It was pouring rain outside, but inside, it was packed with men of substance and stature. Occasion was the grand sixth anniversary celebration of Go Negosyo, the movement which promotes the entrepreneurial spirit to empower millions of Filipinos, palanggas.
The celebration was led by Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion, who was also celebrating a new page in his life. He said he chose to celebrate his birthday with the growing Go Negosyo community of advocates, entrepreneurs, partners and pals so as to make the day more meaningful.
Joey recently landed in Forbes Asia’s “48 Heroes of Philanthropy List for 2011.”
He thanked his Go Negosyo community, “I’m happy and proud for another memorable feat that further proved their goal of addressing poverty in the country by engaging in 
entrepreneurship.”
Helping Joey in entertaining the guests was, of course, Marissa Orosa Concepcion, dahlings.
Take that well-deserved bow, palangga!
Birthdays at Nuvo
It was a Saturday to be envied, dahlings, when our town’s beautiful people came like a swarm of bees to Nuvo, natch!, to celebrate several birthdays put together.
Among the celebrators were DHL country manager and art collector Duncan Gates, Luxasia’s Sigrid Villamil, Jeremy Bates, Kailash Ramchandani, Tere Ribano and Makati Shangri-La’s Tracey Fragante.
The monthly birthday happening is held for all those namedropables celebrating another year of their fast life.
In the usual Nuvo flair, these celebrators were gifted with super products from Issey Miyake, Bulgari and Skyy Vodka.
The joint bash was held at Nuvo’s swinging mezzanine floor where you can get your, “smoke fix,” palanggas.
Regular Nuvo clientele enjoyed their dinner and after-dinner drinks on the first floor where smoking is not allowed and at the patio outside were one can drink, eat, chat and watch the parade of beautiful people around Greenbelt 2, palanggas.
For Nuvo reservations, call 7573698 or 99 or 8136978.
Rizal celebration at SM City Calamba
“My City, My SM” launch at SM City Calamba was a smashing success, dahlings. It was perfectly timed for the Rizal@150, the national celebration honoring the national hero on the 150th anniversary of his birth.
For the event, SM City Calamba honored two modern-day heroes from Rizal’s hometown—advertising executive, writer and entrepreneur Barbara Gonzalez, who’s a great grand niece of Rizal; and Marc Cosico of the Philippine High School of the Arts.
In connection with Rizal’s birth anniversary, the German Embassy and the Goethe-Insitut have been commissioned by the National Library to restore the original manuscript of the book, “Noli Me Tangere,” which was printed in Berlin in 1887.
Barbie Atienza emceed.
The event began with an awesome performance of the Tagalog version of “The Prayer” by young singers Abigail and Irish Bolante, with a replica of the Rizal Shrine as a dramatic stage backdrop.
Carlos Arnaldo, archivist of the Knights of Rizal, gave a talk on “Rizal and his Travels.” He traced Rizal’s footsteps around Europe, travels that led to the hero’s self-discovery, and eventually greatness, as images of the key cities were shown.
Architect Veronica Dado of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines unveiled a replica of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna where Rizal worshipped; while Czech Republic counselor and deputy head of mission Jiri Vobis showed invitees a replica of the Blaue Stern Hotel where Rizal stayed when he was in Prague.
Jose Rizal Essay-Writing Contest winner Joaquin de Jesus read his winning piece on the friendship of Rizal and Ferdinand Blumentritt, dahlings.
The French Embassy’s audiovisual attaché Martin Macalintal showed a reproduction of Juan Luna’s “The Parisian Life,” which was beside a replica of the French landmark, the Arc de Triomphe.
Instituto Cervantes de Manila director Jose Rodriguez gamely read a copy of La Solidaridad in a bench in front of a replica of the Jose Rizal statue in Madrid, Spain; while Goethe-Institut’s Luisa Zaide unveiled a replica of the University of Heidelberg where Rizal practiced ophthalmology.
Rizal@150 is one of the many exciting events of SM Supermalls, naturellement.
