Highlights of J. Manuel González Resumé
 
  • Successful Tourism Entrepreneur. Designer, Builder, CEO, and Principal Owner of Plantation Bay (www.plantationbay.com), a highly successful and innovative resort, which in most years outperforms (relative to size) all other hotels in the country, including Shangri-La Mactan (the Shangri-La group’s most profitable property in the world).

  • Unique practical experience as a Very High End Traveler, Customer, and Critic of Hotels and Restaurants around the world, probably unmatched by any other hotelier or food critic.

  • Former international and investment banker, citizen of the world. Worked in some of the world’s great cities – San Francisco, London, Paris, Washington DC, New York, and Hong Kong. Has also lived in Los Angeles, Vancouver/Whistler, Rome, Barcelona, and Malaga.

  • MBA Columbia University, New York. Robert McKim Fellowship for exceptional academic achievement; Roswell McCrea Prize for being the most outstanding first-year student. AB Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University, with honors. Awarded Full Presidential Scholarship for topping the entrance examinations.

  • Author of Crazy Wild Ideas – Out-of-the-Box Solutions for Fixing the Philippines, a full-length Amazon Kindle e-book on Philippine history, society, and politics; Many Moods of Plantation Bay, Tales of Plantation Bay, both coffee-table books for Plantation Bay Resort & Spa; and Seasons Lost, Memories Found, a short book of romantic-erotic poetry ("Your breathlessness at dusk returns / to restless seas we calmed / by sands our summer warmed"). Has published articles on financial, political, and cultural issues in leading international publications (Euromoney, Asian Wall St. Journal), as well as in Philippine periodicals; has been quoted in Euromoney and the New York Times. Wrote a series of 20 satirical essays on Philippine culture, published in the Philippine Star ("What accounts for the enduring popularity of golf? What aberrant desires, what secret perversions, what neurotic anxieties, lurk beneath its innocent exterior?"); and a continuing series of light-hearted travelogues also in the Philippine Star.

  • Speaks fluent, well-accented French and Spanish.

  • Personal interests include: architecture and interior design; fine wines and foods; marine sports; ballroom dancing; vintage movies; and fortune-telling for entertainment (graphology, palm-reading, astrology, and I-Ching divination).

 
J. Manuel González Publications
Humorous Travelogue Writer and Social Commentator
(Philippine Star except as noted; Click link for full text)

Cebu – Where West First Met East (Mabuhay Magazine) 2000.
The Problem With Cebuanas (The Freeman) 2009.
Missing in Munich (Philippine Inquirer) 2009.
How I Learned to Play Hockey 2009.
2010 Winter Olympics (Cebu Sun-Star) 2010.
Blown Away in Vienna 2010.
Chilling Out in Prague 2010.
(Almost) Busted in Budapest (Cebu Sun-Star) 2010.
Five Days in Athens 2010.
Seven Days in Istanbul 2010.
Seville, A Part of Spain That’s Not Madrid (Cebu Sun-Star) 2011.
Ronda and Granada – Some Parts of Spain That Aren’t Madrid (Cebu Sun-Star) 2011.
Barcelona – A Part of Spain That’s Not Madrid (Cebu Sun-Star) 2011.
Quickie in Marseille 2011.
Provence: A Tale of Two Cities, Avignon, 2011.
Provence: A Tale of Two Cities, Aix-en-Provence, 2011.
The French Riviera – A Tale of Two Cities, Cannes, 2011.
The French Riviera – A Tale of Two Cities, Nice, 2011.
Springtime in Lyon 2011..
April in Paris (Cebu Sun-Star) 2012..
Springtime in Rome (Cebu Sun-Star) 2012.
Six Weeks in Rome. Part One of Four: The Most Beautiful Women in Rome 2012.
Six Weeks in Rome. Part Two of Four: How to Do Rome in a Day, 2012.
Six Weeks in Rome. Part Three of Four: How to Do Rome in a Day, continued, 2012.
Six Weeks in Rome. Part Four of Four: Amazing Facts About Rome that Guidebooks Won’t Tell You, 2012.
A Stroll Through Heidelberg 2013.
Paris – Three Exhibits 2013.
Paris – Three Stores, Three Lunches 2013.
Baden-Baden on a Budget 2014.
The Sensual Pleasures of Bordeaux 2014.
Counting Stars from Manhattan to San Francisco, 2016.
Barcelona by Bar, 2016.
Eating My Way Through London, 2016.
Bigger and Better in Texas, 2016.
Erotic Art in Paris Museums, (Manila Bulletin) 2016.
Catalunya Independence Crisis Explained (an Op-Ed in 4 parts) 2017.
A Visit to Christie's Auction House, and a Glimpse of the US$ 450 Million Da Vinci, 2017.
Bitcoins: The Emperor Has No Clothes, 2018.
Switzerland (a three-part article), 2018.
Opening Doors in Bordeaux, 2018.
Official National Dishes – An Off-the-Wall Idea for National Change, 2018.
Interview on Philippine Challenges, 2018.
Bitcoins AND Blockchains - Murphy's Law Waiting to Happen, 2018.
Solving the US Health Care Fiasco, 2019.
The Arithmetic Behind and Beyond the Proposed Manila Subway, 2019.
Crazy Wild Ideas - Out-of-the-Box Solutions for Fixing the Philippines, a full-length book which proposes sweeping changes to national symbols, including the flag, food, sports, holidays, and national motto.
Plantation Bay Circular on Coronavirus, 2020.
No Time to Waste a Pandemic Financial Recovery, 2020.
Crypto resurrection, 2022.
Crypto’s Last Stand: Stablecoin, 2023.
Philippine Tourism: Still Making the Same Mistakes Part 1, 2023.
Philippine Tourism: Still Making the Same Mistakes Part 2, 2023.
Philippine Tourism: Still Making the Same Mistakes Part 3, 2023.
Philippine Tourism: Love Campaign Crash and Burn, 2023.
Philippine Tourism: Absence of Competence, the DOT’s Culture and Scenery Delusion, 2023.
The Rise of the Right Is the Fault of the Center, 2024.
The Only Remaining Possible Solution to the Palestine Problem Part 1, 2024.
The Only Remaining Possible Solution to the Palestine Problem Part 2, 2024.
Full Text of the Palestine Problem Op-Eds, 2024.

 
J. MANUEL GONZÁLEZ

 
 
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2021-Present. Principal Shareholder
Plantation Prime (food products)
Philippines
Founded this artisanal-quality food canning company, specializing in almost-ready-to-eat Filipino and international dishes that would otherwise require lengthy preparation time at home. Initial products are Beef Shank Kare-Kare (a peanut-flavored beef stew with some similarities to osso bucco), Bicol Express (coconut-flavored, heavily-spiced pork), Chile con Carne (far superior to all the commonly-available brands in North America), and Tita Bok’s All-Beef All-Purpose Pasta Sauce (long-simmered Bolognese-style). Now distributed through major supermarkets, online, and in Australia and Dubai.
2021-Present. Personal interests  
Writing a parenting/life re-boot book, Archetypal Story-Telling: The Missing Element in Positive Psychology, and a collection of humorous travelogues, Europe for Fat Cats — Droll Thoughts for the Well-Traveled.

Now hold eight US patents related to solar panels, host websites, and spam email/inappropriate online behavior — 4,484,566; 7,558,807; 7,647,339; 7,873,665; 8,065,333; 8,296,325; 10,303889; and 10,936,733.

Conceptualizing a model urban center, a "seed city" which embodies simple-to-adopt green strategies (location undisclosed for now). Design and construction of a shopping mall which employs energy-saving techniques based on passive solar and prevailing-wind considerations (Mactan).
1995-Present. Principal Shareholder
Plantation Bay Resort & Spa (www.plantationbay.com)
Philippines
Designed from scratch, built from the ground up, opened, and currently oversee the operations of this 5-Star resort with 280 rooms. Also performed assorted odd functions like writing collaterals, giving seminars to staff, performing handwriting analysis for guest amusement, and developing recipes. Plantation Bay is an innovative and highly successful resort. In most years it outperforms (relative to size) all other hotels in the country, including Shangri-La Mactan, the Shangri-La group’s most profitable single property in the world.
1991-1992. Director, Investment Banking
AIA Capital Ltd.
Hong Kong
Devised a "synthetic swap" mechanism to make use of AIG's blocked funds in Southeast Asia, earning significant transaction profits.
1989-90 and 1993-94. Personal Business Interests
Philippines
Organized a real-estate holding company in Cebu and constructed a moderate-size office and shopping complex; invested in and helped resolve management problems in a consumer-finance company in Manila. Acquired real estate in Cebu, including the land that would eventually become Plantation Bay.
1987-1988. Executive Director, Corporate Finance
Sun Hung Kai Securities Ltd
Hong Kong
Prepared prospectuses and performed due diligence for IPOs. Helped start up SHK's brokerage operation in the Philippines.
1979-1986. Senior Investment Officer
International Finance Corporation - World Bank
Washington, DC
Private-sector project finance. Handled transactions in Mexico and the Caribbean, in the basic-industry, mining, and tourism sectors. Advised Government of Colombia on development-finance policies, Government of Haiti on sugar industry. Advised financial institutions in Colombia and Jamaica on portfolio management.

Uncovered major discrepancies in the valuation of ADELA, a $2.5 Billion investment company owned by approximately 250 of the then leading commercial banks, investment banks, and industrial corporations in the world. Was seconded to the company for an extended period to advise in its orderly winding-down. This case was reported in Euromoney and the Wall Street Journal.

Performed original conceptual work on hybrid financial instruments. Was one of the first officers to recommend and suggest a specific structure for the extensive use of guarantees, especially asymmetrical guarantees.
1974-1978. Assistant Manager
Bank of America
San Francisco, London, Paris
Trained in San Francisco. As Credit Administrator in London, reviewed corporate and sovereign credit proposals. Participated in the bank's early efforts at evaluating country and currency risk. As Account Executive in Paris, interacted with US corporations and high-net-worth individuals doing business in France.
 
EDUCATION
MBA, Columbia University, New York, 1974.
Robert J. McKim, Jr., Fellowship for exceptional academic achievement. Roswell McCrea Prize, awarded to the most outstanding first-year student.
AB Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University 1971.
With Honors. Full Presidential Scholarship for placing first in the entrance examinations to this, the most prestigious university in the Philippines.
 
PARTIAL LIST OF PUBLICATIONS
  • Crazy Wild Ideas – Out-of-the-Box Solutions for Fixing the Philippines, 2019. A full-length book on Philippine history, politics, and society, proposing sweeping changes in Philippine national symbols, such as the flag, food, sports, holidays, a national motto. Available on Amazon Kindle.
  • “The Arithmetic Behind and Beyond the Proposed Manila Subway”, 2019. http://plantationbay.com/Articles/TheArithmeticBehind_andBeyondtheProposedManilaSubway2019.pdf Simple calculations and comparisons with other subway systems show the proposed subway design to be grossly inadequate, almost certainly counter-productive (worsening rather than relieving traffic), and an indefensible waste of public resources.
  • “Solving the US Health Care Fiasco”, 2019. http://plantationbay.com/Articles/37-Solving_the_US_health_care_fiasco.pdf The problem is wrongly formulated as How to Pay High Costs. It would be more amenable to solution if we asked How to Reduce the Costs.
  • “Official National Dishes – An Off-the-Wall Idea for National Change”, 2018. http://plantationbay.com/Articles/35-OfficialNationalDishes,AnOff-the-Wall-IdeaforNationalChange.pdf An essay proposing the proclamation and promotion of a set of three specific national dishes, as a way of helping build civic pride through Filipino food.
  • “Bitcoins: The Emperor Has No Clothes”, 2018. http://plantationbay.com/Articles/32-Bitcoins-TheEmperorHasNoClothes.pdf Op-ed discussing why cryptocurrencies do not qualify was money, and why they have a doubtful future even as speculations.
  • “Catalunya Independence Crisis Explained, 2017”. http://plantationbay.com/Articles/30-Catalunya_Independence_Crisis_Explained_(an_Op-Ed_in_4_parts)_2017.pdf Series of four guest editorials in the Philippine Star synthesizing the issues and predicting, with considerable accuracy, the ultimate courses of action by the various parties.
  • "Call a Country a Company. . .", Euromoney, February 1983. Following the round of Latin American crises in the early 1980s, this seminal article proposed an alternative approach to country financial reporting and the evaluation of country credit risk.
  • "The Witch Doctors of Washington" and "Triumph of the Witch Doctors", the Philippine Star, January and March 1998. Pointed out the pitfalls of IMF tight-money policies. May have helped moderate the response of Philippine authorities to the IMF in the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997.
  • “The Unfriendly Philippine Skies”, Asian Wall Street Journal, May 19, 1999. Widely-read and highly influential guest editorial which espoused more liberal civil aviation policies in the interests of both tourism and the overall economy.
  • “Roots of the Next Asian Crisis”, the Philippine Star, November 1999. Argued that post-Crisis economic policies in Asia were shoring up banks at the expense of the entrepreneurial sector.
  • “A Visit to Christie’s, and a Glimpse of the US$ 450 Million Da Vinci”. http://plantationbay.com/Articles/31-ChristiesAuctionHouseandaGlimpseoftheUS$450MillionDaVinci2017.pdf On-the-spot reporting as part-time foreign correspondent.
  • Seasons Lost, Memories Found, 1988. Booklet of sentimental and occasionally erotic poems (“. . . Your breathlessness at dusk returns / to restless seas we calmed / by sands our summer warmed. . .”). ISBN 971-8573-00-3.
  • "A Financial History of the World", The Manila Bulletin, 1987, reprinted in the Philippine Military Academy Sword, 1988. Light-hearted series of articles on financial milestones, for the general public.
  • "Sex and Status", the Philippine Star, 1994-5. Humor. Series of 20 satires on contemporary Philippine values (“. . . What accounts for the enduring popularity of golf? What aberrant desires, what secret perversions, what neurotic anxieties, lurk beneath its innocent exterior?”)
  • The Many Moods of Plantation Bay, 2008. The resort’s first coffee-table book. Publisher, writer.
  • Tales of Plantation Bay, 2016. Second coffee-table book to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the resort; recounts little-known facts and anecdotes about the origins and evolution of the resort and the people connected with it. Publisher, writer.
  • Continuing Series of Humorous, highly-personal Travelogues in the Philippine Star: Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Istanbul, Athens, Seville, Granada, Barcelona, Marseille, the French Riviera, Rome, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Switzerland, and others. "[This 1878 painting has a Story:] Rolla, by the window. . . is about to commit suicide. Marion [depicted stark naked on the bed] is not about to commit suicide. In fact, Marion looks pretty darn satisfied with life. Conclusion: Rolla is an idiot."
 
PERSONAL INFORMATION
  • Born in Cebu, but grew up in Manila and Washington, DC. Son of Antonio Gonzalez, at one time Chief of Military Intelligence, succeeding Fidel Ramos (who was later President of the Philippines). Grandson of M.J. Cuenco, late Senate President, Cabinet Secretary, and Governor of Cebu. Great-grandson of Mariano Cuenco, founder of the first printing press in the Visayas Region of the Philippines.
  • Has lived in many of the world’s great cities: London, Paris, New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Whistler, Barcelona, and Malaga. Extended sojourns in Rome, Breckenridge, Berlin, and Boston; frequent business travel to Latin America.
  • Speaks fluent, well-accented French and Spanish, as well as native English, Cebuano, and Pilipino (Tagalog).
  • Good writing and public speaking skills in English. Experienced classroom lecturer and discussion moderator.
  • Personal interests include: architecture and interior design; fine wines and foods; marine sports; ballroom dancing; vintage movies; and fortune-telling for entertainment (graphology, palm-reading, astrology, and I-Ching divination).