“(W)e were invited to celebrate the fact that for the second time, Sta. Elena was in Golf Digest’s list of the Top 100 Courses outside the United States. Sta. Elena was also the only one in Southeast Asia that made the list!”
by Ducky Paredes
In 1989, two friends – Bibo (Jose Alberto Yulo Quiros from Canlubang Sugar Estates) and Rico (Bienvenido R. Tantoco, Jr. from the Rustan Group of Companies) - decided that they wanted to build a world-class golf course.
They wanted to build a course that would rival the world’s best golf courses.
The Sta. Elena golf course was built in 1990 on what was a vast expanse of hundred year old sugar fields, having been formerly a part of the Canlubang Sugar Estates. Sta. Elena’s golf course has 27 holes — three nine hole courses named after the mountains that serve as their backdrops – Makiling, Banahaw and Sierra Madre.
With the help of their friend, architect and master planner Jun Palafox, and renowned golf course designer, Robert Trent Jones, Jr. They named it “Sta. Elena”, after Bibo’s mother, Maria Elena Yulo Quiros.
Last Tuesday, the day after the hottest day of the year, we were at The Garden of Eden, an alternate name for Sta. Elena Golf and Country Club in Bo. Malilit, Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Along with others, we were invited to celebrate the fact that for the second time, Sta. Elena was in Golf Digest’s list of the Top 100 Courses outside the United States. Sta. Elena was also the only one in Southeast Asia that made the list!
The first time that Sta. Elena made it to the Golf Digest list was in 2005 when it ranked 55th. (It was 99th this year.)
Asian Golf Monthly has also called it the “Best Course n the Philippines” six times and several times Runner Up in the Best Course in Asia category. Sta. Elena has also received environmental awards. Its forests are certified by Audubon International, as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary for the diversity in these forests of Philippine flora and fauna. Inquirer Golf Monthly has always awarded Sta. Elena Golf Club of the Year and Best in Food and Beverage.
Sta. Elena is a beautiful course. It is manicured, pretty and is well-maintained (The Sta. Elena crew also maintains other courses, e.g. Wack Wack) but it is more than just pretty, except on days that you are hitting all your shots perfectly all day long. Putting was especially tough with the greens so fast and unforgiving.
Besides Rico, we also met Director and Club Captain Edward Tiu; General Manager Junie Ledesma; Jeric Hechanova, among the best golf club managers in the country who is deputy to Junie; Mary Grace Estueta, who plyed professional golf in the European tour. Golf Manager; Tim Walker, course superintendent and Chef Joseph Goh, who has to be the best cook ever in any golf course. The meal he served was just perfect.
They all made us feel welcome in a special way. I have never felt so welcome in any other golf course – even those I belong to – and glad to have played in the best Southeast Asian course and the 99th best course outside the U.S. One just has to agree with the Golf Digest recognition. I have no argument with that award!
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Here is a letter from Tong Payumo on the Arneo forum with the presidentiables: “I congratulate ABS-CBN ANC and Ateneo for organizing the Leaders Forum. But I suggest that in the next forum more hard balls than soft lobs be thrown at the ‘Presidentiables.’ And the host should be quick to refute anyone who is not being truthful.
“For instance, Senator Richard Gordon’s remarks that he was ousted from the position of Chairman/Administrator of SBMA because President Joseph Estrada took offense when he picked up a cigarette butt thrown carelessly by Estrada when the latter visited Subic should not be left unchallenged. If Gordon was ousted illegally, it follows that my appointment to replace him was not only improper but also illegal.
“Senator Gordon talks fast but he shouldn’t be equally fast but loose with his ‘facts.’ We do not know if the cigarette butt incident really happened, but to say that it caused his ouster was to distort the truth because he could not have been ousted if his hold to the position was legally tenable. May I refresh his memory that it was the Supreme Court, by a vote of 13-0, that affirmed the Court of Appeals decision that ‘petitioner’s (Gordon‘s) right to the office of Chairman/Administrator of SBMA is not merely dubious and disputed but tainted with nullity…that petitioner’s plea for a writ of preliminary injunction to stop his ouster and replacement cannot be granted.’
“Earlier, the RTC of Olongapo City, Judge Alicia L. Santos, had denied his plea for a preliminary injunction.
“The chronology of events are as follows: On February 2, 1998, Gordon, in a bid to seek a higher office, tendered his irrevocable letter of resignation as SBMA Chairman to President Ramos.
“On February 7, 1998, President Ramos accepted his resignation.
“On February 9, 1998, Gordon accomplished a certificate of candidacy for ‘President’ of the Philippines but did not file it, claiming he was persuaded by his supporters to remain as SBMA Chairman.
“On February 10, 1998, the following day, President Ramos reappointed Gordon as Chairman of SBMA for a term of (another) six (6) years.
“The Court said that ‘Gordon’s change of mind is of no consequence. He ought not to hold public office, resign and shortly get a reappointment at his own pleasure by invoking the clamor of volunteers, Olongapo and Subic residents, as if SBMA belongs only to them and not to the nation at large.’
“The Court pointed out that in case of removal or resignation of the Chairman/Administrator of SBMA or any office with a term fixed by the Constitution or by statute, the replacement shall serve only ‘the unexpired portion of the term,’ which, in Gordon’s case, was up to June 30, 1998 at the latest. ‘Otherwise, it would set an unwholesome precedent in the public service where all that an official with a fixed term has to do to unduly extend his ‘service’ is to smartly resign before the expiry of his term and then promptly obtain a reappointment for another full term.
“’It is a universal fiat that what cannot be lawfully done directly, cannot be done indirectly.”
“President Estrada could have, of course, reappointed Gordon. That the President did not was his prerogative and Gordon’s direct defiance by clinging to his chair, which he now calls mere ‘assertion,’ is now part of jurisprudence and history.
“A separate concurring opinion of the Court is also instructive with respect to the members of the board of the SBMA. The six -year term of office fixed in the provision of R.A. 7227 is not only for the Chairman but also, for the members of the board. ‘Evidently, the law contemplates the appointment of a complete set of governing functionaries headed by a chairman, with a common and synchronized term of office fixed by law at six years.’
“The incumbent President would be well advised to refrain from appointing any of the present board members of SBMA who may seek an appointment from her for another six years. The appointment will surely be challenged because that prerogative belongs to the incoming President.” — Felicito C. Payumo, Former Chairman/Administrator, SBMA
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I can’t argue with that one, either!
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hvp 05.28.09)
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