In 2020, Ian Veneracion and his daughter Deirdre went on “Magandang Buhay” to share her coming out story. When she asked him if it was okay that she liked girls, he told her, “Yes. Don’t ever be apologetic about it, not even to me. You can be whoever you want to be and [you have my] full support.”
Two years later, on June 4, he came on Karen Davila’s YouTube channel to talk about supporting his lesbian daughter and being a father and husband.
Davila pointed out that many parents find it hard to accept their queer children and will say things like “I want you to have children” or “I want you to have a family.” Veneracion replied, “We have our lives to live and they have their lives. They don’t come from us, they come through us lang. They’re with us for, what, 20 years. Hindi ako willing to strain that relationship just para masunod ang gusto ko kahit hindi ’yun ang gusto niya. That’s absurd.” He added, “Sa akin, I’ll just support whatever you want to be and let you grow your wings so you can fly high.”
He did also note that if she got married, he’d cry like a baby “because she’s my baby.” He also shared that his parenting style as a dad is being his kids’ kunsintidor. “First and foremost, I see myself as a father,” he said, and shared that fatherhood is his favorite role (and that’s coming from a multi-hyphenate).
He and Karen Davila also talked about how he won over and fell in love with his wife of 25 years, engineer Pam Gallardo—he said that she hung up on him when he first called her. He described marrying her when they were 22 as “the best decision I’ve made in my life up to this day.”
“I made a promise to her nung kinasal kami and a promise to society. But more than that, I made a promise to myself, which for me, is the most important thing. I promised to take care of this person for the rest of my life.”
He expressed his annoyance at how the entertainment industry will spark rumors about stars to get people talking. “Dati, kahit sino naman maging leading lady mo, kailangan nila mag-ano ng angle para mapagusapan. Standard na ‘yon ever since pa [the] action movie [days]. [But it still happening is] parang, ‘Really? Up ‘til now? It’s still the same style?’”
He also shared this relationship advice he gave to his sons: “Madaling mambabae, kahit sino puwedeng mambabae. There’s nothing cool about it. Pero ‘yung sticking to the one you know that’s meant for you, that’s the right path. It takes more of a man to be like that.”
His outlook is a huge breath of fresh air, especially when it seems like so many high-profile relationships are breaking up over infidelity. Just last year, recently elected senator Robin Padilla shared that he told his daughter Kylie Padilla, who was in the middle of separating from Aljur Abrenica, that it was normal for men to cheat. “Eh, lalaki ’yan. Kalokohan ang hindi mangyari [ang pagkakaroon ng third party] lalo at nasa showbiz tayo.” It’s genuinely great to see a male figure saying otherwise.
“You’re a good guy,” Davila told Veneracion. “That’s very wonderful to see. We need more role models who are good guys.” She’s right.
Photo screengrabbed from Ian Veneracion’s “Ninuno” music video
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