Pioneers in the hotel industry

I COMPLETELY lost track of the Zamoras until Stella Palomo Monteno invited me for lunch in Portofino Beach Resort in Mactan Island.

The property sits on over 11 hectares of prime property just beside Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa.

The Zamoras were prominent hoteliers in the ’60s until the mid-‘90s. The matriarch, Esperanza Cielito Araullo Zamora, was at the helm of historic Manila Hotel at the Luneta Park, as well as the

Ambassador and Bay View Hotels in the Bay Area in Manila. The Zamoras also owned and managed

the Magellan International Hotel, the first four-star

hotel in Cebu City long before the influx of international hotels. The Zamora brothers Manuel, Mariano, Jr. and Richard were hands-on in the hotel operations until it was burned down in 1993.

My visit to Portofino Beach Resort where I touched base with Richard and Manny Zamora brought back many memories of our hotel days

together. In Cebu back in the late ‘70s and the

‘80s, there were only three big hotels in the city: Magellan International Hotel, Cebu Plaza Hotel and

Montebello Villa Hotel. Then, I was working as sales and PR manager of Montebello where I started my hotel career. The hotel professionals in the industry naturally worked closely together. Cebu at that time was enjoying a tourism boom with the Japanese dominating the foreign market.

Manuel Zamora, fondly called Manny, has gone

into semi-retirement and divides his time between Manila and Cebu where he continues to run Portofino Beach Resort with brother, Richard.

Manny is a seasoned hotelier who took up his hotel management degree in Cornell University in New York. I was lucky to catch them both during my last visit to their resort. Stella, a former staff of the

defunct Magellan International Hotel, continues to work with the Zamoras as a Consultant for Portofino. With the Zamora family members pursuing their respective businesses, what used to be a luxury

resort known as Mar Y Cielo (named after the parents, Mariano and Cielito Zamora) has been downgraded to what it is now— a resort that caters mostly to domestic and local tourists. Stella revealed that if the price is right, the Zamoras are willing to sell the huge property.

Portofino’s Beachpoint Lounge, which sits on top of a rocky cliff overlooking the Mactan Bay continues to serve an eclectic menu that

reflects the owners’ touch. Chef Romeo “Boyong” Barraza has been preparing impressive creations under the watchful eyes of Manny. The menu

carried a variety of international dishes that is

redolent of the cuisine that the Zamora brothers served in their hotels. I skipped the soup, New

England Chowder, which can be very filling. The

appetizers were tempting, too. I had Paella, Manny’s favorite, instead. And on the recommendation of Stella, we paired the delicious Spanish specialty with Laing, Bicol’s

signature dish that tasted like it was flown straight from the region. The gabi leaves were firm and not mushy delicately cooked in coconut milk and flavored with

fermented shrimps (bagoong). The Grilled Bangus Belly melted in my mouth.

Dessert was one of my favorites—a no-cook Blueberry Cheesecake. It was light and refreshing so I finished the generous slices served with freshly brewed coffee. Stella and I had more time to

indulge and reminisce the Magellan/Montebello days of yore.