{"id":210,"date":"2009-03-20T21:36:09","date_gmt":"2009-03-20T11:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/?p=210"},"modified":"2009-03-20T21:36:09","modified_gmt":"2009-03-20T11:36:09","slug":"air-force-one-a-gentlemans-club-by-julie-yap-daza-manila-standard-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/?p=210","title":{"rendered":"Air Force One: A Gentleman\u2019s Club      by Julie Yap Daza (Manila Standard Today)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" \/><meta name=\"ProgId\" content=\"Word.Document\" \/><meta name=\"Generator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 11\" \/><meta name=\"Originator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 11\" \/>\n<link href=\"file:\/\/\/C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cdino%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml\" rel=\"File-List\" \/><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags\" name=\"place\" downloadurl=\"http:\/\/www.5iantlavalamp.com\/\"><\/o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:WordDocument>   <w:View>Normal<\/w:View>   <w:Zoom>0<\/w:Zoom>   <w:PunctuationKerning\/>   <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas\/>   <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false<\/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>   <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false<\/w:IgnoreMixedContent>   <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false<\/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>   <w:Compatibility>    <w:BreakWrappedTables\/>    <w:SnapToGridInCell\/>    <w:WrapTextWithPunct\/>    <w:UseAsianBreakRules\/>    <w:DontGrowAutofit\/>   <\/w:Compatibility>   <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4<\/w:BrowserLevel>  <\/w:WordDocument> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState=\"false\" LatentStyleCount=\"156\">  <\/w:LatentStyles> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object  classid=\"clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D\" id=ieooui><\/object> \n\n<style> st1\\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } <\/style>\n\n <![endif]--><\/p>\n<style> <!--  \/* Font Definitions *\/  @font-face \t{font-family:\"Arial Narrow\"; \tpanose-1:2 11 5 6 2 2 2 3 2 4; \tmso-font-charset:0; \tmso-generic-font-family:swiss; \tmso-font-pitch:variable; \tmso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;}  \/* Style Definitions *\/  p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal \t{mso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmargin:0cm; \tmargin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";} p \t{mso-margin-top-alt:auto; \tmargin-right:0cm; \tmso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; \tmargin-left:0cm; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";} @page Section1 \t{size:612.0pt 792.0pt; \tmargin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; \tmso-header-margin:36.0pt; \tmso-footer-margin:36.0pt; \tmso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 \t{page:Section1;} --> <\/style>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 10]> \n\n<style>  \/* Style Definitions *\/  table.MsoNormalTable \t{mso-style-name:\"Table Normal\"; \tmso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; \tmso-tstyle-colband-size:0; \tmso-style-noshow:yes; \tmso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; \tmso-para-margin:0cm; \tmso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:10.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-ansi-language:#0400; \tmso-fareast-language:#0400; \tmso-bidi-language:#0400;} <\/style>\n\n <![endif]--><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: center\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">It\u2019s not an airplane. It\u2019s not a <st1:place w:st=\"on\">Hollywood<\/st1:place> movie. What it is is the biggest in <st1:place w:st=\"on\">Asia<\/st1:place>.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">One hectare, three stories. First class, business class, economy class. Plus a basement. And a parking lot for 600 cars.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">In one wing of the building \u2014 which has cathedral windows minus the stained-glass images of biblical characters \u2014 an \u201caquarium\u201d where the fish, 100 girls, wait to be fished out by men who will pay the house P795 by the hour for their company. On the stage, a \u201cfashion show,\u201d nonstop, featuring bits and pieces of clothing on 30 models walking up and down the ramp.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">At midnight, there will be a show other than the walk of the cat. Wednesday is the big night, when movie stars idled by the death of the film industry turn into dancers, singers, performers, entertainers, the likes of Ara Mina, Aubrey Miles, Angelica Jones, Maricar de Mesa. (Sometimes the girls are bodyguarded by their mothers sitting in the dressing room with those naked bulbs studding the frame of the huge mirror, mirror on the wall.)<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Welcome to Air Force One, gentlemen. Too complicated to be a nightclub and too posh to be a KTV club, so the owners prefer to call it a gentlemen\u2019s club. A club for gentlemen without their usual ladies because, with 100 girls in the aquarium and 30 on the catwalk, who needs more?<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p><\/o:p>Hedonistic comes to mind. The food is better than what comes out of some \u201cfine dining\u201d restaurants (where customers pay a fine for ordering gourmet): <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Japanese tempura, Filipino sinigang, Chinese noodles, American-style steak, at five-star prices. \u201cOur chef came from the Westin.\u201d<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">The appointments are five-star. A lobby with marble floors and lamps seemingly lifted from a hotel, and don\u2019t overlook the sweeping staircase with a graceful arch. Smoking rooms, bars, lounges \u2014 and, the piece de resistance, 50 KTV rooms and 100 rooms in the underground spa, a spa that provides queen-size beds instead of narrow massage cots.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">In the KTV rooms, each named after an American president \u2014 but since George W. Bush is only the 43rd, there are rooms called Camp David (though I didn\u2019t see one named after the White House) \u2014 the gentlemen will find two TV sets, a luxuriously furnished bathroom with shower and toilet, and individually packaged razor, toothbrush, soap, all branded Air Force One, exactly like what a first-class passenger would find in the plane\u2019s lavatory.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Air Force One is supposed to be the biggest nightclub-KTV club in <st1:place w:st=\"on\">Asia<\/st1:place>. Owned by the fortyish Leo Ting and 14 partners, it\u2019s only 16 months old and making waves. Not surprisingly, the men who come to look are mostly tourists, who bring in 70 percent of the business. A crew of 400 look after their every need, wearing different uniforms to distinguish their work: waitering, ushering, gofer-ing, parking, security. (No uniforms for the bouncers.) <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">They\u2019re so focused on their work that one night, when the American ambassador casually walked in with two bodyguards to look the place over, nobody remembered to roll out the red carpet and give him the VIP treatment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" \/><meta name=\"ProgId\" content=\"Word.Document\" \/><meta name=\"Generator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 11\" \/><meta name=\"Originator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 11\" \/><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:WordDocument>   <w:View>Normal<\/w:View>   <w:Zoom>0<\/w:Zoom>   <w:PunctuationKerning\/>   <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas\/>   <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false<\/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>   <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false<\/w:IgnoreMixedContent>   <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false<\/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>   <w:Compatibility>    <w:BreakWrappedTables\/>    <w:SnapToGridInCell\/>    <w:WrapTextWithPunct\/>    <w:UseAsianBreakRules\/>    <w:DontGrowAutofit\/>   <\/w:Compatibility>   <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4<\/w:BrowserLevel>  <\/w:WordDocument> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState=\"false\" LatentStyleCount=\"156\">  <\/w:LatentStyles> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object  classid=\"clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D\" id=ieooui><\/object> \n\n<style> st1\\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } <\/style>\n\n <![endif]--><\/p>\n<style> <!--  \/* Font Definitions *\/  @font-face \t{font-family:\"Arial Narrow\"; \tpanose-1:2 11 5 6 2 2 2 3 2 4; \tmso-font-charset:0; \tmso-generic-font-family:swiss; \tmso-font-pitch:variable; \tmso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;}  \/* Style Definitions *\/  p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal \t{mso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmargin:0cm; \tmargin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";} p \t{mso-margin-top-alt:auto; \tmargin-right:0cm; \tmso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; \tmargin-left:0cm; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";} @page Section1 \t{size:612.0pt 792.0pt; \tmargin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; \tmso-header-margin:36.0pt; \tmso-footer-margin:36.0pt; \tmso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 \t{page:Section1;} --> <\/style>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 10]> \n\n<style>  \/* Style Definitions *\/  table.MsoNormalTable \t{mso-style-name:\"Table Normal\"; \tmso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; \tmso-tstyle-colband-size:0; \tmso-style-noshow:yes; \tmso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; \tmso-para-margin:0cm; \tmso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:10.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-ansi-language:#0400; \tmso-fareast-language:#0400; \tmso-bidi-language:#0400;} <\/style>\n\n <![endif]--><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">The manager could only surmise from Ambassador Francis Ricciardone\u2019s visit that the envoy was curious about a nightclub named after the airplane of the <st1:place w:st=\"on\"><st1:country-region w:st=\"on\">US<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place> president, a club with 43 KTV rooms named after US presidents and goodness knows what else. From what I saw during a brief walk-through, I\u2019m almost certain there is no smoking room named after the Oval Office or Monica Lewinsky.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">To hear it told, the girls of Air Force One make good money, easily. One of them is now the wife of an expat CEO, and although she has retired from the business, once in a while she and her husband drop by to watch a show and catch up with the other fish.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">It\u2019s not always the prettiest girl who takes home the big money. The customers want \u201csweet\u201d girls with saucy manners; they want to be caressed, amused, the time to pass unnoticed. For the fish, P3,000 a night is as good as it gets. The dancers earn tips in dollars, too, and $500 inserted into the garter of their bikini is not a phenomenon. From the hourly fee of P795, each girl takes P200 from the house.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Hospitality doesn\u2019t come cheap. Most of them have \u201ctalent managers\u201d who organize their schedules and teach them how to multiply their earnings. One such manager has 10 girls living under one roof with him, \u201cevery room in the house airconditioned,\u201d if you believe the manager of managers. \u201cThey all drive brand-new cars, too.\u201d<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Trained by experience to entertain, the girls are conditioned to look out for themselves. As providers of fun, they want some fun for themselves, too. That\u2019s when they disappear for days on end, after they have been blessed with a windfall, a bonus, a generous patron, manna from heaven. \u2013 ?<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 It\u2019s not an airplane. It\u2019s not a Hollywood movie. What it is is the biggest in Asia. \u00a0 One hectare, three stories. First class, business class, economy class. Plus a basement. And a parking lot for 600 cars. \u00a0 In one wing of the building \u2014 which has cathedral windows minus the stained-glass images [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}