An art collector comes home
Manny Florendo went through what people may think of as a version of hell. Throughout his life, Manny was the high-flying sort, spending most of his time womanizing, drinking, gambling and doing drugs. His swashbuckling stance and unflappable worship of vice in his former life seem to merit a biopic, the crash-and-burn whiplash the only suitable finale for such a movie. Fortunately, something intervened: now Manny, in his early 50s, is clean, properly rehabilitated, and re-introduced to the world. Save for the twitching on his left eye that may (or may not be) the lifetime side-effect from abusing methamphetamine, he looks perfectly normal.
That something is Seagulls Flight Foundation, an initiative that offers a lived-in and in-depth form of rehabilitation for those who have substance abuse problems. (As it turns out, the foundation also provides intervention to those with severe anger management issues.) The foundation operates the Seagulls Village, a community located in idyllic Tagaytay where “residents” undergo rigid, medically supervised routines and activities meant to cure their addictions. In 2001, Manny checked himself in, clinging to the last straw connecting him to life.
It wasn’t easy, Manny said while reminiscing about his stay. “First two months, puwede kang mag-letter writing,” he said. “After five months, I had my first dialogue with my loved ones. The key was talking with the person kung kanino ka may problema.” Allowed to confront his demons—and the attendant emotional wounds that came with them—Manny slowly cleared the haze of his bingeing days and confronted his “self-centered, self-righteous” part (the one that kept blaming other people and the world for his plight), seeing his former life for what it was: empty, dejected, insignificant. “At 42, I thought I knew who I was.”
Two years was the time it took for Manny to finally encounter his real self, who appreciates beauty in natural and man-made things. After spending 25 months in Seagulls Village, he began appreciating the meticulous process that went into creating bonsai and the explosion of colors in the works of contemporary Filipino artists. “Dahil clean na ako, dun ko na nakita ang beauty ng lahat,” he said. “Sa art pala lumabas yung the other side of Manny.”
Manny is proud of his collections done primarily by painter Noel Pascual and sculptor Ronald Castrillo (the latter is the nephew of the waiting-in-the-wing National Artist Ed Castrillo). The collector admires the organic shapes and colors in Pascual’s paintings and the structural beauty that goes in the brass creations of the young Castrillo.
Asked to do a fund-raising event for Seagulls Flight Foundation, Manny just had to look at his collection for him to come up with the art exhibit idea. The exhibit, which will be staged in the foundation’s Alabang office but whose date is yet to be announced, will present a chance for guests to bid on any of the six paintings that are part of Pascual’s “Geisha” series. The proceeds will go in furthering the initiatives of the foundation. “I want to help where I came from,” Manny said.
Sober and clean for 10 years, Manny recently received the foundation’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull Award, named after the self-help classic written by Richard Bach that tells the story of a lone seagull convincing his comrades to reach greater heights and thereby achieve self-perfection. The flight to recovery, Manny admitted, is not as swift but the award inspires him to “double my awareness to live healthy and clean, strive more to be spiritual and double my efforts with regard to my recovery.” It helps that he has art to help him along the way. - Article courtesy of Manila Bulletin.
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