When I got invited to check out the Hotel PonteFino for the weekend, I really didn't know what to expect. I thought we'd be in for another weekend of eating, sleeping, and lounging out by the pool - but I was wrong. If I had known we'd be meeting some of this country's football superstars and get to hang out with them for most of the day, I would've broken out the cocktail dress and high heels!
Read more on the PonteFino Series:
★ PonteFino: The Prime & Residences Properties
★ Hotel PonteFino: A Cultural Tour of Batangas City
★ PonteFino: A Groundbreaking Event for The Terraces
★ Hotel PonteFino: The Pride of Batangas City
After attending The Terraces at PonteFino's groundbreaking ceremony and short presscon, we were introduced to the Philippines' national football team's coordinators (please correct me if I'm wrong) to talk about the plans the Philippine Azkals had in Batangas City.
A couple of the Azkal squad and call-ups arrived to represent, the most extroverted of the lot being the Spaniard, Carlie de Murga, and the Filipino brothers that were raised in Italy, Marwin and Marvin Angeles. The rest of the guys were very shy and let the imports do most of the talking. Typical.
I found out that although the Azkals have been around making our country proud for quite some time, they have yet a pitch to call their own. And here I thought the BGC pitch was theirs. Being somewhat of a nomad when it came to practices and invitationals, the city of Batangas has offered their pitch to them, making it their new home - with the second being Hotel PonteFino. They could now invite other countries to their home pitch and stay at the hotel while they practice, which makes for a great working relationship between the two.
After our cultural tour of Batangas City, we headed to the Quezon Memorial Sports Stadium that would be renamed the Philippine Azkal Football Stadium to check out their new home. Working with the Batangas City government, the grass will be re-sodded to meet international standards and bleachers built to occupy the droves of fans that will be coming out to watch them play.
The Quezon Memorial Sports Stadium also comes with an Olympic-sized swimming pool, so if you're working on getting your endurance up, a few laps in the pool every day ought to do the trick.
Later that night, the boys were once again introduced to the brokers and investors of PonteFino's The Terraces, and interviewed by one of the Miss Philippines winners, having to ask the most ridiculously questions. Talk about awkward. Carlie was smart to not let go of his wine glass the entire night.
With the support of Batangas City mayor Dimachua, the future looks bright for Philippine football! There are a lot of out-of-town trips to Batangas to look forward to for Azkal fans, and with PonteFino playing host to their stay, there's sure to be a lot of fans checking in just to catch a glimpse of the strapping lads.
I must say, Mr. Wiggles was pretty chuffed with the two new stuffed Azkal toys he got when we got home from out trip. So when mucking around Batangas, make sure to catch the Philippine Azkals in action in their very own pitch!
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Images taken by Jericho San Miguel of The Pixel Project Manila
