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JK Labajo opens up about his journey on finding German father

Article (news)

E. Kristhoff Cagape

Push Team

JK Labajo recently opened up about his personal journey to find his German father, a search that began when he was just a child.In an interview with Karen Davila on her YouTube vlog, JK shared that it was his grandmother who provided him with the only details he had about his father.&quot;The only reason why I was able to find out at least what he looked like, my lola gave me whatever details that she had,&quot; he recalled. &quot;It was the love letters between my dad and my mom. And then it was his name. It was this one photo of him when he went on a Bohol trip.&quot;JK said he was only ten years old when he first tried to contact his father through an international number for Germany. &quot;We did all these different things we could do in order to contact that phone number,&quot; he shared.Recounting the first call he made with his grandmother, JK shared that a woman picked up the phone.&quot;The very first thing I remember, I was around 10 when this happened, only able to find the number and able to contact the number, may sumagot. After ringing for how many times, it was a woman, a grown-up woman. And then it was me and my lola on the line,&quot; he recounted.JK went on: &quot;Inisip ni lola, &#x27;Huwag mo sabihin baka wife.&#x27; It was ten years after I was born, maybe he&#x27;s life changed. &#x27;Long friend from the Philippines,&#x27; sabi ni lola.&#x27; [Sabi niya] &#x27;Well, Oliver&#x27;s not here.&#x27; Then I specifically remembered hearing kids in the background and I was like interesting, I think they were girls.&quot;The then woman mentioned Oliver was at work and asked for a name to leave. &quot;Sabi namin May, which was the name of my mom,&quot; the singer relayed.But after that call, nobody got back to him. &quot;After that wala na. Hindi na sumasagot.&quot;What stood out to JK during the call were the voices of children in the background. &quot;Natuwa ako ng todo kasi especially growing up I always wanted to have sisters kasi I really grew up in a household dominated by female energy, with my lola,&quot; he stated.<div> </div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-0" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/DIEA5FJzl0k/embed/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=620&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A6355942.100000024%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="826" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-0" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>Ten years later, during the height of the pandemic, JK made another attempt, this time using social media. Now 20, he realized that his online presence might help.&quot;Cut to ten years, why don&#x27;t I try to look for my dad but on a more public scale since we have a following online, we have like the social media presence. I was around 20 And then I remember posting about it on Instagram Stories,&quot; he shared.Thanks to the help of his followers, JK was able to obtain a contact number.&quot;I messaged him on Whatsapp... &#x27;Hello, my name is Juan Karlos.&#x27; Ang hirap kaya mag-compose ng message sa tatay mo na di mo kilala. Sabi ko, &#x27;I am the son of May Labajo and I just wanted to message you. I have a lot of questions I want to ask but I&#x27;m not reaching out for any kind of financial support, but I just also want you to let you know that my mom passed back in 2013 because of cancer, just in case you didn&#x27;t know,&#x27;&quot; he said. &quot;Grabe &#x27;yung kaba ko nung time na &#x27;yun.&quot;But shortly after sending the message, he was blocked. &quot;A few hours later, it was seen... and then a little bit after that I was blocked on Whatsapp,&quot; he shared. &quot;It felt like the world fell upon me.&quot;Despite the heartbreak, JK tried other ways to reach out. &quot;I tried reaching out a little bit more after that, I tried calling... I tried emailing.&quot; But still, no response came.When asked why it was important for him to connect with his father, JK explained: &quot;Aside from all of the things I want to know about, I want to get to know my mom more from his perspective and I also want to get to explore that other side of the world, that huge, big part of me.&quot;As for whether he still plans to look for his father, JK replied: &quot;Not anymore because after that, it was really painful. I was a 20-year-old boy, crying during the pandemic because of that whole thing but at the same it was kind of a closure,&quot; he remarked. &quot;I am still here 20 years in, I can do the next without him.&quot;

JK Labajo was ten years old when he first tried reaching out to his German father.

JK Labajo was ten years old when he first tried reaching out to his German father.