I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our daddy, Guillermo M. Mercado to everyone. You might have known him as an insurance agent, a teacher and an active member of various civic and religious organizations, but I am sure that there are so many things you don’t know about him.
As you all know, he is a very quiet and soft-spoken man – will not brag nor sing his own praises. So please allow me to speak lengthily about him, so you will know how special he really is.
Daddy is known as Emong to his parents, siblings, relatives and childhood friends. He is the 5th of 8 children. She was born in Malasin, San Jose, Nueva Ecija. In May of 2009, while we were going home to Isabela from Manila, he suddenly suggested to go around San Jose to look for their old house. I remember him telling us where he used to live and where his old school was, and reminisce about his childhood.
I also remember him always telling my sister and I when we were small, a very old story of how he nearly wasn’t able to go up the stage for his elementary graduation. He didn’t have shoes, and had to borrow a pair from a classmate. I also remember him telling us that he used to walk from their house going to school. He, together with his siblings, had a very simple life. They had nothing most of the time, so he knew how it is to make both ends meet.
He is Guillermo to his classmates and friends. Our mommy always told us about this story, how daddy was a math wiz. He was known in their college as the one who was good in math.
He is Guilly to his colleagues. He met his best friend and wife at La Salette of Aurora where they were both teaching high school. He was teaching Theology then. When he saw our mother, he knew that she was the one for him. So he wrote her love letters which mommy still kept until now. (You can see a sample of his letters, posted on the glass door in front). He was Romeo, and mommy was his Juliet.
Guilly was a well-rounded young man. He played the guitar and the harmonica. He attempted to draw and make sketches. He also liked playing table tennis. He is a musician and an artist. But please don’t ask him to sing. It is a constant family joke that he, like my sister, are tone deaf and sintonado.
He is Darleng to his wife and best friend. They did not call each other Darling. They called each other Darleng. They were inseparable. It was not only their friends and colleagues who noticed this, but also our relatives and even my and Divine’s friends. He is Batman to Robin, and Robin to Batman.
Mommy always used to tell us… “Your daddy is one in a million”. That means that there are only 92 daddies in the Philippines who are as great as you, Daddy. And now, this elite group is down to 91.
He is Kuyang to mommy’s relatives. He treated mommy’s relatives, not as in-laws, but as his own. He unselfishly shared what our family had to relatives, without expecting anything in return.
He is daddy to me and Divine/Mayette and to our cousins, Bullet, Boss and Sir. He and mommy only had 2 children, because they wanted us to have the best. They were struggling financially when we were still young, so they felt that 2 children were enough. I knew this because he always told us. He worked before with the National Statistics Office. I remember going to his office in Aurora, Isabela, and seeing pop-ed comics about family planning.
Daddy was a very good provider – dedicated, focused and very innovative. When we were small, he had a vegetable garden in our backyard. He always told us that as long as we have vegetables in the garden, we will never grow hungry. We had kamote, pechay, papaya trees, calamansi, kamias, chico, coconut, Chinese tea and others.
He also had a beautiful flower garden in front of our house. He had roses and daisies, and planted Bermuda grass. I remember that we used to help him weed out the lawn so we can sit down in the afternoon on a bed of lush Bermuda greens.
He taught us how to recycle – bottles, plastic bags, furniture, clothes, almost everything. In our household, we make maximize everything before throwing it away. He made a compost pit in our backyard, and used the old compost as fertilizers for his plants. He is a handyman and an environmentalist.
Not many of you will know, but our daddy is also a magician. He had so many magic tricks with the pingpong ball, with ropes and with cards. I remember that my sister and I used to assist our Daddy Magician during his performances in front of our cousins and friends.
He is also into photography. My sister and I are very lucky because we became his most favorite subjects. So we had albums of baby pictures. I remember that he used to have a Dark Room to process all his photos. Unfortunately, he had to sell his equipments to give way for more important expenses.
My sister and I were very happy when Daddy purchased our very first family transportation – a motorcycle. I think that was back in 1982. He bought the motorcycle when in fact, he doesn’t know how to ride a bike. So he taught himself how to ride a motorcycle. That is how determined he was.
Being an educator himself, he sent us to good schools, even if it meant sacrificing the luxuries that couples usually have – vacations and travels. He also knew the value of having good books for his children. He had a part time job selling Grolier books. This also gave him opportunities to buy expensive books on discount. So my sister and I had so many books, that some our friends and classmates regularly visit the house just to read. He knows how to motivate us and refused to spoon-feed us. Every time we ask him what the meaning of a word is, he tells us to look it up into our very big and old dictionary.
My father is a very good salesperson. He sold almost everything – from books, personal effects, car insurance, life insurance, to health insurance. I remember a good friend telling me, “Ang hirap magbenta sa bahay nyo. Bibili nga ang daddy mo. Pero pag labas ko ng bahay nyo, may naibenta din sya sa akin. Kulang pa ang tubo ko para pambayad.” That’s how good he was. I think it’s because he really believes in what he is selling. And he is doing that not just to make profit, but to help.
Very slowly, daddy and mommy ‘s hardwork paid off. Friends and relatives noticed that slowly, our finances were getting better and our lives were getting more comfortable. But even if he can already afford to buy expensive shoes, designer shirts and perfumes, he preferred the simple things in life. He still wore white shirt from Caritas, his company. He wore only a couple of comfortable diabetic-friendly shoes. He only wore clothes and perfumes which are gifts from us.
He is Lolo to Summer, Red, Marcus and Bossing. He was very patient with the kids, never getting tired of answering their why’s and explaining very difficult questions like, “Why is the moon following us?”. When he was still driving, he brings his apo’s to school and picks them up after. He taught them how to recycle used bond paper into sketch and notepads. He taught them how to organize their things and how not to make a mess.
I am so happy to see people tonight. Friends he made for the past years – from Aurora, from the Knights of Columbus, from Kabalikat, from insurance companies, from Marriage Encounter, from BCBP, from Caritas. I know that Daddy touched your lives somehow.
I hope that tonight, you have known him better. He is a Salesperson, Romeo to his Juliet, an Educator, Math wiz, Magician, Musician, Artist, Green thumb, Photographer, an Environmentalist, and so much more.
He is Guillermo, Emong, Guilly, My Darleng, Kuyang, Daddy, Lolo…
We will surely miss you, Daddy. But I know that you have lived a full life. So our tears are not for you. Our tears are for us, because we will miss you. We love you so much!
