IT’S AN OLD STORY: THE FATHER, A DEDIcated soldier, discovers that his son is gay. He is enraged. He feels humiliated. What would his colleagues in the military say?
But M/Sgt. Leonilo Pedrosa, a unit sergeant major at the Air Force General Hospital and the father of stand-up comic Neil Pedrosa, is made of different stuff.
Pedrosa, 51, once brought his superior and fellow soldiers to a comedy bar to watch Neil’s show. He buys Neil’s whitening pills. He drives Neil to provincial gigs.
Neil, 25, is well-known for his talent in mimicking the voices of certain local and international singers and actors. And he is as proud of his father—one of this year’s Ten Outstanding Philippine Soldiers (TOPS)—as the latter is of him.
Pedrosa admitted that accepting his son’s homosexuality was not an easy process, especially because he had lived practically all his life in an institution where manhood is the norm.
“I asked myself: ‘Should I get angry? Should I accept it?’” he recalled.
Pedrosa is the eldest in a brood of four sons. His father, M/Sgt. Leonardo Pedrosa, and his brother, S/Sgt. Leandro Pedrosa, also served in the Air Force.
He had wanted to be a civilian pilot, but getting into the military was a practical decision: His father was then about to retire from the service, and the family lived in a compound near Villamor Air Base that was strictly for Air Force personnel.
His father retired in 1978. By then it was too late for Pedrosa to pursue his other dream of entering the Philippine Military Academy and becoming a commissioned officer.
Thus, he enrolled in a two-year aeronautics course and became an enlisted airman in 1981.
Pedrosa learned to love his job even if he was later assigned to the Air Force General Hospital where he initially worked as a messenger and ambulance driver.
He was eventually promoted to head of all the enlisted personnel assigned at the hospital, where he met the love of his life—Julieta, a civilian nurse, who became his wife.
No confrontation
Neil is the eldest of the couple’s three children.
The father soon noticed that his son seemed feminine and had many gay friends in high school. He never asked, but he knew.
“I didn’t know if I could confront him about it,” Pedrosa said. “I also didn’t know if he would answer me.”
Neil said he had never admitted anything to his father, especially because he acted “normally” when the latter was around.
He said his father was disappointed when he started to work in comedy bars: “I felt that he did not really want me to perform.”
But Pedrosa did not get in his son’s way, having decided that he should let his children follow their dreams.
It is a decision that he does not regret.
Neil earned well, and his talent soon got noticed. He now appears in an afternoon television series.
And Pedrosa’s actions indicate how proud he is of his son.
He shows his colleagues in the military Neil’s latest videos on YouTube. He volunteers to invite Neil to perform in certain events of the Air Force.
And it was he who kept his son company at the hospital when the latter decided to go for a nose lift.
His kids’ friend
By his account, Pedrosa was a strict father who ordered his children to line up, as in military formation, when he scolded them.
But he later realized how harsh he had been and tried to be friends with his children, recalling how, when they were young, he and his brothers rarely saw their own father who was usually assigned to far provinces.
Despite the distance, however, he grew up proud of his father and often told bullying playmates that the latter carried a big gun.
Now that he has three children of his own, Pedrosa makes it a point to spend more time with them.
“I am not a perfect father,” he said. “But I try my best to be a responsible father.”
The lessons he has learned as a father also help in his work, Pedrosa said. Thus, he treats his subordinates as his children and considers the Air Force hospital his “second family,” he said.
Loves helping people
The TOPS search is an annual undertaking of the Metrobank Foundation and the Rotary Club of Makati.
Outstanding soldiers, including two enlisted personnel and one commissioned officer from each of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ three major services (the Army, Navy and Air Force) are chosen and honored. One winner is selected from the AFP Technical Services Units.
In giving Pedrosa the award, the Metrobank Foundation recognized the innovations he introduced at the Air Force hospital, such as improving the record system for patients and introducing a color-coded sign system.
But Neil believes that dedication to public service was what made his father, who also helps in air evacuation operations, win the award.
“He loves helping people,” Neil said. “I wish he can continue helping others because I know this makes him happy.”
The other TOPS awardees are Army Col. Melquiades Feliciano, M/Sgt. Ruben Lucero, M/Sgt. Hercules Regis, Navy Col. Nathaniel Casem, T/Sgt. Marcelo Batingan, Sgt. Vicente Sustiverio Jr., Air Force Col. Arnold Mancita, T/Sgt. Rogelio Alarcon Jr. and Maj. Vicente Magaro.
They each received a trophy and a cash prize of P250,000 during the awarding ceremony in March.
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