Ok, Ok, it’s that time of year when I “toot my own horn” again. But Kaye Tiñga and I were just overwhelmed with the Red Charity Gala this year.

As co-chairs of the event over the past six years, we’ve learned more things about fashion and fundraising.

This year, after several months of preparations and fine detailing for Red Gala, it was a wonderful relief that everything unfolded as planned.

We welcomed our sixth edition with lots of exciting new additions, like the first issue of Credo, our official gala magazine, and the launch of our website www.redcharitygala.com.

The magazine’s editor Sheryl Songsong and her team produced the maiden issue in record time, with an in-depth story on featured designer Jojie Lloren and photos of our sponsors and auction items.

The new website has photos of all the past galas as well as the charities we support—Philippine Red Cross and Assumption HS ’81 Foundation.

HSBC Red Ladies

Before the elegant guests entered the Makati Shangri-La’s Rizal Ballroom, Cointreau cocktails and Remy Martin drinks were served at the Mezzanine Lobby.

Downy’s Nicole Villarojo, Bench’s Kai Lim, Rustan’s Kathy Huang and Crickette Tantoco, Sunlife’s Riza Mantaring, and Standard Insurance’s Patty Chilip played special roles as HSBC Red Ladies for the bank’s launch of the HSBC Red card.

Aside from the preloaded card, HSBC also raffled off a Jojie Lloren gown that went to Adwork’s Maika Cruz.

As the guests trickled from the mezzanine to the ballroom, they were asked to fill the Downy garden wall with silk-scented roses, as an additional donation to the Red Cross was being covered by P&G.

Other donations from HSBC and Coke Femsa were also presented before dinner.

The beautiful dining table setup done by Robert Blancaflor was filled with goodies like Patchi chocolates, personalized Coke bottles, and Lifestyle Asia and Credo magazines.

Each seat had a loot bag filled with Coke, Downy, Gardenia, Goldilocks, Made in Candy, Olay, Rustan’s gifts, The Pastry Company cupcakes and Zen Zest.

Fun-filled auction

In the middle of the delicious dinner, the fun-filled auction began; auctioneer partner Tim Yap and I tried to get the highest bids to raise even more funds, these ones for the benefit of
Supertyphoon “Yolanda” survivors in Samar.

Remy Martin supports us annually with the Louis XIII Grande Champagne Cognac that was presented to Dr. Vicki Belo. Hayden Kho escorted Vicki up the stage to receive the package that came with a Florabel dinner for 12 and Zweisel 1872 crystal glasses from W/17.

Another hotly contested package was the Paul Reed Smith Black Abraxas SE model electric guitar, personally autographed by Carlos Santana, which came paired with six bottles of Casa Noble Ultra Premium Tequila. The winning bidder was Felix Ang of CATS; he told me that the guitar is actually a gift for a close friend. It sure is nice to be a friend of Felix.

My personal fave item would be Shangri-La Boracay Resort & Spa’s Three-Day Reservations in Paradise package, consisting of a three-day stay for two in a Tree House villa, concert seats to the private show of 2 Cellos, and an overflowing gourmet and leisure weekend.

Air Asia tickets to Boracay were included in this package, so it was as worry-free a vacation as can be.

A unique item for the bidders was a 30-night stay at luxury Discovery Primea, together with a P1 million pro-family insurance coverage from Sun Life. That’s not a typo—it really was for a month’s stay!

But I guess it might be fun to wake up every day for a month in the tallest building in the country, enjoying the Makati skyline and not suffering the traffic at all.

Jewelmer Joaillerie, as always, donated a strand of gold South Sea Pearls. A pearl necklace is always a great item to have in any woman’s jewelry collection, and this year, Dr. Aivee Teo was the winning bidder.

Probably the most expensive item we have ever auctioned off was the final item for the evening—a membership at The City Club, generously donated by Alphaland CEO Roberto V. Ongpin.

The City Club is already fully built at the Alphaland Makati Place at the end of Ayala Avenue. There are eight restaurants and full sports facilities including a gym, basketball court, tennis courts, badminton, pool, etc. The lucky winner won it with an astounding bid of over P1 million; the full auction proceeds added up to over P4 million.

Thank you!

There are many people to thank and I run the danger of leaving someone out. So, this is not a full list yet, but let me start with Dina Tantoco, head of Rustan’s marketing communications; Rizalina Mantaring, CEO of Sun Life Financial; Joy Mabanta of P&G; Nicole Villarojo, brand manager of Downy; Alain Borgers, GM of Makati Shangri-La, and his key managers, Cecile Weber and Lesley Tan.

Over the years, the Red Charity Gala has raised so much for charity, and it is this group and more that have made all that possible.

Kaye and I are overwhelmed with gratitude to this year’s presenting sponsors, Downy and Sun Life, and our major sponsors, Bench, HSBC, Lifestyle Asia, Makati Shangri-La and Megaworld.

Special thanks go to Coca-Cola, Olay, Patchi, Remy Martin,  Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Star, Robert Blancaflor Group, Rustans, Swatch and W17.

The Red Charity Gala was directed by Ariel Lozada, with fashion styling by Noel Manapat, and hair and makeup by Patrick Rosas.

Follow the author on Twitter @tessavaldes; visit www.tessaprietovaldes.com.