KAWIT, Cavite — “Thank you, good luck and see you around,” said Island Cove Corp (ICC) Managing Director Gilbert Remulla, as he hosted a farewell party to the resort’s former and present employees – from frontline services and back-of-the house teams – at the Island Cove Hotel and Resort’s Grand Tejeros Ballroom on Sunday.
The iconic Cavite resort, located at the coastal outskirts of this town’s Binakayan village, ceased operation July 28 as part of the purchase conditions forged with its still unnamed new business owners after 20 years of providing world-class leisure, recreation, and celebrations.
To celebrate the 20-year legacy, the resort’s management took the occasion “to say thank you to its family — the employees (as) all of you have contributed to the life of Island Cove,” Remulla said.
The gathering of some 300 guests, comprised of Island Cove’s most recent and former employees, “is a bitter-sweet occasion,” says Angel Ventura, who was formerly connected with the resort’s Marketing Communications Department.
Amid the rare occasion to meet up, engaging in a talkathon, and snapping selfies and groufies among present former colleagues, the farewell party provided nostalgic moments as the wind-up party left all partiers thinking of the now “empty, motionless resort atmosphere.”
“Desks, offices, hallways, rooms are the silent witnesses of all our struggles and hardships, but most of all of our laughter and friendships,” said Djoanne Ada Dones Dingle, formerly working at the resort’s Hotel Front Desk, on her Facebook post.
The employees who got technically separated from the management on their last working day felt understandably sad as they are worried on what lies ahead.
“Let us be happy for the memories we have, let us be happy for the friendships that we made, let us be happy with the skills that we learned,” Remulla said.
Before the event that led to the employees’ party time, an unusual treat for the employees – who were mostly trained to consider guest services on top of anything else, Remulla wished everyone good luck and good fortune, saying “tayo ay magkikita muli (we’ll see each other again) and from the bottom of our hearts, again, thank you…mabuhay po kayo (long live)!” (Gladys Pino/PNA)
