MANILA, Philippines - Behind Gourmet?s Café, now a well-known Tagaytay landmark, is the city?s best-kept secret, known best to harried souls.

One of the men responsible for turning Tagaytay into a weekend destination is tapping into its natural resources into a sanctuary for stressed out or beleaguered people.

Spread out a few meters behind Gourmet?s Restaurant along Aguinaldo Highway in Cavite?beyond a coffee-roasting facility and several hectares of land planted to lettuce?St. Joseph?s Sanctuary offers people, alone or in groups, both the outer and the inner space to commune with nature and themselves.

The iron gate opens to a life-size image of St. Joseph?a welcoming sight to the visitor. Beyond the image roll out sloping pathways, towering trees, lush foliage. Facing the suites or rooms where visitors can stay is a beautiful pond, with ducks skimming its calm surface.

The three-hectare refuge also offers visitors the use of a seminar room and chapel.

Ecumenical place

The chapel is an intimate, minimalist affair, but with ornately carved double doors and a tableau from old India and Bali.

Glass panels behind the main altar give worshippers an unimpeded view of the outdoor garden.

Simple and serene, the chapel has become the favorite venue for masses and even non-Catholic weddings. (Catholic couples must first secure the necessary documents from their parishes.)

Individuals, married couples and families can choose to stay for several nights in any of the 10 identical rooms. Each room has a mini garden and private bathroom.

Thanks to its remote location, the sanctuary is spared from noise and smog of Aguinaldo Highway. Aside from chirping birds and rustling trees, all one hears are occasional quacks from a flock of ducks frolicking in a man-made pond.

Trailblazer

The man behind it all is businessman Ernest Escaler. When he opened Gourmet?s in the late ?80s, little did he know that his pioneering step would turn Tagaytay into a weekend destination, especially for upper and middle-class markets.

He was one of the first businessmen to see the city?s potential to draw the weekend lifestyle market.

Gourmet?s became known for fresh salads harvested in its backyard as Escaler helped introduce Filipino diners to healthy dining.

?Since we started growing our own organic vegetables, I decided to put up a restaurant specializing in fresh greens,? he says. In those days, salad was not a staple.

Through the years, Escaler expanded his lettuce plantation and even turn Gourmet?s into a brand known for its fresh greens and coffee.

The venture has also developed other food products, including bottled salad dressing.

Retreat house

With the opening of alternate routes to Tagaytay, particularly that in Sta. Rosa, motorists can now bypass Gourmet?s. But Escaler seems the least bit worried about the leaner traffic.

The idea of building a sanctuary resulted from his upbringing and his personal experience, and not from a desire to reinvent the business.

?I was trained at the Ateneo, and going on retreat was and remains important to me,? he says.

And so was throwing big parties on his birthday. There was one year Escaler decided to forego the celebration and just spend the day in prayer and reflection at the Pink Sisters convent.

?It was one of the best birthdays I?ve had. I rediscovered the value of silence. It?s the only way you can listen to yourself.?

Before this epiphany, Escaler was thinking of what do with the additional land. It took him nearly a year to transform the coffee plantation into his idea of a remote yet accessible sanctuary.

It has become quite common, says Escaler, for people to stay at St. Joseph?s before making life-changing decisions. Some guests were only days away from undergoing major surgery.

Getting over a loss

One guest was a 27-year-old man whose wife died of cancer less than a year after their wedding. She was pregnant.

In a vain attempt to cope with his loss, the man would spend Christmas and New Year, the past hree years, all by himself abroad. That was until a friend asked him to give St. Joseph a try.

The man booked himself a room before Christmas Eve, and stayed for three days. He sought solitude.

?On Christmas day, he spent three hours crying in the chapel and that was it,? says Escaler. ?Before he left, he told me that he had experienced the best Christmas of his life here.?

He sought closure to the tragedy in his young life, and got it that Christmas.

Then there was this young woman who went into depression after learning that she wasn?t her father?s biological daughter. She resented the fact that her mother had kept it from her.

The mother asked her daughter to spend some time at St. Joseph?s. The daughter agreed. Before the afternoon was over, both women were able to pour their hearts out to each other.

A stay at St. Joseph?s Sanctuary is no guarantee that all its guests? troubles and bruised feelings will disappear in a snap. But for a good number of people, the road to forgiveness, acceptance and healing may just be a weekend drive to Tagaytay away.

(For inquiries, call Oli Jose at 0928-5047592, (046) 414-0209 and (046) 414-0138)