Cycling champ longs for reunion with father

POZORRUBIO, Pangasinan – At 26, he longs for his father, who abandoned him when he was barely six years old, and he hopes someday they will be reunited for good.

This is the dream of Arnel Querimit, a cycling veteran who finished second in last month's Asian Cycling Championships in Taiwan and is dedicating his silver medal to his father, Arturo, whom he met only briefly in 1995 when he won the Cagayan de Oro leg of the Marlboro Tour.

"Iniaalay ko sa kanya itong aking medalya (I’m offering to him my medal)," a teary-eyed Querimit said holding his silver medal.

Querimit of barangay Palac-palac this town told The STAR that he wants his father to be proud of him. Despite being left at the care of his mother, Teresita, Querimit said he still dreams that someday he will be reunited with his father.

He said when he was a child, he was often teased by his playmates for not having a father. He said he would often ask his mom about his dad and his mom would assure him that he has a father but that he works in a far-away place .

Though he admits he bears grudge with his father, he said he couldn’t do anything anymore but to strive hard so that someday his father would realize the mistake he committed.

"I’m still glad because my mother didn’t get married again," Querimit said.

A father-son reunion took place once, in 1995, when he won the tour stage in Cagayan de Oro City. There a man approached him, asked him who his mother is, where he lives, and other personal questions. After answering him, he said his father was stunned, cried and embraced him as he introduced himself.

"Of course I didn’t believe him because he might just be fooling me. I asked for his ID and he showed it to me," Querimit recalls.

He said his daddy asked forgiveness. The only words Querimit could say to his daddy then was, "Why did you abandon me?"

Arturo kept on crying. Later his daddy introduced to him his five other siblings from his other woman.

Now that he is a member of the RP Team in next month's Southeast Asian Games, Querimit hopes to get a gold medal so that once again his father who only gets to know about him through news reports could be proud of him. — Eva de Leon