BERT Bravo is now the proud owner of an 18-hole golf course, realizing a dream conceived some 40 years ago.
His course sits serenely along Dumaguete City’s enchanting coastline in the Central Visayas. His Bravo Hotel, four-star, stands nearby.
Bert’s new babe used to be known as the Dumaguete Golf Club when it was built in 1945 by Don Serafin Teves and Simplicio Manictic.
Buying the course in 1996 after falling in love with it the first time he played it in 1979, Bert would embark on a painstaking mission to expand it.
Twelve years since hatching the “Dumaguete Dream,” Bert will unveil this weekend his own personal playground. From a mere nine holes for 73 years, Bert had it expanded to a full 18-hole charmer and become Negros Oriental’s gleaming crown jewel.
Aptly—and true to his being a man of few words—Bert named it simply as Bravo Golf.
And look at this: If the legendary Bobby Jones has his Masters Par 3 Course in Augusta, Georgia, Bert Bravo has also now his Par 3 Course in Dumaguete’s nearby Sibulan.
It may be short, but the par-54 course spread on a sprawling 23-hectare layout lined by 50-year-old or so mango trees can be tricky.
This, my fellow golfing journalists from Manila, including Tourism Assistant Secretary Ricky Alegre, will be discovered during the Bravo Media Golf Cup on April 7. But aside from golf, Bert Bravo is also into many other endeavors.
He has his U-Bix Corp., arguably the nation’s leader in photocopy-printer technology for the longest time. It turns 45 next year.
Bert loves coffee so much he sells Colombian beans, among other world-class beans, at his Bravo’s Best Restaurant on Angono Street, Makati City—right beside City Hall.
Also inside the restaurant is an authentic Japanese Café, with a Japanese imported from Tokyo doing your own brew. Because Bert loves pizza, too, he has it at Bravo’s Best: the best pizza, wood-fired no less, this side of the metropolis.
Like me, Bert loves booze, as well.
So, he makes and sells Czech beer that practically the entire Czech Republic staff in Makati would repair regularly at Bravo’s Best after office hours.
Wine? Bert is into it, too, having bought shares in a multinational vineyard in Spain. Try his Ars Nova.
He raises goats, as well as maintains an organically grown mango orchard at his golf course—its sun-ripened fruits a delight to the eyes. Also a man of the sea, sun and sand, Bert owns a beach resort in Siquijor and a plush seaside, five-star getaway paradise just a short ride away from Dumaguete.
Have you heard of Okamura? It is a state-of-the-art Japanese technology on office furniture. Bert is its proud franchisee here.
And what’s a pangacious to you?
It is that catfish-based variety originally bred in Vietnam. It was Bert that helped pioneer it in introducing it here, in bulk, some years back. Your cream of dory fillet comes from pangacious.
Bread-man Bert also put up a Japanese bakery here a while back. Do you know that the Japanese are among the best bread makers in the world?
If you hate termites (who doesn’t?), who you gonna call? Bert, who else? His Terminix will do the job for you!
And who is in need of manpower services?
Call Bert. He’s got the people—and even a school whose graduates are dispatched just as quick, many of them in offices here and even in hospitals overseas.
He even owns a Dumaguete-based newspaper named quaintly as the Island News, which has Cebu’s legendary Nimrod Quinones as its chief marshal.
And yet, despite all the acquisitions big and small, all that Bert had ever wanted was to put up a book store cum art gallery at Ermita, Manila, which he had accomplished with much success in the 1960s—when he was already a lawyer, at 24.
But Bert, eighty-ish now, isn’t done exploring the world. To him, there’s more to conquer, discover.
His wife, Felina, who is a doctor of philosophy and whom Bert affectionately calls “Dahlin’ Fel,” knows that to the bone.
“Nothing’s unachievable to him,” Fel said.
Do you know that Bert is also a poet? But that’s another story.
THAT’S IT Kudos anew to Philippine Airlines President Jimmy Bautista for scoring recently his first hole-in-one at Sta. Elena 29 years after he picked up the game. Cheers!
11 comments
So how much did Bravo pay you to write this drivel?
Im interested in his brewery plant. Is it for sale? Pls call 09178160530. Thank you. Atty Bong Ifurung
It was reported that Bert and Felina Bravo committed to donate Php 100 million to Silliman University to create a technology hub in Negros Oriental, but don’t be fooled because their children May Ann and Ricky are just waiting for Bert Bravo to die, and would reverse that decision. It must be upsetting to your children and grandchildren to know that they will not inherit your wealth.
The secret to Bert Bravos success is his ties w/ Accra. He was able to expand the business of Ubix through bidding in govt. institutions. Philippine laws only Filipino owned companies to participate in govt. biddings. Through his ties w/ Accra he was able to build rapport w/ the cronies of dictator Pres. Marcos.
The secret to Bert Bravos success is his ties w/ Accra. He was able to expand the business of Ubix through bidding in govt. institutions. Philippine laws only allow Filipino owned companies to participate in govt. biddings. Through his ties w/ Accra he was able to build rapport w/ the cronies of dictator Pres. Marcos.
OK boomer
So where is Bert Bravo now, he’s dying alone somewhere. Are you interested in going to his funeral?
Bert is an awful person in real life
Fast forward 2021 and all of Bravo’s businesses are bankrupt.
Is Bert Bravo dead? His offsprings May-Anne Bravo-Civil and Enrique Bravo are waiting for him to die so that they can get their inheritance. There was conflict between Aldrin S. Bengil because the offsprings thought that he’ll take over U-Bix Corporation.
The offsprings May Anne and Enrique are just waiting for him to die. There was conflict between Aldrin S. Bengil because Aldrin was close to Bravo and they thought he would take over U-Bix.