ANGELES CITY – Exactly one year and one month after it broke ground, Prime Asia Hotel located at the “Check Point” area near the main gate of the Clark Freeport Zone opened its doors to business in a formal inauguration last Wednesday.
Mayor Ed Pamintuan and Zambales Gov. Hermogenes E. Ebdane Jr. cut the ribbon during the inauguration with owner and Botolan Mayor Doris “Bing” Maniquiz, her mother Mrs. Mercy Maniquiz, Iba Mayor Rundy Ebdane, banker Enrique Fernandez, and Mitch Otsuru and Leigh Jocson of the Hotel and Restaurants Association of Pampanga.
Architect Owen Macalino, Prime Asia Hotel builder, said the six-storey “oriental design theme” building sits on a 5,500 square-meter property and has 71 rooms including deluxe and standard rooms, 17 fully furnished apartelles for long term leases, a presidential suite and a junior suite.
Macalino said the hotel houses travel offices, a Japanese restaurant, a pool bar and a mezzanine floor function hall that can accommodate up to 80 persons. He said a pool deck is located on the sixth floor of the building, a fitness center, a pool bar and an outdoor projector where nightly movies will be shown for hotel guests.
A helipad is also located on the top floor, he added. Macalino said Prime Asia Hotel is now open for business and customers and guests need not worry on the perennial flooding in the area which was solved by declogging the drainages and adding more manholes and inlets leading to the nearby Balibago Creek.
He said street lights were also donated to Barangay Malabanias to light up the area. Meanwhile, Prime Asia Hotel owner Mayor Maniquiz narrated how her father started her off in her construction business which eventually led to her dream of building the hotel which is now a reality.
“Binigyan nya po ako ng sandata para mabuhay. Kinuha po nya ko ng contractor’s license. Wala po akong kamalay- malay noon inayos po lahat ang lisensya ko ni papa para makapag-kontrata at doon na po nag-umpisa ang lahat (He gave me a weapon for livelihood. He got me a contractor’s license. I have no idea then when my papa started to arrange all my licenses so that I can have a contract and that was when it all started),” Maniquiz recalled.
She added that her father was slow to anger or even “no anger at all” as he patiently instilled on her the value of hard work. “Kaya po itong building na ito wala po ito kundi dahil sa kanya (That is why this building will not be here if not for him),” Maniquiz said as she also thanked Gov. Ebdane for her during trying times.
“Kung meron pa pong malalim sa six feet below the ground nandoon po ako noon pero tinulungan po akong tumayo ni Gov. Ebdane (If there is something deeper than six feet below the ground, I was there then but Gov. Ebdane helped me rise up again),” she said as she also thanked Fernandez for his all-out support.
The mayor also took the opportunity to thank her mother and her elder sister for their support in realizing her dream. For his part, Gov. Ebdane acknowledged Mayor Maniquiz’s mother, Mercy, for lending her inspiration and guidance to her daughter in the making of the hotel.
Ebdane recalled how he wondered then why Maniquiz was constructing a hotel in the city when all investors are inside Clark. It dawned on me now, he said jokingly during his speech, that tourists are thrifty and would prefer hotels outside Clark which offer lower rates.
“Sabi ko bakit nagpapagawa ng hotel sa labas e nandyan yung Clark baka walang pupunta. Yun pala ang mga turista mas gusto sa labas… kasi mga kuripot. Mahal sa loob pero sabi nga nila kahit mamera o mamiso yung tubo sa dinami-dame mas malaki ang kikitain at yun ang talagang negosyante hindi yung biglaan agad (I told myself why is she constructing a hotel outside when Clark is there; no one might come.
But then the tourists prefer hotels outside… because they are thrifty. It cost more inside but they say even if you profit just a little if you add them up you will be earning more and not a one-time big deal),” the governor said.
