AT LARGE. And at no cost to the government.
So Noel Tulabut, assistant PR manager of the Clark Development Corp., did the rounds of the venues of the Pampanga Day celebration in Los Angeles, on December 3.
I met Noel at the lobby of Hilton-LAX while waiting for the rest of the Pampanga delegation led by Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda. No, NT – as we call him – was not – officially – a part of the delegation, having come here of his own accord, on his own expense. Yeah, at no cost to the government. To reiterate, if only for effect.
Soon as Consul General Mary Joy Bernardo Aragon arrived, NT went to her and made his pitch for the Clark Freeport, with high definition, so to speak, on the Clark STAR (Sports Training, Amusement and Recreation Center) project.
The smile, aye, the beam on the consul’s face, said it all – she was totally sold to the project, if not to NT’s PR skills.
NT made the most of his presence at the Governor’s Forum in the afternoon, in interactions with Kap-Ams, singularly on developments in Clark.
At the gala dinner, he was still at it, pitching, hitting, scoring for the Freeport.
The last sight I had of NT was at the Hilton-LAX lobby way past 11 p.m. as I left for home in Carson. And he was ostensibly still very much doing PR, with a group of California-based cabalens.
I thought that was the end to NT’s self-imposed and self-driven PR mission. The Pampanga Day festivities in LA having been officially closed with the dance-till-you-drop capping the gala dinner.
Back home in Pampanga, what should I get in my e-mail but press and photo releases of NT’s extended PR campaign.
There is NT with Annie Cuevas, tourism director in Los Angeles and Southern California area, in discussion over “the current sports tourism thrust of CDC, including various events and projects including the Clark STAR Project being pushed by CDC President Felipe Antonio B. Remollo.”
And NT did the Big Apple too! Again, at no cost to the government.
There, NT touched base with Philippine trade representative in New York Eugene Elevado who readily hailed the Clark STAR project as “good for baseball training camps during the winter, particularly for Japanese and Korean teams that have their own major leagues in their countries.”
Elevado knows whereof he speaks, having been assigned in Japan and keenly followed the major and minor baseball leagues there. He was quoted as saying that professional Japanese teams invested heavily in training by sending their players to as far as Hawaii for off season practice.
Went on Elevado in the press release: “The Clark STAR could serve as a very good alternative, given its concept to have dormitories and other support facilities for players and athletes. Some of them even tow their families with them.”
And then the huge potentials of Clark STAR for job generation: “In baseball training alone, a lot of the locals could be hired as outer field catchers.”
Elevado makes proof positive of the efficacy of NT’s PR program, which NT would rather ascribe to the feasibility, aye, the viability, of Clark STAR and the brilliance of its braintrust, CDC President-CEO Remollo.
As a truly good PR man should – keeping to the deep background as one’s boss gets centerstage and all the limelight.
With his talent coming to the fore in every trip to the United States, NT has already outgrown his old post of “Assistant PR Manager,” and is most deserving of a PR ambassador portfolio at the CDC. No such thing in the CDC plantilla? Then the CDC Board can create one.
Ambassador Noel Tulabut. At large and at no cost to the government.
There’s a nice ring to that. And a most apt title too.
