21-year-old becomes first Filipino to win Grand Prix

On Sunday, 21-year-old Filipino-Swiss race car driver Marlon Stockinger of Manila won the prestigious Monaco GP3 event in Monte Carlo, making him one of the youngest formula race winners in history.

Marlon Stockinger recorded his first-ever victory in GP3 after 14 laps with a winning time of 21:37.673 in the second race, 0.687 seconds ahead of second placer Antonio da Costa of Carlin Motorsport.

With the win, Stockinger also becomes the first Filipino ever to win a formula race in Europe.

Stockinger attended the renowned CATS College in Cambridge, UK, which is also the alma mater of McLaren team and 2008 Formula One World Champion, Lewis Hamilton.

Aria, a Boracay dining is now in Manila

MANILA FANS of a popular Boracay restaurant need not fly to the island anymore to enjoy its pizza.

Although nestléd between concrete structures — with no beach in sight — Aria Cucina Italia wants to bring some of the relaxed ambience of its original beach-side setting to the Metro.

“One of the things that set the restaurant apart in Boracay,” said Juan Elizalde, one of Aria’s owners, “is the ambience. It’s pizza by the beach, food in a gorgeous setting… a stylish ambience, relaxing, with chill out music [to match].

“It’s hard to bring the beach feeling,” he noted, jokingly adding that he had wanted to bring in the island’s white sand and scatter it on their floor. What they brought instead is the original’s stylish and relaxing ambience.

“As you can see it’s modern stylish,” he described the restaurant. “It has a warm and cozy interior, it’s sophisticated and not too modern. It’s unlike any, if not most, Italian restaurants around. Others have a dated look, the style of an old Italian restaurant with dark wood,” he pointed out.

Another thing the owners flew in is the full menu of the original restaurant, with a few things added in, and boasting of similar weekly and monthly specials.

Aria in Boracay opened in 2003, quickly becoming a hit among beach goers. Mr. Elizalde recounted that they had wanted to bring it to Metro Manila for the longest time. Then Ayala contacted them over a year ago, offering them a space at the new Bonifacio High Street Central where the restaurant is now located.

Despite being surrounded by at least seven Italian restaurant within a one-kilometer radius, Mr. Elizalde is confident the Manila version will do as well as the island one.

“I feel that the food quality, the brand and the popularity is enough to warrant an expansion,” he explained.

What he’s most proud and confident of is the food, describing it as excellent. “Authentic is an overused word in the world of Italian restaurants. We’re as Italian as you can be, with Italian chefs in the kitchen. My partner is Italian. I’m the only Filipino thing about this place,” he laughed.

The restaurant offers dishes from the coastal Mediterranean regions of Italy. Mr. Elizalde described them as lighter than the cream-based, heavy dishes of the north.

He recommends first time diners to try the pizzas and pastas, which are the best-sellers, but noted that they also have good appetizer, main course, salad, meat and seafood selections.

All their pizzas are baked in a wood-fired oven while everything on the menu features mostly organic ingredients. Going organic was a natural move as Mr. Elizalde and his wife are health-conscious individuals.

Among the pizzas on the menu are Aria (P570, tomato sauce, mozzarella and parma ham); Pollo alla Diavola (P550, fresh cherry tomatoes, basil and mozzarella topped with grilled chunks of deviled chicken with a hint of chili); Greca (P535, tomato sauce, kalamata olives and feta cheese); and Vegetariana (P515, tomato sauce, grilled bell peppers, eggplant and mozzarella).

Guests can choose between penne, spaghetti or homemade fettuccine for their pasta. The chef’s suggestions are Tagliatelle con Tartufo Asparagi e Prosciutto di Parma(P460, homemade tagliatelle with white truffle, asparagus and parma ham); Pennette al Ragu di Salsiccia e Funghi (P410, pennette with Italian sausage and mushroom in red sauce); Spaghetti Salmon e Arancia (P420, spaghetti with smoked salmon in white wine sauce with a hint of orange and thyme); and Fettuccine Nere in Crema di Mare (P490, homemade black fettuccine with a creamy seafood sauce).

Philippine Fashion Week Holiday 2012: Shock start, classic end

Chris Jasler kicked off one show at Philippine Fashion Week (PFW) in such an exciting manner that it was hard to keep from asking for more last Saturday.

Also featured in the show were the works of Michael Guinto, Philipp Tampus and Veejay Floresca.

The show started with one male model with well defined abs wearing just leather skivvies and tiny denim bag. He stood in the runway for quite a bit prompting whispers in the audience as they tried to figure out if the show had started or were there technical difficulties.

The music suddenly blared and the model removed a folded up cotton vest from the bag, put it on, then unzipped the denim purse and turned it into jeans, and put that on.

The jeans looked completely wearable and did not have avant-garde “can’t-wear-in-real-life” feel to it.

The rest of the collection featured a sexy glammed-up version of a motorcycle gang with a hint of goth. There were leather vests, camouflage printed and patched jeans, jeweled helmets and eye patches, tops pieced together with belt straps and rings, skulls, and a red-orange metal accent.

Mr. Jasler’s edgy collection was a tough act to follow.

Mr. Guinto’s line was a 180-degree turn, with outfits that leaned towards the conservative.

Most of his pieces had a casual-office feel. Following a trend in this season’s PFW shows, his collection also featured a bit of orange.

This was followed by a series of gowns by Mr. Tampus which suggested nakedness through sheer lace and nude underlay adorned with gems in an array of bright pastel hues.

Mr. Floresca ended the show by showing what was possible with sheer piña fabric. Using leather accents, he started with simple pieces and carried on to more intricate evening gowns.

Manila ranks 8th in nations ready for PPP

Out of the selected 16 countries in Asia-Pacific region, the Philippines ranked eighth in terms readiness and capacity to accomplish sustainable, long-term public-private partnerships (PPP) projects, a new study called “2011 Infrascope” commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Wednesday.
The study revealed that reflecting their robust institutional and regulatory frameworks, the top performing countries in Asia-Pacific in 2011 were Australia (No. 1), United Kingdom (No. 2), South Korea (No.3), Gujarat state in India (No. 4), India (No. 5) and Japan (No. 6).

China, which ranked at seventh, also performed well with 614 PPPs reaching financial closure between 2000 and 2009, despite a relatively underdeveloped institutional and regulatory environment.

“The strong willingness and capacity of provincial governments for carrying out PPP projects, a friendly investment environment, and the sheer scale of the China market for infrastructure drove activity,” ADB said in a statement.

The study also showed that at the lower end of the index were Philippines (No.8), Indonesia (No.9), Thailand (No.10), Bangladesh (No. 11), Pakistan (No. 12), Kazakhstan (No.13), Vietnam (No.14), Mongolia (No.15) and Papua New Guinea (No.16). It added that the lower ranking was from a lack of experience with PPPs and underdeveloped institutions and regulatory frameworks.

However, the study said that the Philippines, together with other emerging economies in Asia-Pacific region like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Thailand and Indonesia, are moving swiftly to put in place the needed laws and structures to attract more private investment.

Varied readiness 
ADB said that the assessment, carried out on 11 developing economies in Asia-Pacific, along with four benchmark countries, and one state, Gujarat in India, shows an increasingly open environment for PPPs, though with individual countries at different stages of readiness.

“It is the capacity of the public sector to be able to react systematically to the complexities associated with PPP projects that will ensure long term success,” the study noted. Moreover, ADB noted that while overall prospects for PPP development remain bright in Asia-Pacific region, governments need to continue reforms and address capacity gaps for the design and implementation of effective projects.

It added that Asia-Pacific has seen a boom in PPPs in the past decades, however, to advance the process even further, the region needs more effective public sector oversight agencies and in some instances more political will.

“In order to leverage the $8 trillion required over the next decade for physical infrastructure in Asia, public financiers like ADB must undergo a complete change of mindset and shift their focus from sovereign projects to PPPs,” said Woochong Um, deputy director general of ADB’s Regional and Sustainable Development Department.

Um added that studies such as 2011 Infrascope will help ADB’s developing member countries address the areas of PPPs that need to be strengthened. In 2011, the Philippine government bid out only one PPP project—the P1.96-billion Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) Link Road Project to Ayala Corp.

This year, various projects have been rolled out by the government through the Philippine PPP Center.

Among the major PPP projects were the CALA Expressway (Cavite and Laguna Side); Integrated Transport System; Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 South Extension; LRT Line 2 East Extension; Modernization of Philippine Orthopedic Center; Ninoy Aquino International Airport Project (Phase II); PPP For School Infrastructure Project; Vaccine Self-Sufficiency Project-Phase II; North Luzon Expressway-SLEX Connector Road; and Quirino Highway Improvement and Rehabilitation.

A close look at the MoA Arena

The controversy that accompanied Lady Gaga’s recent Manila concert almost eclipsed the excitement of watching the two-night shows in a new venue, the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

It did not help that people thought the 20,000 capacity Arena—which reportedly cost P3.5 billion to build—would not be ready for the concert, since construction was still going on a few weeks before Lady Gaga arrived.

In fact, a team from the American singer-songwriter’s management flew in advance just to personally conduct an ocular inspection of the venue.

Fortunately everything went fine on opening night, with an almost-capacity crowd beholding the Arena’s spanking new features.

Here’s what it looks like:

From the outside, the Arena’s design resembles the outline of a gigantic eye—a clever symbolism for the optical thrill that the entertainment and sports venue offers.

Escalators

At the lobby are escalators that take spectators to their designated sections.

The most striking thing about the walk towards the doors is the spaciousness of the area, which reminds you of the passenger lounge at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.

At the sides of the walk are concessionaires that sell American, Mexican, Italian and other fastfood fare. What’s good about them is that there are enough cocktail tables where you can wolf down a snack or meal before showtime.

Restrooms are conveniently located near the doors of each section.

What you’ll truly appreciate, once inside the arena itself, is the comfort—the seats have ample legroom even for tall folks.

A luxurious feature are the special “suites” just above the lower box section. These are said to be reserved for sponsors and corporate entities that have plunked in money for the privilege of watching the action from a glassed, hotel-like room with couches and private restroom.

The only bummers are the following:

Overzealous ushers who motion you to not stand up even when everybody else is jumping up and down with excitement over the music.

The unavailability of other kinds of drinking water for sale aside from the distilled brand—which is shunned by those who are aware of its lack of health benefits.

And the absurdity of having beer kiosks whose attendants tell you that you can’t buy a drink until after the concert is over.

Nonetheless, the coming shows lined up at the Arena are: Taylor Dayne and Edwin McCane, June 1; NKOTBSB (New Kids On The Block and Backstreet Boys), June 3; “Icons” (featuring 24 all-star Pinoy music artists), June 16; The Fray, June 21; and Cirque Du Soleil (starting August 9).