Of all the hotels in the metropolis, only a few can boast of having such a history and prominence as the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila in the reclaimed Cultural Center of the Philippines complex near the Manila Bay. It was one of the hotels built at the height of the Marcos era to showcase the Philippines to the world in the midst of the events going on at the time. To be specific, the hotel, which was first known as the Philippine Plaza Hotel, was built to house the delegates of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank meeting which was to be held in Manila in 1976. (an event Marcos successfully…