One element that binds these stories and families together is their fervent love for each other.
Whether in good times or in bad, these fathers and their children eventually thwart the challenges, misunderstandings and stumbling blocks they encounter (and continue to encounter) along the way.
As we celebrate Father’s Day today, the first in living memory while a pandemic continues to rage outside our homes, we at PeopleAsia look back on “fatherhood” stories, separate and independent from each other in some cases, featuring prominent fathers and their equally famous or accomplished children—Richard Gomez and Juliana Gomez, and the Villafuerte men: family patriarch Luis, his son LRay and grandson Migz.
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LRay, Migz & Luis Villafuerte Sr.: “Blood is thicker than water”
“Many things can happen in this world, but I’d like to say I love my son very much.But I’d also like to say that I love my grandson even more.” — Luis Villafuerte Sr., on ending his rift with LRay and Migz
If there’s one thing Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte and son Miguel Luis “Migz” Villafuerte took after Luis Villafuerte Sr., or LRV, father and grandfather of LRAy and Migz, respectively, it’s the passion to serve the people of Camarines Sur—now one of the country’s most progressive provinces and, prior to the pandemic, also one of the country’s top tourist draws—in the most creative ways.
Over the years, the Villafuerte gentlemen have also had their share of misunderstandings. But they didn’t allow these periods of enmity to permanently put a wedge between them. For the sake of the province they all love as well as the deep ties that bind them as a family, they rose above their differences and buried the hatchet sometime in 2018, and started working together again as one.
In an article by PeopleAsia editor-in-chief Joanne Rae Ramirez, which appeared early last year, she wrote that former governor and congressman LRV began his public life in 1987, while LRay, served as governor from 2004 to 2013.
Migz, on the other hand, became the country’s youngest elected governor when, at age 24, he was elected to the post as Camarines Sur governor in 2013. For this race, his first, he dueled against and triumphed over his grandfather, Luis. But, that’s getting ahead of the story, adds Joanne.
“When I was a governor, the province’s income was P700 million. When I stepped down, it was over P2 billion. I tripled it,” says LRay.
By 2010, Camarines Sur had overtaken Metro Manila and Cebu as the country’s top tourist destination, boasting 2.33 million tourist arrivals. According to the Commission on Audit in a report in 2007, Camarines Sur pole vaulted to number 10 from number 39 on the list of the Philippines’ richest provinces.
LRay’s term put Camarines Sur on the map with its moniker “CamSur” — because he believes that places with the most recall possess only two syllables, i.e. Bali, Phuket, Paris, New York.
Migz, on the other hand, says his most tangible achievements in public service are anchored on his grandfather’s and father’s accomplishments.
In 2013, Joanne further writes, for the first time in the history of Camarines Sur, LRV, then 77, and his grandson Migz, in a contest that pitted a veteran versus a neophyte from the same family, ran against each other for governor.
Migz is the eldest of the four children of then outgoing governor LRay and his wife Lara.
The suspicions of those who initially thought the fight was a charade to keep the post in the family — whoever won — vanished when the Villafuerte patriarch filed an election protest following his defeat to his grandson.
The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 2014 upheld with finality the election of Migz, denying the appeal of his lolo.
“I always say, ‘life is like a teleserye.’ There’s a lot of conflicts, tensions, misunderstandings, but in the end, you unite as a family. Forgiveness is important,” says LRay, who also once got into a heated public debate with his father on whether or not CamSur should be divided.
This time, he gives that observation in front of his father in a loving voice, as both are having coffee together in a veranda overlooking the lake at the CWC. Earlier, Gov. Migz greeted his grandfather by putting the patriarch’s hand to his forehead. “Hi, Lolo.”
All’s well that ends well for the three Villafuertes, who have all held the post of CamSur governor in their lifetime.
After the Villafuerte vs Villafuerte elections of 2013, the wounds were deep, very deep. But trust time to heal all wounds. Sometime in 2017, Migz reached out to his lolo during a cousin’s wedding and invited him to a Christmas family reunion. The Villafuerte patriarch attended, but according to LRay, the ice had not completely thawed between him and his father at the time.
But during LRay’s birthday the other year, Migz again invited his lolo, who took to the mic and said, “Many things can happen in this world, but I’d like to say I love my son very much.” Tears started to well up in the eyes of the people in the party.
Lolo Louie continued, “But I’d also like to say that I love my grandson even more.”
By then, everybody in the room, who witnessed the emotional and political battles among the three generations of Villafuertes, were sobbing.
Happiest was the woman related to all three “Luises:” the matriarch Nelly Favis Villafuerte, who credits the healing in her family to their renewed faith. It was she who whispered to her husband before he went up the stage, “Don’t forget to tell LRay you love him.”
LRV, for his part, just smiles at the recollection of those turbulent days in their lives as a family. “Hindi ko naman sila matitiis (I cannot foreswear them). Blood is thicker than water.”
“Whatever is the misunderstanding, all you need to do really is sit down and address it. In the end, what matters is, we are family.” — based on a story by Joanne Rae Ramirez
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Richard Gomez and Juliana Gomez: Like father, like daughter
Richard and Lucy Torres-Gomez, mayor and representative of Ormoc, respectively, have always encouraged their unica hija, Juliana, now 19, to pursue whatever interests her.
“They never stopped me from doing anything, unless it’s stupid, of course,” Juliana, who’s now sheltering in place with her parents in Ormoc, says with a chuckle in a story written by Maan D’asis Pamaran, which appeared early last year. “I feel like I am mature enough to know what is right from wrong. They never put me in a box, and respected what I wanted to do and just provide guidance.”
She says she is blessed to have grown up in a loving home. She describes it as “an environment where you are loved and respected, disciplined, and guided. It is a balance that not all kids have.”
Her mom and dad share a very similar parenting style. “They are very reasonable, instead of strict. If I ask my mom for example, if I can go to the beach with my friends at the last minute, she will say no, because I should have been responsible enough to have asked permission beforehand,” explains the young lady.
Her curfew is at midnight, earlier than most of her peers. “Sometimes it can stretch up to 1:30 a.m., if it’s a concert or something, or sometimes I just use my charm to have it extended. Although now that I am an older teen, I appreciate being around my family more.”
She consults with her parents, especially with her mom, even for things like having a dress made — and most especially about boys. One of her posts during her debut day in 2018 was a letter her mother wrote to her a long time ago, encouraging Juliana to come to her and talk about her boy friends.
“My dad knows I can’t come to him and say things like I don’t know how to talk to this boy, kasi, you know naman how dads will just say, ‘go, talk!’ That is why I talk to my mom about things like that because she would understand my feelings better. So on a scale of 1 to 10, on my openness with my mom, it’s an 11.”
Another thing she got from Lucy and her grandmother is faith. Juliana prays the rosary regularly. “It is central to our family,” she says, beaming with pride.
She has always been aware of her parents’ popularity, she recalls seeing people who come over for dinner appearing on TV. “It was just normal for me.” It does get flattering, though, when people approach them for photos and autographs. “I mean, there are people I look up to and would want to have a photo with, like Dua Lipa, for example. So when someone comes up to them or even to me, it feels so nice that they see me that way!”
One more thing she reveals is that she raids her parents’ closet. “I don’t own a single pair of heels and my mom does not have sneakers. Since we are the same size, we borrow from each other. Obviously, my dad can’t borrow anything from us, but I do use his shirts and jerseys. They are a little big, but they fit nicely.”
She then peels off her denim jacket to reveal a plain white shirt that she says is Goma’s.
One of the best gifts her family gave her is nurturing her self-confidence. “I am blessed with a family who has always made me believe in myself. Even when I couldn’t sing, they would tell me, ‘you have the voice of an angel,’” she says before breaking into giggles.
Her father, a former Gold Medalist for Fencing at the Asian Games, likewise encouraged her to go into sports. “It has molded me to become a better person. I got into football at around grade 2 or 3, baseball and soccer, then fencing for several years. Now I play volleyball, which is what I want to try out for college.”
Through sports, she became more patient with herself, she declares. “It taught me the value of hard work in order to achieve something. I learned that if you work towards your goal everything will fall into place.”
In a more recent interview, which appears on PeopleAsia’s June-July 2020 issue, Richard, one of PeopleAsia’s Men Who Matter 2020 awardees, shares with Alex Y. Vergara how he spends his downtime in between packed weekdays attending to the demands of his constituents, especially during these trying times. What’s heartening is father and daughter still find opportunities to bond, especially on weekends.
“During the initial phase of the lockdown, I encouraged my constituents to try to help themselves by utilizing vacant lots around their homes to plant vegetables,” he says.
Not one to disregard what he preaches, Richard has also taken to gardening himself, especially during weekends. Whatever he’s harvested so far, be they tomatoes or pechay, have ended up in the kitchen, where, this time, he lets lose his inner chef. Such weekend activities have given birth to Richard’s YouTube channel—Goma@home.
Everything about it is sariling sikap, or DIY, even his videos, which are shot by Juliana. Just the other weekend, father and daughter were at it again, soon after Richard harvested a fresh batch of pechay. Judging from Richard’s smile across the writer’s computer screen, such bonding moments between them are priceless. — based on stories by Maan D’ Asis Pamaran & Alex Y. Vergara
