‘Stage Fathers’ At Sinulog Sa Argao 2010

Things changed as we walked away from witnessing anymore of this ho-hum event called Sinulog Sa Argao. Or let me put that as, we forgot all about the negative things to see as we walked on our way to “walk-out”!

A sari-sari store with an ‘al freso’ area by the side of the street where the parade was to pass, AND where beer was being served chilled – at noontime! Yey!
And there was another funny realization we did not expect to encounter in Argao. What? STAGE FATHERS! Yeah yeah, a cute phenomenon probably not yet that prevalent all over the country! Like how? Well, just read on as I tell my story…

I said it was a scorching hot noontime, and we stumbled upon this sari-sari store that served chilled beer along the parade route, right?! Well, we stopped for a while to chill the heat in our heads away. And oh, this little store of about 3 meters for a width seemed or seems to be the haunt of foreign oldies living in, or visiting Argao. What’s new? Well, some of the seemingly happy-go-lucky “kano” making tambay in this place are the stage fathers themselves!

“This is it guys, gotta go, the angel is here, I’ll be back” was one comment we heard from one of those white dudes. What was that all about? Uhuh, his little angel of a daughter was part of the parade. Suddenly whipping out the camera from his pocket, he left the sari-sari store to tail and stalk the parade! Yeah, hehe, ka-aliw to see them big burly white men tail their children!

“Wait I have to move, hey cover the tab for me man, I’ll be back in a sec” was another we heard from another father who also had to go when his child’s pack in the parade passed. And as with the previous white guys, he disappeared out forward going to the cultural center keeping in step with his son!

Here is an example...Ah, quite a new sight for me roaming this country. So I asked one lovely lady who was partner of one of those white guys in this sari-sari store “miss, eh asan ba ang mga ina nung mga batang yun, bakit mga tatay nilang foreigner ang naging ‘stage-mother’?! Rolling her eyeballs, then rubbing the neck of her beer bottle on her forehead, the lady exhaled loudly saying “haaay naku, yung isang bata, doon ang inahan nya sa kanto, busy nag-tong-its”! I was just able to say “whoa” and she followed that with “yun isang cute na bata sinundan nung katabi ko, ang nanay nyan andun sa parlor nagpa-pedicure”!

As we and the foreigners laughed, another oldie white guy hollered “one of the boys in that band is my son, he does not like pictures or any attention from family. His mother and sisters are in Cebu getting themselves beautified for tonight’s fiesta dance. That’s two months worth of my pension they’re spending for hair and makeup”! The place roared again with laughter.

Oh my my my, that was a “discovery” for me. Something unusual! I think I counted 5 of them “stage fathers”! Something worth discussing!
But let’s leave them at that…