For Donato

About five years ago, I still picture Donato sitting in a bench outside the quarters of Villamor Airbase in Pasay City. Judging the way he looked that moment, he was in really deep thoughts. How could he not? My older sister is pregnant. His beloved first born daughter is carrying a baby by a man he never knew and met.



I know I said ‘o ano na ngayon, andiyan na eh’. And his reply struck me. Never would I ever imagine he would say it, but I understand. He is a father.


Johnny is like all other fathers I know. He is there to guide his children and will do everything to keep his children from harm. But apart from that, there is something more that makes him extra ordinary, something that sets him aside from the rest. He is always the silent type, but his actions say otherwise.


I remember, back in fourth grade, we were tasked to make flags of countries as part of the school’s celebration for the United Nations day. I and my younger sister had our flags prepared but was lacking a handle pole to stick the flags on. We never asked because we wanted to get the sticks for ourselves. That same afternoon, he came home with 2 well polished sticks. Crafted in such a way that it was tailored to look like something you would buy in a scrapbook shop. He is a craftsman.


He is also hard working. On weekdays, he works as public school academician and teaches mathematics and agriculture. As a child, I grew up knowing that he prefers teaching outdoors as he would do it in the school garden instead. He is a teacher.


And on weekends, after Sunday mass, he would take us to our property nestled along the foot of Mt. Sinian in Nueva Vizcaya. There he farms rice fields and tend to his vegetables gardens. And sometime, I and my siblings would help in farm chores like arrado (preparation of rice fields), sikka (transplanting rice), gapas (harvesting), and bilad (sun drying of palay). On weekends, we also share lunch mostly from cooked wild plants like saluyot, wild ampalaya and other vegetables available within the backyard. He is a farmer.


With him, I learned to love the basics of agriculture, I guess he knows that I love fishing on weekends. I admit he played a good part for me to grow up appreciating nature and the arts. Bagabag is a sleepy and a laid back town. Here is where he raised us, and yes, the province of Nueva Vizcaya holds much of my memories. Donato is strict but seldom forbids us to do what we want for as long as we enjoy it. He is a disciplinarian.


After a tiring day he would spend time with friends drinking beer and gin over peanuts and exotic “edible” animals. As a child, I found it amusing to watch grown-up men share bottles of beer for I would hear stories of every sort, from political issues to farming concerns and yes, even about sex. And before settling for bed at night, I know he never missed to give Lorna her goodnight kiss. He is a friend and a loving husband.


Now, four years after the birth of his grand daughter, I know I will never hear him say “itatakwil ko yang anak ko na yan” again. And years after his sibling left Nueva Vizcaya to work somewhere; I know that he has no one to offer his crafts anymore. For those children had grown to be chemists, a pilot and a call center agent. I know he now seldom goes to that property nestled in Mt. Sinian but I know he still kisses Lorna, for they’ve been married for 30 years now. Coincidentally, I was born three years on that same day that they got married in St. Jerome’s Parish.


He has long rendered his resignation in the public school where he used to teach mathematics and agriculture. But he still teaches, for I know teaching is his passion. He is now part of the Alternative Learning System of the Department of Education. He is a street teacher cum community organizer educating the under privileged. This way, he has power over his time and still could tend to his farming.


His name is Donato, Johnny as called by most of his friends and colleagues. He is a teacher, farmer, husband, friend, father and a grandfather. He is my father. I love him and for whatever its worth, I am blessed and proud to be called his son.