Andriana Joy Nepacina has become the first member of her family to earn a college degree, completing a Bachelor of Science in Legal Management at Ateneo de Manila University as an Ateneo College Scholarship Awardee.
Her achievement drew widespread attention online after a tribute she posted to her father, Amorlito Nepacina, a cotton candy vendor in Antipolo known to many as “Kuya Amor.” For years he has pushed his cart through the streets of Antipolo and around the local seminary, working under the harsh sun and through heavy rain, and his daughter said she never once heard him complain about how difficult life had become.
In her Monday post, timed to Father’s Day, Nepacina framed each bag of cotton candy her father sold as far more than a simple product. She said it became the means that fed the family, kept her in school, and allowed her to keep pursuing her ambitions.
“Pa, mula sa bawat balot ng cotton candy, nakapagpatapos ka ng isang Atenista,” she wrote.
She traced her own habit of dreaming big to her father’s refusal to give up on earning a living. “Paano ako susuko sa pag-aaral kung ang taong nagpapaaral sa akin ay hindi sumusuko sa paghahanapbuhay? Paano ko sasabihing hindi ko kaya kung araw-araw kong nakikita ang tatay ko na lumalaban nang marangal para sa aming pamilya?” she wrote, adding that she pushed herself harder to prove that poverty is no obstacle to anyone with high aspirations who fights fairly.
Nepacina cast the diploma as a shared milestone rather than a personal one. “Papa, itong diploma ay hindi lang para sa akin. Para rin ito sa lahat ng taon ng pagod, sakripisyo, at pagmamahal na ibinigay mo nang walang hinihinging kapalit,” she wrote, closing the tribute with the line that resonated most widely online: “Hindi lahat ng bayani may kapa. Ang sa akin, may kariton ng cotton candy at may sipag bilang puhunan.”
She also thanked Ateneo’s Office of Admission and Aid for the scholarship that made her studies possible, crediting it as a key part of her goal to repay her parents’ sacrifices.
Speaking to Philstar.com, Nepacina said watching her parents work without rest reshaped how she valued her education. “I am the first college graduate in our family, and neither of my parents had the opportunity to finish college. Seeing them work hard every single day just so I could stay in school made me realize how valuable education really is,” she said.
She described the diploma as a beginning rather than an end, setting her sights on becoming a lawyer and a future in which her father would no longer need to sell cotton candy on the street. “Pangarap ko na balang araw, hindi mo na kailangang magtinda ng cotton candy at magtulak ng kariton sa ilalim ng araw. Nakikita ko ang pagod mo. Nakikita ko ang bawat sakripisyo at hirap na tiniis mo para lang mabigyan ako ng pagkakataong makapag-aral. Gagawin ko ang lahat para magkaroon ka ng abogadang anak,” she said.
