We celebrate Mother’s Day every second Sunday of May. Today is the third Sunday of June, which means today is Father’s Day! We have special days of honoring our parents and for the case of Johndex Odtohan, he took it to his Twitter account how much he loves and honors his father.
Vendor ng tubig at cigarettes papa ko. Bata palang kami, bilad na sya sa araw magdamag bitbit ang mabigat nyang box. Kahit bumabagyo nandyan sya sa kalsada nagttrababo. Ganunpaman, napag aral nya kami at lumaki kaming matino at walang bisyo. Sobrang proud kami sayo pa alam mo ba pic.twitter.com/4SJ8Qewa3c
— Stanley (@stanleygrayyyy) June 16, 2018
Minsan pag kasama nya kami lalo na si bunso na sobrang puti, tinatanong ng iba kung anak nya ba talaga kami. Bakit ganyan kayo, kulay na ba talaga batayan ngayon? Ganyan siya kase masipag at matiyaga siya! Kasen di nya pinabayaan ang pamilya nya.
— Stanley (@stanleygrayyyy) June 16, 2018
Kahit na yung damit nya ay butas butas, minsan pati pantalon nya nay wasak pa. Ayos lang sa kanya. Kahit bumabagyo, sige padin sya sa pagtinda. Kahit kapos lage sa pera, laging masarap ulam namin. Never kami ginutom sa bahay dahil laging may pagkain
— Stanley (@stanleygrayyyy) June 16, 2018
Grabe sakripisyo nya para sa amin. Di na nga yan nakakakain ng matino minsan kase hinahabol nyang maubos paninda nya. Nung bumabagyo, pinapauwi na sya ng my jeepney drivers kase wala masyadong tao pero sige padin siya. Napaka dedicated nya talaga as a father wala akong masabi
— Stanley (@stanleygrayyyy) June 16, 2018
Kaya sa araw na ito, hayaan mo kaming makabawi. Rest day ka muna pa, kami bahala sayo. Gawin namin best namin para mapasaya ka. Maibalik man lang namin kahit papaano lahat ng effort at sacrifices mo para sa amin.
MAHAL NA MAHAL KA NAMIN PA!
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY PO. ❤️❤️
— Stanley (@stanleygrayyyy) June 16, 2018
The post’s rough translation:
My father is a mineral water and cigarette vendor. Even when we were kids, he’d spend hours under the sun carrying his heavy box. Even during typhoons, he’s there on the streets working. Nonetheless, he was able to send us to school and raise us well. We are very proud of you, dad. I hope you know that sometimes, when we’re with him especially for my youngest sibling who’s light-skinned, he’d joke and ask if we’re really his kids. Why are you like this, is one’s skin color what’s after nowadays? That’s how hard-working he is! Because he always looks after his family.
Even if his clothes have holes, sometimes even his pants are wrecked – it’s alright with him. Even if there’s a typhoon, he still goes out to work. Even if we lack money, we always have good food on our table. We never felt hungry at home because there was always food.
His sacrifices for us are immense. He isn’t able to eat well because he wants to sell his products as much as possible. During the typhoon, one of the drivers told him to go home since there weren’t many people (on the road) but he still ventured out. He is a very dedicated father, I have no words.
On this day, allow us to give back to you. Rest today, dad. We’ll take care of you. We’ll do our best to make you happy. We hope to give back to you all the effort and sacrifices you made for us.
We love you so much, dad!
Happy Father’s Day!
The Odtohan Family
WHEN IN MANILA has reached out to Odtohan. He also mentioned that his father works along Commonwealth Avenue, in Litex Road.
“Papa mo yun?” “Bakit ang itim ng papa mo?” “Hindi kayo magkamukha.” Minsan talaga di maiiwasan yung magpanghusgang mga tao. Lalo na pag pumupunta kami kunwari sa mall tapos bitbit niya bunsong kapatid ko e ang puti nun. Kitang kita ko yung titig ng iba kay papa. Tapos pag nanghihingi ako ng baon sa kanya sa kalsada, pinagtitinginan kami minsan. Natandaan ko tuloy dati, sinamahan ko si papa bumili ng mineral water sa suki nya para paninda niya. Biglang nagulat yung babae nung nakita ako. Tapos bigla ako tinanong nung umalis si papa kung totoo bang anak ako nun. Baka ampon lang ako. Ano yun? Bakit ganun po? Kulay na ba talaga basehan ngayon, naisip ko. Ang sakit lang isipin na hinuhusgahan mo yung isang tao base sa kulay nito.
Wala din siyang pakialam kahit may okasyon, birthday, pasko o bagong taon pa man aalis padin siya at magtintinda kase nga ang sabi niya ano daw kakainin namin kinabukasan kung di siya magtitinda. Kahit na puro sigarilyo paninda niya, never akong natutong mag sigarilyo dahil lagi niyang sinasabi sakin kung ano masamang maidudulot nito. Bilib lang talaga ako kay papa, grabe. Sobrang proud ako na papa ko siya! Cool nga yan eh, gulat na lang ako kilala niya EXO, Blackpink, pati BTS eh, hahaha!
The Odtohan family
The rough translation:
“That’s your dad?” “Why does your dad have dark skin?” “You don’t look alike.” It’s inevitable to hear such remarks from people. Particularly some moments when we’d go out together at the mall where one of us carries our youngest sibling who’s really light-skinned. I really observe the way people look at my dad. Or when I ask for pocket money from him from the streets, people stare at us sometimes. I remember before, I accompanied my dad to buy mineral water to his suki so he can sell it. The girl I saw on the street was shocked. When my dad left, the girl approached me and asked if I was really my dad’s son, I might be an adopted child. “What? Why? Is it really based on skin color now?” I thought to myself. It’s painful to think that we’re being judged based on skin color.
If you’re wondering why dad has a dark complexion, it’s because he’s been selling in the middle of the streets almost his whole life where the sun is high in the sky. He’s a cigarette and mineral water vendor.
He doesn’t really mind if there’s a special occasion, birthday, Christmas or New Year, he’d still leave to work because he’d ask what we’d eat the next day if he won’t be able to sell anything to buy food. Even if he sells cigarettes, I never learned how to smoke because he’d always tell me about the bad effects of it. I really look up to my dad, gosh. I am really proud that he’s my dad! He’s a cool one too, I’m actually shocked he knows who EXO, Blackpink, and BTS are, hahaha!
Odtohan’s father out in the rain. Photo provided by Johndex Odtohan
Thank you for all the sacrifices you’ve made, Tatay Odtohan! Happy Father’s Day!
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Disclaimer: WheninManila.com does not own the photos. Credits go to Johndex Odtohan.
