Yuri Barrameda: Cultivating a haven, cultivating fatherhood

CEBU, Philippines — One glance at the lush greens and captivating blooms would make one consider the sprawling garden is a product of a woman’s touch. Flowers and plants, after all, are typically associated with the feminine.

Not in the case of Terrazas de Flores in Cebu City. The now popular destination in the mountain barangay of Malubog, located about 30 minutes away from the city’s center, is a testament of a father’s love for his children.

The garden’s terrace-style landscape, in fact, is representative of the uphill climb that its owner, Yuri Barrameda, has to face as a single father and in gaining custody of his third child.

All three kids have different mothers, Yuri shares, and in the case of his daughters, Andrea Carmela and Francheska, he had to learn to buy women’s clothes, Yuri says with a smile.

Both Andrea Carmela and Francheska were with Yuri from the beginning but his youngest, Moses, had to be the subject of a court battle.

Moses lived with Yuri at first but when he was five years old, a day before his birthday, his mother reportedly took him away and moved him to another school.

On the child’s birthday, his mother brought him to court and appealed that she be given custody over the boy. But because Moses reportedly wanted to stay with his father instead, Yuri was prompted to file a formal case.

As the case was being heard, Moses had to stay with his mother on weekdays and with Yuri only on weekends.

To cope with the sadness of not being with his son most of the time, Yuri took a leave from his business and explored the mountains in Cebu on board his bike. It was during this time in 2012 when he started collecting plant samples and started growing them at his property in Barangay Malubog.

To an extent, the mountains breathed new life into Yuri and Terrazas de Flores started to bloom. As the plants started to grow, so did Yuri’s resolve to bring Moses back home.

In the end, the court granted Yuri custody of his son and, in 2016, Terrazas de Flores opened its gate to the public.

His realization from the process:

“A father loves his children without distinctions as to whether his children are illegitimate or legitimate. Why should the law distinguish between a legitimate and an illegitimate child regarding the custodial rights of a father?”

He hopes that lawmakers would revisit the Family Code and make amendments.

While he has to raise his children by himself, Yuri says he never discouraged them from seeing their mothers. Such open-mindedness even extends to how he wants his children to face their future. Yuri says he would want them to carve their own path and cultivate that path with passion and with all their heart.

As he balances his energy between being a part-time businessman and a full-time dad, Yuri continues to toil the soil at his garden. He hopes to develop the two-hectare property soon as more and more people – local and foreign tourists alike – are adding the Terrazas de Flores in their list of must-see destinations in Cebu. 

Today, a visitor can walk through rows and rows of well-manicured plants of seemingly endless varieties while taking in the breathtaking views of the undisturbed mountains of Cebu City. At the end of a satisfying tour, refreshments await at a quaint café nestled at the heart of the garden.  

With the sense of peace it can feed the soul, Terrazas de Flores can be the ideal escape for those who would want to take a step back from the extremes of urban life, so much like the safe haven the garden of Yuri’s mother provided him with when he was much younger in those times family life wasn’t at its best.

And while the garden is a legacy Yuri wants to leave his children, every plant that grows and every flower that blooms there is a beautiful reminder of what fatherhood or even life can be if nurtured with love. - John Kendrick P. Ceciban