Glen goes over to Cardo’s table with Jerome and Onyok gives her attitude for choosing the officer over him. Glen promises to make it up to him. Cardo invites them over but Jerome turns him down. They soon go back to their table, and Onyok throws a fit about how he wants no one but Glen to be his mother, thus Cardo’s wife.
The awkwardness now at it’s peak, Cardo decides to leave with Onyok and Benny. Glen goes to talk to Onyok and reaffirms her promise. Onyok suggests to Cardo that he court Glen so she can eventually become his mother.
With their luggage packed and ready to go, Verna and Rachel say their goodbyes to their wretched family. Jerome drops off Glen at home. Meanwhile, Cardo scolds Onyok for his attitude earlier at the mall and dismisses his desire for him to court Glen.
The next morning, Flora asks Cardo whether it had never crossed his mind to court Glen when they were in Botolan. Cardo says he’ll never court her because they are childhood best friends.
“My priority now is Onyok,” Cardo states. “And how I can continue to be a good father to him.”
“A child needs a father and a mother,” Flora teases. “So you better move fast my grandson.”
Yolly and Elmo go to the market with Onyok and Makmak to buy some groceries. As Yolly buys some kilos of meat from a butcher, Onyok notices the vendor putting a metal under the meat and points it out. Yolly asks the butcher to weigh it again and the miserable swine starts throwing a tantrum, even to the point of laying his filthy hands on the little boy.
Finding out about the incident, Cardo storms the market with Benny in tow and confronts the obnoxious butcher. Cardo keeps his anger in check, but then the scumbag provokes him all the more. Having had enough, Cardo beats up the scoundrel mercilessly. Once home, the neighbors recount their various unpleasant ordeals at the market. Flora scolds them for not reporting the issues. She then proceeds to scold Cardo as well for beating up the scumbag, worried that it would only lead to more trouble.
While the butcher rallies his equally miserable buddies to get revenge on Cardo, Cardo defends his actions. “That man had no right to hurt Onyok. And as a father, I need to protect my son,” Cardo declares. Onyok thanks him.
Tomas charges his son to make sure Cardo doesn’t cause them trouble in their new cocaine business. Meanwhile, the miserable butchers arrive at Barangay 628 and start exchanging words with Flora and disrespecting her. Yolly hurries to inform Cardo. Soon enough, a fight breaks out. Cardo is momentarily overpowered. Onyok throws him a log which he uses to beat the scumbags silly. Arriving on the scene, Glen tries to restore order, only to get hit in the head with a rock. Flora has all the scoundrels arrested.
Cardo takes Glen home and receives an unending scolding from Nanding and Lolit, even as Glen points out that he’s not to blame for her getting hurt. Cardo apologizes to the insufferable couple.
While Elmo promises to send Makmak to a private school since he was an honor roll student before, Cardo enrolls Onyok in school and urges him to make the most of the opportunity.
Yolly and Benny try to reason with Elmo concerning the cost of admitting Makmak into a private school. Meanwhile, Gordon, the local bet collector rounds up the day’s earnings and submits it to his boss, who turns out to be Supt. Bartolome “Bart” Catindig, the chief of the Quezon precinct Glen is stationed at. Bart promotes Gordon before dismissing him.
Elmo runs into Atong, a neighbor who has just bought a lot of groceries. He soon learns that the guy had won the loteng (lottery). Atong asks him to keep it a secret from grandma Flora and Cardo since they’d be pissed if they found out.
“By shelling out 50 bucks, who would have thought that I would hit the jackpot!” Atong states.
Elmo is in disbelief. “50 bucks? So who is your booker?”
Gordon convinces Elmo to stake lotto with everything he’s got, lorry fare included. Meanwhile, Cardo arrives home with Onyok’s school supplies and promises to get Makmak’s by next week. Yolly insists on taking responsibility for it. Makmak then brings up Elmo’s promise of sending him to a private school. Elmo arrives just then, and grandma Flora counsels him not to take up something his budget can’t afford yet. Elmo fails to listen to reason though.
“It’s fine if you can’t send me to a private school,” Makmak comments. “It already means a lot that you too me in as your son.”
“It doesn’t matter which school you go to,” Cardo chimes in. “Whether it’s private or public. What matters is you continue your studies. And we’ll all work together for it.”
“I know.”
Onyok brings up his notion of Elmo being a good father since he does everything to take care of Makmak. Cardo lectures him about making the right decisions as a father.
“So are all your decisions right?” Onyok asks. “Tell me.”
Cardo smiles. “Not really. I made a lot of bad ones. But now I’m learning to think about my decisions thoroughly.”
“But even if you make mistakes, to me, you’re the best father.”
“You’re flattering me again, huh?”
“No. I’m not.”
Cardo laughs. “Come on. Let’s go to sleep.”
Credit: Blasters Series
