coffee industry, Amadeo hopes to rehabilitate 1,500 hectares of its coffee plantations.

Amadeo is actually the local government model of the 10-year national coffee master plan for the rehabilitation of 20,000 hectares of coffee plantations in 22 provinces including Cavite and Sultan Kudarat, the country’s largest coffee producers. The Board’s overall target is to expand coffee farming to 22,000 more hectares and in the process create 88,000 new jobs.

The NCDB, which is co-chaired by Pacita “Chit” Juan of Figaro Coffee chains and Nicholas A. Matti of Negros Coffee and Grains, launched the Adopt- A-Coffee Farm project in Amadeo three years ago, in order to bring in capital for the rehabilitation program. With this initiative was born the Kape Isla concept, which seeks to build loyalty to the brand, enhance consumption, boost production and create new jobs. At least 22 coffee merchants are now carrying the Kape Isla seal, including coffee chains Starbucks, Seattle’s Best Coffee and Figaro.

Today’s local coffee industry may still has a long way to but the people of Amadeo have achieved much in planting the first seeds. And if things continue to progress as it does, it will not take long before the Philippines regains its position among the world’s coffee exporters.

This is an article from PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE

Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi