By JOSE PAOLO S. DELA CRUZ
Fatherhood was not exactly on Geoff Andres’ mind when he flew to the Philippines to become property president of City of Dreams Manila in 2015. But life had other plans for this dashing hotelier and the very special people he would meet in the country — including a boy he named Whitey Philip.
Wealthy, successful, well-travelled. Such were the words one would immediately associate with Geoff Andres, a high-flying executive who could go to Paris for the weekend on a whim or follow his favorite band to see them perform in Abu Dhabi or Stockholm.
And while the same words can still be used to describe this blue-eyed gentleman, he adds a fourth one into the mix: fulfilled.
“Life sounds amazing and it was pretty cool, I tell you, but the level of fulfillment now is higher— way higher. And it’s all thanks to our son Whitey, my wife Gretchen and her daughter Via,” he says.
The girl who started it all
Before Geoff met his little boy, he met a little girl. “When I arrived in the Philippines and started working here, we had over 5, 000 employees and there was a lot of CSR activities. I wanted to get involved and joined some wherein we helped out in the orphanages,” shares Geoff.
In one of those activities, he met a precocious young girl named Tricia. “She spoke perfect English. It just struck me that this little girl was very intelligent and I almost felt this sense of anger that somebody turned his/her back from this girl who has so much potential,” says Geoff.
Upon telling the orphanage’s ’ heads that he wanted to adopt her, Geoff learned that he needed to become a licensed foster parent first. He worked on that for the next four months. By the time he got his license though, Tricia had moved to another orphanage. “It was called My Father’s House, which was a much better orphanage, much cleaner and had better education facilities,” he says.
However, he would soon learn the one rule they often forget in telenovelas. Legally, you cannot simply choose whom to adopt. Feeling somewhat defeated, Geoff retreated to think about his next steps.About a week later, an e-mail came.
“Mr. Andres, we have a boy who is two years and 10 months old. He is a foundling. He was found abandoned near Intramuros when he was 11 months old,” read the letter, which also included other details that broke Geoff’s heart.
Without even having to see the boy in person first, Geoff knew in his heart that he had to take him. “I got in the car, drove to the orphanage and they gave me a kid — a little boy and his little bag of stuff. And now I have a kid to have responsibility for. We took him home. And that’s where the journey started,” he says with a smile.
Challenge accepted
The smile would soon fade — not because of the boy or the hardships of raising a child — but because of the bureaucracy. It was a long stretch of back-and-forths and tons of paperwork that really tested the Andres couple’s mettle.
“Imagine, here’s a boy, my son, who had been abandoned and all I wanted to do is give him a name, a good life. And it took me six years!” shares an exasperated Geoff. By then, he had provided for his son the kind of life that many could probably only dream of — a huge apartment in BGC, education in an international school, a swim coach.
But the one special and simple thing he wanted to give eluded him: a name his son deserves.
Did he ever think of giving up? “No, never,” he immediately responds. “There were times when sometimes, I would wonder if it would ever get done. Is my life going to be tied to the Philippines until this kid’s 18, you know? But there was never an option of giving up.”
Well, a few days before this interview, the journey that started on Aug. 08, 2017 for father and son finally came to a happy conclusion. Aside from the adoption being formally legalized, the family also got a new birth certificate bearing the name Whitey Philip Andres.
A brown boy named Whitey, adopted by a white man? Surely it raised some eyebrows. But Geoff has a rather sentimental explanation to back it up.
“My dad’s nickname was Whitey. Whitey Andres. It was partly to honor my dad. Even last night, we were talking about his grandfather, Whitey. My dad was a pilot. He flew in World War II. My dad was the nicest, smartest, most honorable man. He just treated everybody so good and that’s why I named my son after him,” he narrates, adding that his middle name Philip, on the other hand, is an ode to the Philippines.
Unfortunately, Whitey Philip never got to meet his grandparents, who passed away during the course of his adoption. “Thank God for technology because we were able to have that interaction between them. But he was never able to see him in person. And that is one thing I really wish we could have made happen,” says Geoff. He also hopes that the adoption process in the Philippines will be streamlined in the future.
As soon as they got the papers, father-and-son went to the Department of Foreign Affairs to get Whitey’s passport. “I told him before that the day I got his passport, I’d call in sick at work and we’d go to Hong Kong Disneyland. But we’ll go to Japan instead,” says Geoff, who had booked tickets for a trip happening soon.
Boy meets girl
But what happened to Tricia?
“I’m glad you asked that question,” Geoff says. “I took my son and we went to the orphanage and found that Tricia is still there. A little bit of thought came to my mind, a little resentment — how unfair! This girl could have had a bright future!”
During their visit, Geoff sat down next to Tricia and told her: “I don’t know if you remember me, but I used to take a real interest in you… back from the orphanage before and this one.”
She goes, ‘I think I do remember you.’”
“How are you doing in school?” Geoff asked Tricia.
“I’m best in my class,” she answered.
With much joy and relief, Geoff said the one thing that we’ve probably heard all our dads say at least once in our life. “I was right!”
