A Tiring Weekend at Punta de Fabian

Mozcom is having its first(?) management workshop at Punta de Fabian in Baras, Rizal. Since it is going to be a 3-day workshop, I decided to not take the car and just go with the Mozcom van. The van passed by Rockwell around 7:30am. In the van with me were Mike Blancas (Manila), Gerard Java (Cebu) and Kym Alvaro (Baguio). We took the Pasig/Cainta/Rizal route. There was a bit traffic going there. And we took a wrong turn in a road fork in Baras. So we arrived at Punta de Fabian close to 9:30am. Kym let us in on a little trivia -- Baras is the birthplace of the Filipino martial arts called Sikaran (which, as its name implies, is mainly using the feet for fighting).

Nestled between the Sierra Madre mountain range on the left, and Laguna Lake on the right, Punta de Fabian sits on top of a mountain (or is it just a hill?) with a great view. The place is fairly new. It sports a modern Asian architectural look. After entering the main gate, the road goes up very steeply. We were greeted with welcome drinks at the reception area. Then we were led to our rooms. I shared the room (4-C) with Mike Blancas.



The weather hasn't been good the past few days in Manila. Its been raining and today was no exception here in Baras. It would drizzle on and off. But it did not matter much since almost the whole day, we were just holed out in the centrally located, octagonal-shaped, cabana, which I call the "War Room".



Our strategy consultant, Louie Montalbo, facilitated the discussion. Also present for the seminar were Beta Gan, Doc T, Elvie Lopez, Tisha Corros, Michelle Eduave, Malou Zambrano, Ronald Aniceto, Cris Caneda, Leeca Saulog, Maricae Legazpi, and Mariechris de Leon. The morning was spent doing some ice-breaker exercise, then re-analyzing Mozcom's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Lunch was served at the restaurant (well, there's only 1 restaurant). Its buffet-style, but the waiters serve the portioning to the guests. So its not really an eat-all-you-can -- except for the rice. After lunch, some of us went for a short siesta/nap. When the session resumed in the afternoon, it was more work on evaluating Mozcom's current processes and plotting them on a matrix. We ended by around dinner time and had supper, where else -- the one-and-only restaurant.

I went back to the room after dinner. Mike still went swimming with the rest of the guys. I was too tired and sleepy from waking up early so I decided to call it a night.

For more photos of Punta de Fabian, visit my web album.