RIAN MONTAÑO was set to marry Mars Magpayo at the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park and hold their wedding reception at the Peninsula. They, too, evacuated to another hotel. REM ZAMORA
AT THE PEN
Rebellion with fine dining on the menu
By Volt Contreras
Inquirer
Last updated 05:21am (Mla time) 11/30/2007
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MANILA, Philippines -- “I was for Trillanes before, but this is a major change.”
That was the pensive groom, Guderian Montaño, whose wedding reception booked for 8 Thursday night at the Manila Peninsula hotel in Makati City was canceled -- a “casualty” of the tense standoff between government forces and renegade soldiers led by opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a former Navy lieutenant.
Montaño, son of former Philippine Constabulary chief Ramon Montaño, was to wed Ma. Estela Magpayo at the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park.
The 6 p.m. nuptials had former President Fidel Ramos, businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. and singer Jose Mari Chan among the principal sponsors.
No panic
The young Montaño was among the hundreds of hotel guests caught in a bizarre political upheaval that saw the rebel officers “checking in” into one of the Pen’s function rooms without actually causing panic on the premises.
For in the first few hours after Trillanes and company entered the hotel and from there issued calls for the overthrow of the Arroyo administration, it was still largely business as usual at the 480-room Pen.
It was a coup attempt staged amid fine dining.
Trillanes and company, trailed by a horde of journalists, entered the hotel just before noon and caught some guests lunching at the lobby.
By the time the soldiers’ civilian supporters, led by former Vice President Teofisto Guingona and former University of Philippines president Francisco “Dodong” Nemenzo had set themselves up for a press conference at the hotel’s mezzanine, the background sounds included the clink and clatter of dishes and silverware from a nearby corporate function.
Orderly
Only at around 2 p.m. did National Capital Region Police Office Director Geary Barias, the chief government negotiator on site, announce orders for the guests to start leaving the hotel. He also gave the renegade soldiers a 3 p.m. ultimatum.
At least between noon and the expiration of the deadline, the premature checkouts went rather orderly, with no one raising their voices at the reception desks. Shuttle services were provided at the lobby.
In curlers
One middle-aged woman still with hair curlers on and lugging a bunch of formal dresses was among those cutting their stay short and seen leaving for another hotel.
The Peninsula issued a statement Thursday night but earlier declined to give interviews as to the number of guests affected.
Among those who lingered for a few minutes longer -- and visibly enjoyed watching history unfold -- was American citizen Syndey Shain, a friend of the Montaños and a retired police officer from Louisville, Kentucky.
“I was in my room when I saw the breaking news on TV. Well, I guess going down here is better than staying in my room,” she said when the Philippine Daily Inquirer met her in the lobby, about two hours before the deadline for the rebels expired.
It can be scary “when you see people with submachine guns in your hotel,” she remarked, referring to the armed rebel soldiers posted at the Pen’s main marble staircase. “But I won’t be here if I were that afraid.”
No romantic evening
Minutes later, a visibly worried ex-General Montaño, the father of the groom Guderian, arrived and inquired at the front desk as to his son’s reception booking.
“They are handling it very well,” the elder Montaño told reporters, referring to the police response to the crisis. “And I’ll also commend them if we can push through with our wedding reception.”
But by then, it was already clear that the Montaños’ plans for a romantic evening had to give way to a national emergency.
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