Heart2Heart has added another angel to its list! Tita Irene Martel-Francisco, the woman behind The Philippine Tatler and Philippines’ Best Restaurants Book. I was with Mia Borromeo and she was telling me how much she admires Tita Irene. She has a wonderful heart, Mia told me. Mia also mentioned to me that the Tatler Ball which she organizes every year, she gives all the money raised to charity. She does not even deduct all the expenses she spends for the event…. She spends for the event and everything raised goes to charity. Wow! Thank you Tita Irene!
Though she already gives back to society with her annual Tatler Ball, she decided this year to give back as well with her other publication, Philippines’ Best Restaurants Book. The publication is on it’s 7th year and instead of having the usual grand launch for the book, she decided to give the money instead to its beneficiary, Hands On Manila. At the same time, they have rounded up 64 restaurants to join in the cause and will be giving ten percent of its sales for the week August 13 to the 20th. So let’s all support Tita Irene and help the kids of Hands on Manila. If you plan to eat out next week, make sure to take note of the restaurants joining the cause…YOU CAN BE A HERO TO THESE STUDENTS!
Of course, Heart2Heart is not surprised that one of the biggest donors of Hands on Manila is Tessa herself! THANK YOU TESSA!!!
Thank you to all those who made this possible!
Make sure to also get your copy of the latest Philippines’ Best Restaurants
Last month, we had the chance to visit the Ayala Museum. Though it is so near and conveniently located to us, we obviously take it for granted as this is our first time to visit the museum since it opened in 2004.
We of course love the Arturo Luz sculptures
At that time, there was a Manansala exhibit going on… BEAUTIFUL!!! They were strict and did not allow photos to be taken for any of the exhibits
As we attended an event that evening, they were giving tours for us guests…
Due to limited time, we quickly visited the Gold exhibit and the Ceramic collection by Roberto Villanueva. We were so amazed! It’s all beautifully done and presented and the collections are so rich! It’s worth the visit!
Visit the website for more information and to know what is ongoing at the museum, click below
It takes PASSION……… and a lot of it….. to achieve one’s goals and dreams…Heart2Heart loves the ad campaign of Century Properties featuring accomplished Filipinos and how passion has made then what they are today
Washington Z. Sycip Esteemed Businessman and Education Advocate
Passion is never a whisper or a faint twinkle of light. Passion is a torrent, an all consuming fire that burns unceasing, coming with a force that moves mountains and achieves great things. We at CENTURY salute passion in all its forms, because it drives our very essence, from every blueprint drawn, every brick laid, and every key turned over. Passion is the heart of our business.
INNO SOTTO Our PASSION is never dissimilar from that of fashion, setting your sights ablaze like a runaway’s relentless visual assault. With creative force, Inno’s genius unleashes wave upon wave of color, of movement, of cut and silhouette. But look past what you see, go beyond simply getting inside of it; and you’ll find that even greater importance, is how each and every creation makes you “feel”. It is this PASSION that we salute, because a similar passion is interwoven into the fabric of our being.
We at CENTURY strive to create only the purest and most breathtaking aesthetic, but to also ensure that each and every project we fashion takes on a more lasting and more emotional purpose. Because a development should not only be usable or beautiful…it must also “move” you. And great real estate, much like, great design never goes out of style.
BEN CAB National Artist of the Philippines
PASSION is inferno. It is a fire that rages….Sometimes with explosiveness and sometimes with the softness of a graceful brushstroke. But its expression, whether gentle or with force, can transform a blank canvas into a work of art. CENTURY salutes PASSION in all its forms, because it is what flows through our veins. Passion drives us to create structures meant not only to be used and enjoyed but also marvel at, and delight in. Bencab’s passion is the building of art, ours is the art of building.
Mom always prepares Filipino food for our foreign friends - whether it is catered or she prepares it herself. And they all love our Pinoy food
During the Bulacan Festival at Rustan’s, there was a beautiful exhibit of gowns of all the First Ladies of the Philippines and the prominent Filipino fashion designers who created the gowns
When I attended the Workshop by the Invisible Sisters, I saw this poster in the Benpres building lobby….
Heart2Heart admires Oscar Lopez! Aside from his already successful business achievements, he is always recognized for serving his fellowmen and giving back to society!
Thank you Tito Oscar for inspiring me and for sure inspiring many others who want to be like you! Thank you for serving the country voluntarily and for sharing whatever success you have to help uplift our country. We need more BAYANIS like you!! He is proof that you do not have to be president to uplift a nation.
Happy Independence Day to us and to our country and to everyone out there who serves society, serves the Filipino people, who is useful to society and makes a social impact to our nation…in small or big ways just like Oscar Lopez…let’s follow this man’s footsteps!
Interesting Facts Every Filipino Might Want To Know 1. Doctrina Christiana is the first book published in the Philippines, was published in 1593, by the Dominican press. Because of the monopoly of printing presses by religious orders prior to the 19th century, early written literature was predominantly religious in content and in purpose. 2. The first women’s magazine in the Philippines was El Hogar (The Home), which first came out in 1893. 3. The first Filipino immigrants to the United States (1850) settled in Louisiana. 4. Emilio Aguinaldo lost to Manuel L. Quezon in the country’s first presidential elections in 1935. 5. The largest crocodile ever captured in the Philippines (1823) was found in Laguna de Bay. 6. Fort San Pedro was the nucleus of the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. . 7. Farmers’ Market Foodome is the largest restaurant in the Philippines 8. Cesar Virata is the first and last Prime Minister of the Philippines 9. The Cagayan River, the Philippines longest river, originates in Nueva Vizcaya. 10. Aimee Carandang is the first Filipina to become a commercial plane pilot. 11. The oldest Philippine university for women is Centro Escolar 12. Jose P. Laurel has the most children (7) among the Philippine presidents. 13. Eva Estrada Kalaw is the first Filipina to be elected senator twice, in 1965 and in 1971. 14. The first modern building in the Philippines is considered to be the Crystal Arcade in Escolta, completed in 1932. 15. Aurora is the only Philippine province named after a first lady. 16. The biggest game preserve and wildlife sanctuary in the Philippines 17. The most translated Philippine poem is Mi Ultimo Adios. 18. The Philippine mammal with the biggest eyes in relation to its body is the tarsier. 19. Bagumbayan was the original name of Luneta Park. 20. Iniibig and gawa are the first and last words of Panatang Makabayan. 21. The Presidential Saber is awarded to the top graduate of the Philippine Military 22. The original Philippine flag, sewn in Hong Kong in 1898, was made of silk. 23. Gen. Tomas Karingal was the first assassinated victim of the NPA’s Alex Boncayao Brigade. 24. Frank Murphy was the last American governor-general of the Philippines. 25. After the United States, the Philippines 26. After Happy Birthday, the song most sung in the Philippines is Lupang Hinirang, the national anthem. 27. Hajji Butu was the first Muslim Filipino to become a senator. 28. The most popular and durable of all Philippine almanacs is called Kalendariong Tagalog ni Honorio Lopez. 29. Rainier Lagman was the first Filipino to have a heart transplant. 30. Gemma Cruz was the first Filipina to win an international beauty title - Miss International 1964. 31. P5 million was the highest prize offered for the capture of then-rebel-now- turned-senator Gringo Honasan. 32. Palawan has the largest land area among the Philippine provinces. 33. Negros Occidental has the most cities among Philippine provinces. 34. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi was the first Spanish governor-general of the Philippines. 35. Evangeline de Castro of Baguio was the first Filipina to win the Miss Philippines title. 36. Cebu is the oldest Philippine city. 37. The word Filipinas first appeared in coins. 38. Archipelago de San Lazarus was the name Ferdinand Magellan first gave to the islands he “discovered. “ 39. Alphabetically, the first province of the Philippines 40. The largest Philippine wild animal is the tamaraw (a species of buffalo, similar to the carabao). It is found only in the island of Mindoro. 41. Rio Grande de Mindanao 42. The first line of Jose Rizal’s Mi Ultimo Adios is Adios patria adorada. 43. Luzon is the biggest island (141,3 95 sq km) among the Philippine Archipelago which consists of 7,107 (most figures) islands and islets stretching some 1,850 kilometers from north to south and 1,107 kilometers from west to east at its widest point. 44. Mt. Apo in Mindanao, a dormant volcano, is the highest mountain in the Philippines 45. Cagayan River in Luzon is the longest river, snaking for 353 kilometers (221 miles) across the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela and Cagayan before finally flowing into theSouth China Sea in Aparri in Cagayan. 46. The first recorded intermarriage of a Filipino to a white foreigner was the wedding of Rajah Tupas’ widowed niece to a Greek ship caulker who had sailed to the Philippines< /span> with Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (ca 1565). 47. According to the 1990 census, Metro Manila has a population density of 12,315 persons per square kilometer (32,000/ sq.mi.), the highest in the country. 48. The longest underground river system accessible to man IN THE WORLD is located at the St. Paul National Park in Palawan. 49. The hottest day in the Philippines 50. The safest province geologically is Palawan. It is farthest province from volcanoes and earthquake faults. 51.. Marissa Delgado - The first Filipina who appeared in Playboy (sometime in 1965). She wasn’t a centerfold but she did expose … her back! The first Filipina who appeared as a centerfold is the beautiful Lourdes 52. The Tagalog term for dye is jobus or jobos which came from the name Joe Bush. Joe Bush was an American who set up a cleaning and dyeing shop in Manila back in the 1940s. His products were powdered dyes with the trade name Joe Bush. 53. Galunggong (mackerel) has the distinction to be the most widely caught fish in Philippine waters. 54. 8 - ocho, walo, eight - is the size of Imelda’s shoes. 55. Ma Mon Luk - credited to be the inventor of mami. He was a Cantonese immigrant who probably named the dish after his surname and the Chinese word for noodles which is mi. 56. The first ice cream parlor in the Philippines 57. Kristo the Tagalog name of bookmakers at cockfights. He’s called that because he poses like Jesus when he calls for bets and shouts the odds (arms extended like the Lord himself). 58. The first Greek fraternity in the Philippines 59. Davao City is the largest city in the Philippines with an area of 2,211 sq. km., about three times the size of Metro-Manila. 60. Manila Hotel is the first building to be air-conditioned. 61. Philippine Airlines’ first flight was from Manila to
62. The largest employer in the Philippines 64. In the Philippines, Filipinos were introduced to the English language in 1762 by British invaders, not Americans. Philippines is the world’s 3rd largest English-speaking nation, next to the USA and the UK. 65. ”Mayon is the most beautiful mountain I have ever seen, the world-renowned Fujiyama (Mt. Fuji) of Japan sinking into perfect insignificance by comparison”. - British traveler-writer A. Henry Savage Landor 66. Coconuts - the Philippines is considered to be the largest producer of coconuts 67. Dan Inosanto - from Mike Robandido - Pinoy who taught Bruce Lee how to use arnis de mano. 68. The second oldest philippine printing press next to Manila can be found in Pila Laguna. The first book printed was named Vocabulario Delengua Tagala - the philippines first filipino - spanish dictionary which was printed in 1613, 25 years older than the first book printed in the United States. 69. The Philippine Basketball Association is Asia’s premier and the world’s second oldest professional league. 70. The world’s largest pearl was discovered by a Filipino diver in a giant Tridacna (mollusk) under the Palawan Sea in 1934. Known as the “pearl of Lao-Tzu”, the gem weighs 14 pounds and measures 9 1/2 inches long and 5 1/2 inches in diameter. As of May 1984, it was valued at US$42 million. It is believed to be 600 years old. 71. The world’s second deepest spot underwater is in the Philippines. This spot, about 34,440 feet (10,497 meters) below the sea level, is known as the Philippine Deep or the Mindanao Trench. The Philippine Deep is in the floor of the Philippine Sea. The German ship Emden first plumbed the trench in 1927. The world’s deepest part of the ocean is the Marianas Trench, which is over 11,000 meters below the seal level. 72. The symbolic name for the Philippines, Juan dela Cruz, is not a Filipino invention. It was coined by R. McCulloch-Dick, a Scottish-born journalist working for the Manila Times in the early 1900s, after discovering it was the most common name in blotters 73. Ilo-Ilo golf and country club is the oldest golf club in the Philippines. It was built at 1908 by Irish Engineers. 74. Of the 500 known coral species in the world, 488 are found in the Philippines. 75. The Philippines is home to some of the world’s most exotic birds. One of the most endangered species is the exotic Kalangay or the Philippine cockatoo (Cacatua haematuropygia) , which belongs to Psittacidae or the family of parrots. Some cockatoos can live up to 50 years. They are known for mimicking human voices. Most of them measure 33 centimeters in length and weigh 0.29 kilogram. 
This place does exist and it is not in a movie! It is so beautiful and it is in our very own country!!
My friend, Frank, actually bought this place and it will be the site of his new beach house! He said it will be completed in a few months. It is 3,100 square meters with a nice private beach and pier located in Davao. Thanks Frank for sharing your home with us at Heart2Heart, hopefully one day we will get to see it for real 
Meet Frank! and look at the fish he caught and will be eating for meals :-)
He even has a bangka!!
