Parents will do whatever it takes to provide a good life for their children. Being the daughter of a hardworking man, Glaidale Hibaya knows this. Recently, a Facebook post she penned about an encounter her father, a taxi driver, had with a passenger has caught fire.
The University of the Philippines Los Baños graduate said that her father shared the story to her as she was leaving for work and he was coming home after a 15-hour shift. “I don't usually post [things] like this on Facebook pero I've had enough,” she starts.
After being dropped off at Alabang in Muntinlupa City and with a fare totaling P400, a passenger failed to pay her father. The reason, “Wala raw pambayad eh,” writes Hibaya. “So ang ending, umalis na lang yung tatay ko kasi ano naman daw bang magagawa niya e sa wala raw maiabot.”
It wasn’t just the passenger’s indifference and apathy that pushed Hibaya to take to social media. It was when her father said, “Ganun talaga eh, mababa kasi tingin nila [mga pasahero] samin [mga driver].”
Four hundred pesos may be a small amount to more well-off Filipinos, she continues, “Pero malaki na ‘yun para sa tulad naming hindi ganun kagaanan ang buhay.”
Along with the narration is a photo of her father’s dashboard—suspended right next to the steering wheel is Hibaya’s graduation photo. “Nilagay yan ng tatay ko dyan para naman daw mas ma-inspire pa sya magtrabaho. Para maalala niya na dahil sa paghahatid niya ng mga pasahero, may napatapos siya sa kolehiyo,” she writes.
She ends with a message to commuters, “Sana maging responsableng commuters tayo.” All public utility drivers brave the road because they need to and must. “May mga pamilya yang binubuhay. May kinabukasan yang pilit na itinataguyod. Always bear that in mind.”
All work, when done for others, is noble work.
This story originally appeared on SmartParenting.com.ph.
*Minor edits have been made by FemaleNetwork.com editors.
