Palmas Del Mar
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Palmas del Mar History
What is now Palmas del Mar Conference Resort Hotel began as San Antonio Beach Resort in the late ’60s. The resort had a salt-water pool and a children’s playground plus horseback riding, fishing, and boating as added attractions. Always free was a walk along the narrow break-water, an activity that was fun, wet, and challenging, especially during stormy weather.
The main structure of the present club-house was constructed and new freshwater pools were built in the early ’70s, supposedly so that the resort could be rented out as a casino. The declaration of Martial Law in 1972 put an end to these plans and since the family was more occupied with real estate developments than with managing a resort, the newly constructed club-house and resort facilities were rented out for several years.
In the ’80s, the prospect of lucrative profits from prawn-farming led the Lizareses into prawn farming. Sugar cane fields, rice paddies, and stands of coconut were excavated and stocked with brackish water. A land bridge replaced the flimsy and dizzying bamboo bridge to the breakwater, a pump house was constructed so that sea-water could be channeled into the in-land ponds. The old family resort became a bustle of supposedly scientific but high-security prawn farming activity which made the old get-away inaccessible to the general public. Fortunately or unfortunately, the good times for prawn farmers did not last. In the early ’90s, the recently excavated fishponds were filled up again and the area saw new life as Palmas del Mar Resort Village with Palmas del Mar Beach Club as the top drawer of the Bacolod’s newest residential subdivision.
The resort village was a very successful concept. Subdivision sales were brisk, with many buying lots primarily for investment. The newly resurrected resort also gained a new customer base, part of the subdivision package being free membership for as long as there was a trust fund sufficient to
INTRODUCTION
Palmas del Mar History
What is now Palmas del Mar Conference Resort Hotel began as San Antonio Beach Resort in the late ’60s. The resort had a salt-water pool and a children’s playground plus horseback riding, fishing, and boating as added attractions. Always free was a walk along the narrow break-water, an activity that was fun, wet, and challenging, especially during stormy weather.
The main structure of the present club-house was constructed and new freshwater pools were built in the early ’70s, supposedly so that the resort could be rented out as a casino. The declaration of Martial Law in 1972 put an end to these plans and since the family was more occupied with real estate developments than with managing a resort, the newly constructed club-house and resort facilities were rented out for several years.
In the ’80s, the prospect of lucrative profits from prawn-farming led the Lizareses into prawn farming. Sugar cane fields, rice paddies, and stands of coconut were excavated and stocked with brackish water. A land bridge replaced the flimsy and dizzying bamboo bridge to the breakwater, a pump house was constructed so that sea-water could be channeled into the in-land ponds. The old family resort became a bustle of supposedly scientific but high-security prawn farming activity which made the old get-away inaccessible to the general public. Fortunately or unfortunately, the good times for prawn farmers did not last. In the early ’90s, the recently excavated fishponds were filled up again and the area saw new life as Palmas del Mar Resort Village with Palmas del Mar Beach Club as the top drawer of the Bacolod’s newest residential subdivision.
The resort village was a very successful concept. Subdivision sales were brisk, with many buying lots primarily for investment. The newly resurrected resort also gained a new customer base, part of the subdivision package being free membership for as long as there was a trust fund sufficient to