Meet Joan Sanico, Cook At MRTC

Joan Sanico seasons a huge wok of pancit, checks to see if her assistant is wrapping those Thai spring rolls right, studies the menu for tomorrow’s 75 guests, then sits down to make a market list. Watching her bustle about, it’s hard to imagine that just three years earlier, she had never ever fried as much as a piece of chicken.

Half Kaolo and half Manobo, Joan grew up in a fishing community in Davao Occidental and, like many other tribal women, married young, at 18.  

She began working at the Malungon Retreat and Training Center as an on-call dishwasher in 2014. “We asked her to chop vegetables and help with other kitchen tasks one day,” recalls Queenie Boloron, former MRTC chef. “She learned quickly, never complained, was obedient, dedicated to her work, and interested in what she was doing. I recognized she had potential and so I didn’t think it would waste my time to show her what I paid for to learn in Thailand and Japan.”  

Joan discovered to her pleasant surprise that cooking is enjoyable. She began to manage the retreat center kitchen on her own in September 2016 after a few months of training with Queenie and with a former MRTC cook. Her most challenging assignment so far has been serving 165 guests breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for four days.

“Just a few years ago I wanted to work abroad, but things didn’t work out,” she says. Going abroad to work would mean being away from her husband and son for as long as two years at a time. Before she was hired by MRTC to work full time she worked as a sales lady at a grocery store. 

She finds her job fulfilling and hopes to learn how to bake breads and cakes in the future. Her ultimate dream? To bake and decorate a five-tier wedding cake. The daily devotions she attends at MRTC along with the rest of the staff have strengthened her marriage.

“I guess I would still be tending someone else’s grocery store, earning a hundred pesos a day if not for the opportunities I’ve been given here,” she muses gratefully.

Ride the Mini Zip Lines at MRTC

Here's another reason to hold your church or school activity at the Malungon Retreat and Training Center:  MRTC has four mini zip lines!

MRTC's zip lines are 100 feet long and three meters above the ground at the highest point.

Friends or family members can enjoy the fun one-minute ride side by side, leaving the starting point at the same time in a sitting or prone position.

Use of the zip lines is free of charge to MRTC guests, according to Lalaine Naquita,  general manager.

For more information about MRTC facilities, please get in touch with Lalaine Naquita at 09258846711, lalaine.naquita@cct.org.ph, or with Pastora Flor Soler at 09154617250, astelflor_awp@yahoo.com.

Mealtimes are Memorable at MRTC

Chef Queenie Boloron stirs a wok of clam
chowder almost ready for serving to a group of
Christian businessmen. 

Whole, poached chicken for Hainanese
Chicken Rice get a good
rubbing with sesame oil.

Chef Queenie makes vinegared rice, a main ingredient
in sushi.

Delectable food is an important part of the hospitality at the Malungon Retreat and Training Center. This starts off with balanced menus planned by Chef Harlequin ‘Queenie’ Boloron (who has been featured in such TV shows as Unang Hirit). The food is carefully prepared in a spacious, well-equipped kitchen and served buffet style in a dining room that can seat 150 at a time. Meals include Filipino classics, family all-time favorites, regional and Asian dishes, an occasional Western dish, and fresh fruit. 

Here is a sampling of Chef Queenie’s offerings for a five-day retreat:

Day 1. Breakfast: Beef tapa, fried rice, radish cake, fruit platter, scrambled egg, coffee. Lunch: Grilled tuna belly, steamed fish, guava soup, papaya pickles, macaroni salad. Dinner: Pesang manok, pork tonkatsu, banana heart salad, plain rice, fresh papaya. 

Day 2. Breakfast:  Fried fish, pako salad, salted eggs, coffee, rice. Lunch:  Pork adobo with saba, sinigang na tangigue, radish pickles, steamed rice, fresh pineapple. Dinner: Bulalo, fried galunggong, chayote achara, pandan rice, fresh watermelon.

Day 3:  Breakfast: Pork tocino, egg omelette, cucumber relish, garlic rice, coffee or tea. Lunch:  Beef caldereta, fried kangkong, miso soup, fresh banana, steamed rice. Dinner: Sinigang na hipon, fried tawilis, plain rice, fresh mango, maja blanca.

Day 4. Breakfast: Fried boneless bangus, scrambled egg, steamed rice papaya achara, fresh pineapple, coffee or tea.  Lunch:  Baked lemon chicken, mixed vegetables, mango salsa, steamed rice, fresh watermelon, iced tea.  Dinner: Chicken binakol, lumpiang shanghai, cucumber relish, plain rice, fresh papaya.

Day 5. Breakfast: Crispy bacon, potato pancake, poached egg, garlic rice, fresh watermelon, coffee or tea. Lunch: Sweet and sour lapu-lapu, clam chowder, plain rice, bread pudding, pineapple juice. Dinner: Hot and sour soup, fried galunggong, adobong sitaw, plain rice, fresh watermelon.

Breakfast at MRTC is from 7 to 8, lunch is from 12 to 1, and dinner is from 6 to 7

MRTC is also slowly gaining attention as a wedding venue. Reception menus include:

Set A: Grilled tuna, cocido, fresh lumpia, pork curry, spicy chicken soup, fresh fruits or native kakanin.

Set B: Thai spring rolls, pork tenderloin salad, chicken ala king, pinaputok na tilapia, cabbage rose soup, fresh fruits

Set C: Chicken hamonado, pork asado, tuna spring rolls, premium potato salad, seafood chowder, fresh fruits or native kakanin.

Set D: Sweet and sour pork, beef with broccoli, fish curry, Asian noodles, pumpkin soup, fresh fruits platter or native kakanin.

Set E: Asian beef, pork embotido, eggplant lasagne, Asian chicken salad, mushroom soup, fresh fruits platter or native kakanin.

Set F: Lemon chicken, fish with black beans, red cooked spareribs, hot pot, fresh fruits platter or native kakanin. 

All menus come with juice and unlimited rice. 

Meals are always a wonderful time for fellowship and relaxation. The kitchen and dining room staff of the Malungon Retreat and Training are committed to making your mealtimes here totally enjoyable and memorable.    

MRTC: Just the Right Venue for Your Next Event

The Center for Community Transformation Group of Ministries is pleased to offer the Malungon Retreat and Training Center (MRTC) as the venue for your next event. 

MRTC is a beautiful, 72-hectare Christian retreat facility in Sitio Nagpan, Malungon, Sarangani province and is the perfect setting for youth camps, marriage seminars, school retreats, Bible conferences, corporate workshops, and weddings. It is also a peaceful space for worship and reflection.  

Overnight facilities include five dormitory buildings that can each sleep 36 persons, six to a room. Bathrooms in each bedroom have double sinks and separate, glass-enclosed shower and toilet cubicles. Our hot showers are courtesy of the sun with a little help from solar heating systems. 

Each dorm building has a function room at ground level, equipped with sound system, LCD projector and screen, water dispenser, and a common restroom. The dorm building function rooms make it possible for five small groups of 36 participants or less to use MRTC simultaneously. 

The MRTC meeting hall 

Large groups may use the meeting hall which seats 150.  

Delicious meals, served buffet style are a significant part of the hospitality at MRTC. Meals planned by Chef Harlequin 'Queenie' Boloron are prepared in a spacious, well-equipped kitchen, and always include fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables.  Special diet needs are gladly accommodated with prior notice. Our dining hall seats 150 at one time.

The MRTC dining hall and kitchen.

Creative brides and event planners will have a grand time thinking up details for weddings which may be held at the second floor of our bamboo administration building, in the meeting hall, or outdoors on our landscaped grounds. The reception may of course be held at the dining hall, with menu options offered by Chef Queenie. 

The retreat center ministers to Malungon's B'laan community by providing much-needed jobs in housekeeping, food service, landscaping, construction and maintenance,    

For booking information, please get in touch with Lalaine Naquita at 09258846711, lalaine.naquita@cct.org.ph, or with Pastor Flor Soler at 09154617250, astelflor_awp@yahoo.com.

Choose the Best Seating Plan for Your Activity

The theater-style seating arrangement

The U-shape seating arrangement

Seating arrangements can affect the success or effectiveness of conference or training activities. When you hold your event at the Malungon Retreat and Training Center (MRTC), be sure to request our arrangement personnel to set up your function room with the seating plan most suited to your purpose.   

For instance, the theater style of seating as shown in top photo is most appropriate for slide presentations or for keynote messages where the audience is simply expected to listen to the speaker. For lectures where the audience is expected to take notes or use handouts, tables may be added, and the seating arrangement is then called the classroom style.  

The U-shape style of seating in the second photo encourages collaboration and discussions.  

Another common seating arrangement is the team table or cluster style where six, eight, or ten participants are seated around a table.  This style encourages interaction and is best suited when the facilitator has group work planned.  

Each of the dormitory buildings at the MRTC has a function room (similar to that in the photos) on the ground floor.  Amenities include a sound system, LCD projector and screen, water dispenser, and restroom.  

For booking information, please get in touch with Lalaine Naquita at 09258846711, lalaine.naquita@cct.org.ph, or with Pastora Flor Soler at 09154617259, astelflor_awp@yahoo.com.  

Hot Showers at MRTC are Courtesy of God's Sun!

Whenever you take a nice, hot shower at the Malungon Retreat and Training Center remember to say, "Thank you God for the sun!"  That's because the water is heated by the sun's rays which were collected and absorbed by panels in a solar water heating system on the roof of your dormitory building.  Don't forget that now!

MRTC has New Meeting Hall, Three New Dorms

Each of the five dormitory buildings at the Malungon Retreat and 
Training Center can sleep 36 persons. 

Enjoy natural beauty and birdsong when you come to the Malungon Retreat and Training Center. Located on 72 wooded hectares in Sitio Lao, Barangay Nagpan, Malungon, Sarangani,  the retreat center can now accommodate 180 overnight guests with the recent completion of three new dormitory buildings.

MRTC is the perfect setting for youth camps, couples' retreats, Bible conferences, planning meetings and weddings.

The dorms have six rooms on three levels, and each room can sleep six. Bedroom amenities include three bamboo beds with pullouts, and a hot and cold shower.  Each dorm building has a function room at ground level, with sound system, LCD projector and screen, water dispenser, and common restroom.

The new meeting hall can seat 150 and is also equipped with a sound system, LCD projector and screen, water dispenser and restrooms.

Other MRTC facilities include a bamboo multi-purpose building, a dining room,   dormitory buildings, a basketball court, and four parallel mini zip lines.  

For booking information, please get in touch with Lalaine Naquita at 09258846711, lalaine.naquita@cct.org.ph, or with Pastor Flor Soler at 09154617250, astelflor_awp@yahoo.com.

MRTC's  meeting hall can seat 150.