campo montero

If not for the relentless text messaging of Belen Pareja-Laurente, I wouldn’t have attended the opening of Tago’s newest watering hole, Campo Montero, even if earlier that day, the owner had sent somebody to our office to invite me and another officemate. The fun starts at 5:30, the boy said as he left, like it was an afterthought.

I drove home braving the heavy rains at around half past five, reported to my post at Emily’s at around six and headed back home after a while to have dinner at 7:30. Then Bebel’s text messages started coming. And so at around 9:00 Gly and I walked under a drizzle to Campo Montero at the corner of Espinoza and Falcon Streets, just a block and a half from home.

The place blazed with tiny lights and crawled with people. Pitched at the center was a humungous San Miguel Beer tent in blood red. When I saw Aldrin Montero, SMC-Tagum’s top gun, in some corner, I knew why.

I went there as a freeloader and so I knew not if the sisig I munched and the 7-up and San Mig Lite I drank at the table that Josie Montero led us to were on the house or not. (It was opening night, remember?) But later, when Manong Lalo Medrano arrived, joined us, and made us order more sisig and beer, the tab got picked and paid!








I’m a virtual non-drinker and I’m on diet because my blood sugar has gone amok. I went there to strike a good conversation with friends and strangers and I got it from Campo Montero owners: young entrepreneurs-slash-cousins Toto Campomanes and Mikey Montero . I know these kids, Toto most especially, because while growing up they used to spend a portion of their summer vacation in Tago, staying with their Lola Awi whose house was just a stone’s throw from ours.

Campo Montero's tarp said it’s a wifi area but when I requested Josie to ask for the password, she came back with nothing. What was within range though was the “Laurente Family Network” but just the same, I wasn’t able to post my FB status in between stuffing my mouth with sisig because the connection was slow.

“We want this to be a family-oriented resto bar,” Toto said after he introduced me to Mikey. He added that it was also what Aldrin, another cousin, suggested.

“Do you have plans of putting a videoke machine?” I said, wanting to make sure.

Toto looked at Mikey and they both smiled. “No,” he said.

Halleluiah! Hearing Toto say that was like hearing angels sing. I mean, who needs another seedy videoke bar where your putting-up with unruly kids and injured vocal chords can make you want to go ballistic?

I want these young entrepreneurs to succeed not only because they're my neighbors but because big investments are involved and Campo Montero might just redefine Tago’s night life. That said, I gave them tips culled from my lectures as part time instructor at the graduate school of business in Tandag and from the numerous business seminars the Department of Trade and Industry had sent me to.

“Just be very sure of your target market,” I told Toto and Mikey. Will you go for preppies who just crowd the place and order a Junior Lapad enough to last them the whole night or go for yuppies whose disposable income puts them in the position to pay big in exchange for a cozy, quiet, and relaxing night?

I also told Toto and Mikey to go for branding. What are the things they want to associate Campo Montero with? Is it the food? Is it the service? Is it the ambience?

I felt I had shared enough things that night for Toto and Mikey to chew on. And here’s hoping they’ll think about them because as it is, there’s a host of concerns they need to address immediately. And I’m not even talking about the comfort room and the way the place is configured.

I can only wish these people good luck. But wait, did I say the sisig was good?