an invitation to girls to come to his house When it comes to girls, M.D. is a true Casanova. He loves to watch the girls’ blushing cheeks and the shy manner in which they respond to him, “He’s a romantic,” explains a model. Asked if he flirts with girls, he says: “Yes, I flirt a bit.” Then, after a pause, he adds, “It’s good to flirt… The girls also tell me they like my flirting. It drives them wild.” M.D. is looking for a wife — with a family. He wants to have children, get married and then make more babies. “I would like a pretty girl, who I can have as my wife for life,” he says. “I don’t mind if they are pretty or not. I am not prejudiced in any way and I believe that every woman, whatever her external appearance, is beautiful. My idea of beauty is harmony. I am in favor of a woman with an attractive body but I think the most important thing is harmony between that and her head.” Being the owner of a luxurious restaurant doesn’t mean M.D. has much money, but when it comes to making his money, he knows how to get things done. “If I am the chief of a certain business, I become so powerful that nobody will talk back to me. But sometimes you can get a kick in the behind from the chief. I won’t give in just like that, but I know how to do it.” M.D. loves to flirt with girls. Fashionista Fashion is M.D.’s passion, but only women’s fashion: clothing and shoes. He loves everything about it — the smell of the clothes, the texture of the fabric, the shine of the shoes. “If you ask me what attracts me the most about fashion, I would say the touch. I don’t know why it is, but the more beautiful, the softer a pair of shoes or a dress is, the more attractive it seems to me. It must be a primitive thing to put a girl’s shoes on her little feet. M.D. is well-read and has learned the value of hard work in life, “My mother is the kind of woman who knows how to work hard to get what she wants,” he says. “I grew up in very poor conditions and now I work hard too. I am the only son in the family and my mother put me through school. I am very happy about that. If I had been an only child, my life would not have turned out the way it has. That’s how everything changes. First you have to get up to your feet, and then you can see a horizon and get a better future. You can take risks and go on to be somebody.” “I wish my sons turn out better than me. When I was young I had a lot of troubles, so I wanted to give my sons more than I had received. To be a father is hard work. In life, you should give to others more than you receive. I want my sons to be happier than I am and I think I am happier than my father was. He worked hard his whole life, but he didn’t have any luck. So when you say someone is lucky, it means he is luckier than the rest of us. I think we are better off now, because we have education. My children will not suffer the fate of my father and the rest of the family. The children will have a better life and will be happy.” When M.D. talks about his family, he speaks of them with respect. His mother, for example, is a very beautiful woman. But she has never been a good wife because she had a lot of lovers in her life. His father used to work as a security guard at a big hotel in Cebu. “My mother always loved to run around and I think she never learned to love. She never had a very stable husband, because she was always busy sleeping around. I wish my daughters would have a good life, like my mother.” M.D.’s father never knew his mother during her lifetime and met her for the first time when he was already married and had kids, but he tried to get to know her by asking questions. His dad’s biggest dream was to be a policeman, and then one day he realized his father had achieved that dream. He finally got to know his mother, but she died one month after his dad did. M.D.’s father was an adventurous man who never took any drugs. He wanted to go overseas and travel, but a year before he died, his wife, my grandmother, got pregnant with my mother. His father died a year before my mom was born, but he gave her a lot of love. M.D. and his father When M.D. is asked what his father did for him, he answers, “My father is the kind of man who gave me life, but I am also the kind of man who gave him life. My father got all the things he needed in life: a good job and a good salary. His wish was to be able to travel the world, but he never went abroad because he had to work hard at his work and was always busy. The one thing he did after his retirement was to buy a motorcycle. He used to ride it all over the island and he really loved it. But I think the most important thing in his life was working. He did work as hard as he could, so that I could have everything I need. He had everything he needed.” “My father was a hard worker. My father never had a girlfriend because he had to spend his free time doing his work. He never liked to go to parties or to drink. He used to just sit in the house and do his work, which was selling clothes. He never drank alcohol, and he was even afraid of eating pork because it’s so expensive. I remember my mother used to say, ‘You know how much the pork costs?’ And he would answer, ‘It’s too expensive.’ That was my father.” M.D. and his father in front of the house he lived in with his mother, sisters and grandfather M.D.’s father was such a man that M.D. has never forgotten him, even when he was still a young boy. He says he always liked his father because he wasn’t a drinker or someone who always argued with him. “He always helped me out when he could,” he says. “I never forgot that. I think I started learning about life from my father. I was very lonely when I was a little boy because my mother was never around. My grandparents lived close by, but I was very alone. But there was my father. He had all the time in the world to spend with me. I used to love that time with my father. I also liked to help him out with his work. M.D.’s father was the best man for him. He has a good memory of him because he never drank. He drank a little bit, but he didn’t drink as much as my father does now.” M.D.’s father was very intelligent and the best man for him, but he was also a womanizer. He had a lot of girlfriends and sometimes even two or three girlfriends at the same time. Every time I get together with him he asks me if I met any girls I want him to introduce me to. I say no and then he says, “I have a lot of nice women for you to choose from.” Sometimes I get so annoyed that I want to ask him what the hell he is doing. Why doesn’t he leave me alone? Why doesn’t he get a regular girlfriend and stay at home and take care of his kids? He’s never around. I want to tell him, “Why do you do it to me? You already have one son who has a good wife. Why do you need to be with other women? It’s not good. It hurts me to see my father with other women. Why does he do it? What is it that he wants?” M.D. says, “Now you have to wait for him to finish and come over to you and then find a girl to go with him. I say, ‘You can fuck whoever you want, but don’t come over and talk to me. Get out of here.’ I don’t want to listen to that. This is the reason I don’t want to go to the beach where there are girls. All I want is a simple life. I can see him being a father, a good husband and a good human being. He’s a good man, but he doesn’t know what the hell he is doing with his life. Now he’s not happy.” M.D.’s house before he bought it. They had only their heads out of the house M.D. believes that his parents are lucky, or should I say not lucky, that M.D. is a boy, but sometimes it’s not that simple. His mother wanted a boy. So, he was born as the youngest child in the family. His older sister never really learned how to read and write because she never went to school. Her sister had to take care of her. Even though M.D. is a good