Nanay and Tatay, My Heroes

The stories “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife” of Manuel Arguilla and “The Mats” of Francisco Arcellana show the importance of the family for Filipinos. These stories were both written before World War II. Apparently, both of the fathers from the stories are the providers or the one who works for the family while the mother stays at home to take care of the children.


My 55-year old mother told me that it is common for the fathers, during the old days, to work for the family and the mothers usually stays at home. This topic interests me because I think both mother and father should work for their family. If not, it can be the root of an issue and may lead to insecurities, pride for the status, etc. 


In this day and age, it is practical for the mother and father to work together to support their family. This may still not occur for the rich ones but averagely it is. Therefore it is understandable for the time around World War II to have only the father as the provider of the family because of the economy during that time---affordable goods and services (according to my mom, during their time you could just ask a tomato from your neighbor for free but now it costs 3 to 5 pesos for a piece of tomato!). Philippines is known for OFW or the Overseas Filipino Workers and usually either the mother or the father suffers and sacrifices time to work abroad and miles away from their families to earn more money. The way of living 50 years ago is a lot different from today. 


Most of the Filipinos are aware in this situation especially that the mass media can show related situations. An example of this is the commercial of Magnolia:

Actually, it is seldom for the mother to be the one who is working and the father stays at home. But as I can see in the commercial, I think the father is also employed because of his clothes which looks like a uniform, probably, of a teacher or a driver (not so sure about that).


But from the first movie of Star Cinema for 2012, “A Mother’s Story,” it features a mother who sacrifices and works as an OFW for her family while her husband stays jobless in the country.


As you can see, Filipino parents would do anything to fulfill their responsibilities for their families during the old days and the present time. I salute them for this characteristic especially the OFW’s. It is fair to call them as heroes.