Bluewater Maribago Welcomes Filipino-style Yuletide Season With “Pasko Sa Bluewater”

Christmas is undoubtedly the most beautiful time of the year. After all, it’s that much-awaited season when charming decorations and sparkling lights are shining all over town and popular Christmas carols once again fill the air. It’s the season that brings Filipino families together to catch up and celebrate the festivities—as early as September.

Last November 23, 2019, Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort officially started its countdown to the Yuletide Season with a parol-lighting extravaganza that opened “Pasko Sa Bluewater”—the resort’s very own unique style of celebrating the Filipino Christmas.

The event kickstarted—and graced—with performances from Marigondon National High School Campus Ministry Chorale and Visayan Music Artist Jerika Teodorico. Another homegrown talent, Von Saw, serenaded everyone with his performance during dinner at the Allegro Restaurant.

The event also highlighted the parol-making contest which featured different parol designs created by Bluewater Maribago’s various departments including Accounting, Amuma, Food and Beverages, Grounds, Housekeeping, POMEC (Engineering) and Purchasing Departments, among others.

Top 3 winners of the said contest were POMEC Department (entry no. 3) which landed on the third spot with an average score of 94.3%; Housekeeping Department (entry no.5) came in second with a total of 96.3% average score; And the declared champion, Purchasing Department (entry no. 11) which garnered 97% total average score. It’s winning piece featured a parol made of dawa (bird food) and other unique materials.

The countdown to the highly-anticipated Christmas Tree lighting ceremony took place at the spacious Bluewater Rotunda. The 15 feet tall, Christmas tree is made up of star-shaped parols in bright colors and different sizes. The said activity was spearheaded by Bluewater Maribago Assistant General Manager, Domiku Sebasten Ugarte, and wife Evangeline, together with Congresswoman Paz Radaza and Cynthia Chan, Lapulapu City mayor, Junard Chan’s wife.

It was followed by the opening of “Balay Sa Pasko”—Bluewater Maribago’s another unique feature for this year’s Christmas Season. Balay Sa Pasko is the Filipino version of Gingerbread house filled with mouthwatering holiday sweets and treats especially prepared by their resident pastry chefs such as the famous chicharon and chocolate combo “Chocoron” and the crowd fave, “Cashew Roca,” to name a few. The traditional ribbon cutting was done by Bluewater executives and honored guests.

“For our ‘Balay Sa Pasko’ concept, we initially started by putting out Gingerbread house but we later realized that it’s not in line with our Filipino roots so we transformed it into something that we call now as Balay Sa Pasko to pay tribute to Filipino gift-giving tradition,” said Erik Monsanto, Bluewater Resort Corporate MarComm Manager during a press conference held at the jam-packed Allegro restaurant. He further stated that Balay Sa Pasko is available both in their Panglao and Maribago locations and will be open daily from 9AM to 7PM, until 5th of January 2020.

Bluewater Executive Chef, Stephen Del Amen, shared what they have in store for their valued guests at Allegro—the resort’s fine dining restaurant that proudly boasts nightly-themed dinners namely “Kumbira” (Mondays), “Kusina Latina” (Tuesdays), “Cebuano Street Fest” (Wednesdays), “Asya Kulinarya” (Thursdays), “Lapyahan” (Fridays), “Barrio Fiesta” (Saturdays) and “Steak Night” (Sundays)

Allegero’s holiday-themed dinners feature a great selection of dishes exclusively offered every night from November 23 until December 31, 2019.

Every Monday is “Kumbira Day” at Allegro and the spread puts the spotlight on “Sinaksakan”—an infusion of steamed rice and root crops such as sweet potatoes or yam.

On Tuesdays, guests will get to experience “Kusina Latina” which mainly offers touch-based Spanish dishes. It has a taco station where you can make your own Filpino-style taco with ingredients like Jamon, chicken adobo, and beef caldereta. Squid a la Pobre and fish escabeche are available options for those who are more into seafood.

Cebuano favorites such as the popular tuslob buwa and nilarang (sour stew with reef eels) take center stage every Wednesday night for the “Cebuano Street Fest”.

Asian cuisine? Allegro has it all every Thursday with “Asia Kulinarya” which features Asian favorites like dim sum, kimchi, and sashimi, to name a few.

“Lapyahan” on Fridays, is a festivity of everything seafood—crabs, lobsters, a variety of fishes—every single “seafood” thing.

Every Saturday, Allegro has “Barrio Fiesta” which highlights Cebu Lechon and Chef Del Amen’s very own recipe “Sugpusoy”, basically a mix of sugpo (prawns), Lapu-lapu (grouper fish) and kasoy (cashew). Wrapping up the weekend is the “Sunday Steak Night”, it features the Tuburan-coffee flavored barbecue baby back ribs.

Additionally, for 2020, there will be more additions to their menu for different people, more options and choices in terms of food to cater their diverse guests. They have the largest selection of vegetables and 10-12 dressing choices for their Salad Bar especially served to guests who prefer a vegetarian diet.

For his part, Assistant General Manager, Domiku Ugarte discussed the significant developments in the resort. “We are adding 65 rooms for our Olango Wing, which is a 6-storey building that’s coming up next week and by the second quarter of 2020, we will be selling these rooms.” he disclosed.

“As for our Panglao branch, we will be adding 32 new rooms. For Sumilon, we are enhancing the restaurant and swimming pool for the 2nd quarter of 2020,” he added.

“And being a family resort catering young families with kids from 0-5 years old, we will also be having a bigger Kids’ Club. Basically, an indoor play area with slide and all those kiddie activities. We will also have gaming stations with video games available for older children.” Ugarte further stated.

As far as acquiring new property branches is concerned, Ugarte disclosed that they are aggressively looking at Siquijor and Dumaguete as their top targets. He added it might be another Bluewater branch and perhaps, they would be offering tour packages from one location to the next.

Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort is a pioneer establishment in Mactan, Lapulapu City which opened in 1989. They humbly started with 14 cottages to cater middle to high-end markets. It is a proud member of the Bluewater Resorts Group, a wholly Filipino-owned chain of resorts that showcased the best of Filipino culture with its Cebuano unique approach to hospitality—amuma with excellence—now on its 30th year!

The resort sprawls approximately 7 hectares which include the Bluewater Private Island that houses 190 well-appointed guest rooms, 5 restaurants, 3 swimming pools, and a spa.

Spend your holidays with friends and loved ones at Bluewater Maribago and get to indulge in rest, relaxation and the delicious food this “resort of choice” proudly offers!