THE 365 Club at Hotel Intercontinental Makati held its traditional Christmas Party last week for the last time in its 43 years in existence since it was founded on Sept. 22, 1972 —the day when Martial Law was proclaimed.
The reason for this is that the Ayalas have plans to demolish the entire block where the “Grand Dame” of hotels in Makati and the parking lots in front of SM Makati are located starting Jan. 1, 2016.
There was holiday cheer for everybody who has been a member of the 365 Club for decades. Vice President Jojo Binay was our special guest. Every mayor of Makati City is an honorary member of the Club as the late Mayor Mesio Yabut was, the Vice President and Jun-Jun Binay are. The Vice President had been supportive of the Club for years, like all members of his family.
Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile was even there, although he was late since he was stuck in Metro Manila’s horrendous traffic for three hours.
Still, the event was sad since Hotel Intercon has been the home of the 365 Club since it began.
But while Hotel Intercon will be demolished to give way to a new Ayala terminal hub cum mixed residences and commercial establishments, it’s not really the end of the 365 Club. The hotel management led by its manager Christian Peridon has invited us to have our usual Saturday gathering at Holiday Inn Suites Coffeeshop with our own special place as we had at Hotel Intercon. Holiday Inn is an affiliate of Hotel Intercon.
We will have our first gathering on Jan. 9. I hope to see the usual faces on that day.
The 365 Club is a unique gathering of friends from all facets of society, journalists in particular, professionals, businessmen or just plain kibitzers, who have something to say about politics and business. There are also those still in government and those who are out. In fact, the club is a micro-representation of the nation’s society.
It is also unique in many ways because the Club has no charter, no by-laws and no membership laws. There is only a list of regulars who go there for coffee and snacks from eight in the morning until 12 noon. And it’s all KKB—kanya kanyang bayad—or Dutch treat unless some generous soul offers to pay for somebody or everybody else. We have always had a special place close to the restroom since most of us are senior citizens.
Enrile is our oldest regular at 92 years, Totoy Tinzon second at 89, myself following at 88 years, and former Marinduque Gov. Aris Liceros at 87.
It all began after midnight of Sept. 21, 1972. I was already asleep at my Philamlife Homes residence in Quezon City when the telephone rang. When I asked who was calling, he identified himself as chief of security of RPN-Channel 9 along Roxas Boulevard. I was then manager of Public Affairs of the Bobby Benedicto-owned RPN-Channel 9.
“Sir, you better come here because the station has been padlocked by the military because of Presidential Proclamation 1081—the Martial Law Proclamation,” the voice on the other line said.
I dressed up and hurriedly told my wife I had to go to the TV station because Martial Law had been proclaimed. On my way to the station I had to stop at four crossroads along Edsa because the military had already put up checkpoints. Luckily, I had my RPN-9 card with me, which I presented to every checkpoint I passed. There were already long lines of cars and everybody else stopped at checkpoints. When I reached the Roxas Boulevard station, I saw staff members and executives in front. When I ask why, they told me that the station had been padlocked and that Bobby Benedicto and the network manager were locked in a meeting.
I stayed a while, talking to other managers until five o’clock in the morning when I felt hungry because of anxiety I decided to go home. But when I was close to Hotel Intercon, I decided to have breakfast there because I knew that my wife was still fast asleep.
When I entered the Hotel Intercon coffeeshop at about seven in the morning, I was surprised to see huddled around a round table, Makati Mayor Yabut, columnist Ka Doroy Valencia, BIR official Jose Viterbo, businessman Pat Dayrit of the Dayrit clan, and Yabut-assistant Biding Sibug. At another table beside them were Yabut’s bodyguards and other assistants.
On the table where Yabut was seated was a duffle bag. When I asked what the bag was for, Yabut told me that he expected to be picked up by the military. Ka Doroy told me that Yabut was involved in a shootout at the Hotel Intercon with the bodyguards of Delfin Cueto, who was rumored to be a relative of the strongman President Ferdinand Marcos. Some Yabut and Cueto bodyguards and military agents were killed. There was also a rumor that Yabut had killed Cueto.
After talking about what “will be,” and “what could happened next,” Ka Doroy told me that from then on, every member of media who had been displaced by Martial Law was welcomed to Hotel Intercon to have breakfast. Yabut just smiled because he knew he would be footing the bill. Fortunately for Yabut, he was never arrested by the military. And soon after, I started calling my friends in media per invitation of Ka Doroy.
At around noon of Sept. 22, 1972, I got another call for me to report because President Marcos would deliver his message to the nation on why Proclamation 1081 had to be done nationwide. I rushed to the station and with the television staff and with Babe Romualdez as the anchorman, we rushed to Malacañang where then Press Secretary Kit Tatad and the President were waiting. I recall that it was Romualdez who introduced Tatad, and in turn, Tatad apparently nervous, scratched his leg, introduced the President, who justified Martial Law to end a possible communist insurgency movement to take over the country. Santa Banana, it was a very tense moment since I was directing everything.
In a few days’ time, RPN-Channel 9 was reopened, but other stations like Channels 2, 5 and 11 another Benedicto-owned network were not.
As for journalists and media having breakfast for free upon the invitation of Ka Doroy Valencia, after some months, during our breakfast gatherings, I heard Yabut complaining to Valencia that his financial officer wanted the freebies to be stopped. It was already draining Makati—some journalists did not only take their breakfast, but also lunch and dinner together with their families.
It was at this instance that Ka Doroy who proclaimed himself as chairman decided that we would be called the 365 Club. He issues what he called Proclamation 1082 whereby people who would take coffee and breakfast at 365 Club would pay for their own meals.
That’s how it all began with our first regulars coming from the loyalist group of Yabut, Valencia, Viterbo, Dayrit, Louie Tabuena, Munding Reyes, Gilbert Teodoro and many others joining the group. My gulay, believe it or not, even those who were arrested and detained at Camp Crame Hilton and amnestied later started joining us, like Max Soliven, Louie Beltran, Blas Ople, Adrian Cristobal and Art Borjal were there, and so was Marcos press secretary and press icon Jose Aspiras, and so was Marcos Deputy Prime Minister Peping Rono, nationalist Renato Constantino, Quirino Press Secretary and later PLDT PR Toto Olivares joined us.
You won’t believe it, even the late Kokoy Romualdez, brother of Imelda who was former Leyte governor and ambassador to Washington was a regular. Some foreign ambassadors even joined us to get a feel of the public pulse. Foreign correspondents were agog about the Club that the Wall Street Journal had a feature front page article about the 365 Club as a unique gathering of people representing the sentiments of the nation. Supreme Court justices also joined us, President Fidel Ramos invited the Club on many occasions, and we had President Erap Estrada as special guest.
The Club had its home for most of the time in 43 years except for a few months when Mesio Yabut invited us to Atrium Building, which he owned and when the Intercon Jeepney Coffeeshop was remodeled we had our gathering at Hotel Dusit Thani for a time. But, we are very thankful to the Hotel Intercon for years of maximum tolerance for our noises which must have bothered hotel guests at breakfast at Jeepney Coffeeshop. We had our 40th anniversary three years ago where we gave plaques to Hotel Intercon management and our favorite waiter, “George,” who knew all our quirks and idiosyncrasies, and anticipated what we liked.
When Ka Doroy Valencia died, I, too, proclaimed myself chairman since I was the only one of the founders who was still around. But, some years ago, I chose to be only the chairman emeritus, and chose businessman-sportsman “Boy” Reyno, who is a regular, to be chairman. We also chose Senator Enrile as honorary chairman, with Maloli Espinosa Supnet as permanent treasurer and secretary.
While we at 365 Club are grateful that we have stayed long enough—some 43 years—we also miss some members who have gone ahead of us, like lawyer Leonardo Siguion Reyna, the historian of the club, his lovely wife Armida, who use to be a regular, and Ka Imon Cuevas. On this occasion, I wish to thank Dante Arevalo Ang, chairman emeritus of The Manila Times, Jake Macasaet, publisher of Malaya, and Jun Icban, Bulletin editor-in-chief who are still with us at the Club.