Ten minutes away from the bustling Bacolod downtown area (and less than 10 minutes away from the Casino Filipino and Golden Fields Commercial Complex) and set in a sprawling 5 acre seafront property, Palmas del Mar Conference Resort Hotel is a favorite venue for beach and garden weddings in the Philippines.. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Other hotels and conference venues provide rooms and a pool if they have a pool. Palmas del Mar, Bacolod has 55 guest rooms and suites each with a balcony or terrace and a view, 5 swimming pools, the refreshing sea air, landscaped gardens, and a sunset like no other. Palmas also has a full service restaurant, free wifi connection, a bar, picnic huts, a fishing lagoon, a picnic area, a jogging path, a gym, billiards, and table-tennis. . . . . . . . . .

To hold a wedding reception in Palmas del Mar or to make Palmas your home while in Bacolod is to experience a little of how it is to be the guest of one of the sugar industry's most prestigious families.

The Lizareses were among the first to establish mechanized sugar mills in the island. So successful was the clan's matriarch, Enrica Alunan Lizares Tana Dicang as a sugar planter and investor that in time, her family had controlling interest in three sugar centrals, Talisay-Silay, Bacolod Murcia, and Danao. The family's ancestral home, the Balay ni Tana Dicang http://balaytanadicang.webs.com in Talisay City, is a classic Spanish-Filipino Bahay na Bato that was constructed in the early 1880s but which is today the oldest and best preserved ancestral home in the province. . . . . . . . .

Dr. Antonio A. Lizares, one of Enrica's 17 children, was the original owner of the Palmas del Mar property. He was a governor of the province, the founder of what is now the University of Negros Occidental Recoletos, the owner of several sugar plantations, and a philanthropist who gave generously to the church and the community.. . . . . . .

Palmas is managed by the grandchildren of Antonio: John Marie S. Lizares as President, Ronnie A.Lizares as general manager, Rocky A. Lizares as Treasurer, Andrea Lizares Si as member of the Executive Committee, and representatives of the families of Heriberto and Vicente Lizares as directors.. . . . . . . . .