She was one of the so-called Tasscor “angels” in her salad days as a young lady. Tasscor what?

To the uninitiated, it meant then as Towers Assurance Corp., a non-life insurance company that dominated the market in 1977 until five years later. Those were the years when non-life insurance was practically a “virgin territory”. Back then, it was to the good fortune of Boy Guingguing (now the Post publisher) that he was appointed as the first manager of Tasscor. In a way, it was Guingguing, who virtually “virginized” the non-life insurance market following the implementation of the Insurance Code of 1976. That meant then that starting in 1976, the code paved the way for the compulsory insurance of all types of motor vehicles. The consequence of the code’s compulsory nature was that no motor vehicle would be registered if no Third Party Liability (TPL) insurance was attached to the vehicle registration. Until now, the compulsory law is still in force with may be several add-ons to the original TPL package. In those years all throughout the company’s life span in Bohol, the market was so lucrative that attracted several pretty ladies to join the Tasscor fold. One attraction was that the company branch office was located at the ground floor of the Gie Gardens Hotel building, one of the most prestigious addresses in downtown Tagbilaran back then. Fully air-conditioned, the Tasscor office was a cut above the rest in terms of presentable offices, a league all its own, in the mold of bank branches.

It was also during those years that Guingguing’s enterprising guts brought him to blazing the trail of another virgin turf: travel and tour. While today, the travel and tour business is already as commonplace as the Chocolate Hills, the same was one unheard enterprise in 1977. But through Guingguing’s original boss, the venerable Don Alfonso Uy of the highly-successful First Consolidated Bank, the insurance man who until today a successful newspaper publisher, was prodded to handle the branch office of Orient Holidays. Of course, upon the representation of the late Uy. With Guingguing at the helm, the travel company he represented, went down in history as the first of its kind thereabouts. It was the tandem of insurance and travel that beautiful ladies like Dolly Javier of Dampas district this city joining the workforce as insurance clerk and glamorized in the sides as tour guide representing Orient Holidays, one of the group of entities/companies under the baton of the “trying hard” Guingguing . It is also worth recalling here that in those days, Guingguing also handled the affairs of the Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry as manager. But that is another story.

To Dolly, her stint at Tasscor and Orient Holidays was the best thing that ever happened in her own saga in life where the forces of nature are playing a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. It was during this time that she met her future husband, Giamba Mattarana, an Italian tourist whom the Orient ladies had the occasion to meet in one of the foreigner’s trips in Bohol. The ladies including Dolly acted as the tourists guide. During those times that the Italian visited Bohol, a blossoming love affair between Dolly and Giamba ensued. It ended in marriage in 1986.

The Italian was in company with another compatriot Mr. Giovanni Bet, who is a frequent Bohol visitor because of their close business relations with the family of George Lao, owner of Gie Gardens Hotel. For 25 years, Dolly stayed with her husband in Italy as Mrs. Mattarana. As wife, she played the role to the hilt earning the plaudits of her husband and in-laws. In fact, an Italian chambermaid was assigned to her to cater to the Boholana’s personal needs who was then experiencing a culture shock of Italian lifestyle, the first time she stepped into a foreign land back in 1986. It was through her constant companion, the Italian helper, that Dolly learned to speak Italian, fluent Italian-- henceforth.

Dolly’s husband is no ordinary mortal in Genoa, Italy. Giamba, it turned out, in marrying Dolly, packs a lot of financial muscle all his own, he being the GM of the production department of one of the biggest newspapers in Italy, the La Repubblica, competitor of a newspaper owned by Silvio Berlusconi, former Italian prime minister, and a media mogul himself before becoming the head of state. While in Italy, she was pampered with the husband’s love by way of bringing her to practically all favorite destinations in Europe, the Americas and Asia twice a year with London, Paris and New York as frequent places of choice of the jetsetting Dolly and her husband. In September 2010, Dolly’s Italian sortie made a dramatic turn when the couple decided to build a house in Libaong, Panglao, after they bought a 1,000 square meter property. With a commanding vista of the Mindanao sea, the new house is palatial by any yardstick. It is a three-story affair that doubles as an accommodation facility to any tourist particularly Italians who want a homey ambiance. All of three storeys, each floor has the amenities of an apartelle complete with kitchen, receiving room, guest room and three private rooms all fully furnished and air conditioned.

The building complies a mandatory requirement of the municipality that mandates residential owners to build homes cum hostels especially those located along the town’s beachfront areas. Which actually was what the Mattarana couple had in mind when they built the Panglao house: turn the place for commercial value. Soon, the house will be named Casa Gialla. Gialla in Italian is yellow. Incidentally, Dolly’s house is located just across the Amarela Resort. Speaking of yellow, it is by accident that the house is located near Amarela, which is yellow in Portuguese.

That explains why the painting of the house exterior is predominantly yellow. As for Gialla, the name implies something that dated back to Dolly’s husband’s childhood. Her husband recalled during his youth his dream of building a yellow house because the family owned once a house painted with the color yellow. To rekindle the memory of the yellow ancestral home, the husband said it broke his heart when it was sold by his father. The son then made an obsession that if given a chance, he would have to build his own yellow house. In fulfillment of that dream, the couple build their own house in of all places, Libaong, Panglao to be named Casa Gialla meaning yellow house. With Casa Gialla, Dolly is happy with the thought that she is back home after 25 years in Italy. Is she staying here for good?

No! With her husband based in Italy, it will be to and from, while contemplating the possibility to settle down here for good. But one thing is sure. During winter, the couple will fly home from Italy and goes back when the sun shines brightly in Dolly’s adopted home. Why this success story about Dolly? For all intents and purposes, this true story will serve as an inspiration to all those who have the foresight in life to find the right man to marry. And Dolly is just one fortunate lady to have found her own Mr. Nice Guy.