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10/11/2020
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ABS-CBN News Posted at Nov 10 2020 06:03 PM
Rabiya Mateo’s father, an Indian national, left for the US when she was a child and never returned, according to the beauty queen. Instagram: @rabiyamateo
MANILA — Newly crowned Miss Universe Philippines Rabiya Mateo chooses to bear no ill feelings toward her father, despite her belief that he had planned to abandon her and her mother when she was still a child.
Mateo opened up about her family life, specifically her Indian father Syed Mohammed Abdullah Moqueet Hashmi, in a recent interview with host Tim Yap in his online talk show.
Following her pageant win, Mateo said she was contacted by an Indian community, “trying to ask for the name of my dad.”
“But as of the moment, I still have no contact or any trace [as to] where he is right now,” Mateo said.
The last confirmed location of her father is Chicago in the US, where he is supposedly practicing as a doctor, according to Mateo.
Mateo then recounted the time when her father left for the US. She and her mother were expecting he would return, but that never happened.
“I think it was his plan to abandon us,” she said, noting that they never heard from him after his departure.
She narrated that at the time, her father’s two brothers were supposed to be in the Philippines as well for their studies. But when her mother sought them to ask for the whereabouts of their sibling, they, too, could no longer be contacted.
“And all of a sudden, all of the connection were cut,” Mateo said.
Asked for her advice to anyone who has a similar experience, Mateo answered: “Never try to plant any hatred or anger [towards] your biological dad, because it’s going to ruin you. It’s going to ruin your perspective in life.”
“Always try to understand the situation, even though it hurts you the most, even though you think there is no acceptable reason to have that kind of situation,” she added.
“Always try to see things differently, and always be kind. That’s something that I learned from my mother.”
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During her pageant bid, Mateo was open about grappling with poverty, as her mother raised her and her siblings as a single parent.
She juggled different jobs while studying to help her mother sustain their family.
“I told myself that this is not the life that me or my family deserves,” she said, explaining her commitment to finishing her education, and ultimately graduating as university valedictorian.
“My story is a testimony na even if you’re suffering from poverty, it’s not a hindrance for you to become successful in your chosen field, because I was able to conquer everything with hard work and, of course, with prayers.”
In a June 2020 post on Instagram, months prior to the Miss Universe Philippines pageant, Mateo shared a photo of her as a baby with her father, to mark Father’s Day.
In her open letter to him, Mateo said she became “a strong independent woman today because of the situation that happened in the past.”
“But I never blamed you for it,” she said.
“I will continue to be a breadwinner to our family, a good daughter to Mama, and a good role model to Mokmok,” she wrote, referring to her brother.
“I will push myself to a new and greater limit every single day so that when the time comes and we meet again, you will tell everyone how proud you are that I’m your daughter and who knows, when that day comes I might be a doctor like you.”
Mateo, a licensed physical therapist, most recently worked as a Physical Therapy board exam lecturer and coordinator at a review center.
“I pray that wherever you are, you're surrounded by people who love you and take good care of you,” Mateo told her father at the time. “I hope you still think about me because I always think about you. Happy Father's Daddy and I miss you so much.”
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