Considered one of my finest school reminiscences is having fun with The Pen Pal’s dessert, a wealthy ice-cream tower with swirls of whipped cream, brightly completed with a cherry on prime. Surrounded by pals, we exchanged tales of affection and reminisced about life collectively. Right this moment, I’m again in that spell of pleasure at Mactan Newtown for the Cebu Mangoes Pageant for the biggest halo-halo exercise. However this celebration is just not solely about halo-halo; it’s about that combined sweetness that binds us all.
And what a halo-halo it was: over 200 kilos of ripe mangoes, mixed with saba bananas, mango beans, corn, gulaman, nata de coco, and topped off with 4 gallons of wealthy, creamy evaporated milk — all blended right into a colossal five-foot glass bowl. The scent of mangoes crammed the air, a festive brass band performed, and everybody cheered as this candy spectacle got here to life. It wasn’t simply dessert — it was an emblem of pleasure, tradition, and shared identification.
The Glass Pavillion of Mactan Newtown Seaside
The Cebu Mangoes Pageant first burst onto the scene in 2019, paused throughout the pandemic, and has now returned with much more coronary heart and heritage. At its core is a tribute not solely to Cebu’s golden fruit but additionally to custom, togetherness, and Filipino pleasure.
It was Dr. Andrew Tan who planted the roots of this celebration together with his imaginative and prescient. In line with Harold Geronimo, dynamic VP for public relations and media affairs of the Megaworld Company, Dr. Tan personally instructed the planting of over 200 mango bushes across the property — an eloquent gesture expressing his perception that nature, tradition and fashionable dwelling can thrive facet by facet.
Contained in the elegant Presidential Suite at Belmont Lodge Mactan
Subsequent vacation spot after the lavish Belmont Lodge was the Mactan Newtown Seaside. As our ft stepped onto the sand, it felt like we had been in a far tropical hideaway. Fairly resembling the likes of French Polynesia or Seychelles, it has a seaside with thatched casitas swaying within the wind, turquoise waters stretching from the shore, and a pool glowing nearly as if it had sunshine of its personal. The Glass Pavilion was set completely perched by the seaside, utterly air-conditioned, able to host an occasion for 300 folks of any event, from the grandest affair to probably the most intimate.
A style of Cebu: Mango Meal Dinner delight!
Lunch was a feast to recollect: flavorful, succulent meats, pasta and contemporary greens lovingly ready by GM of Mactan Newtown Seaside Dom Romano. Shared with the cheerful solid of Unang Hirit, the meal set the tone for a day of celebration and revelry.
Sparking laughter throughout generations was the pageant’s lovable mascot, Jody Mango — a tribute to the enduring Joe D’Mango, the radio character who as soon as dished out heartfelt love recommendation.
As twilight deepened, we moved to the cozily elegant mango dinner held on the Savoy Lodge. Each delicacy was a tribute to the common-or-garden mango: appetizers of tuna ceviche with a mango twist, surf-and-turf mains harmonizing with its golden splash of sweetness and, lastly, desserts that took mango to the extent of positive artwork. It actually was not a dinner. It was a story on a plate, an odyssey from style to heritage.
In line with Geronimo , Mactan Newtown can also be primed for an even bigger transformation. Slated to be completed by 2025, the brand new Mactan Expo Heart will rise as Cebu’s premier conference and exposition venue. This two-level constructing will boast a essential conference corridor with theater-type setups for two,500 individuals and banquet-style features for 1,600 individuals. The township will even welcome the Mactan World Museum, a P1.2-billion enterprise meant to showcase the myriad cultural and historic hyperlinks between the Philippines and Spain.
However one thing past the spectacle and the skyline nonetheless lingered: a festive feeling. In previous years, it was the large mango sago. This yr, the highlight belonged to the towering mango halo-halo. With each scoop and smile, Cebu proved one factor: The mango magic in Mactan Newtown is simply getting sweeter.
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For extra info, go to www.fb.com/TMN.OfficialTownshipPage.