Creating video is more likely fun here in the island of Palawan, one of the top Palawenos who have huge following in Tiktok is Aldren Pawa Maat, a Person with disability who dance away all his sorrow, is now an inspirations to others.
With 4.6 million likers and 626.7k followers, the boy who was tagged as Starfish is from Brgy. San Pedro in Puerto Princesa. A former Grade 11 student from Palawan National School started creating dancing videos since 2018 after a teacher told him to create video for a project. Aside from dancing, he also can sing and draw and was loved by many, to the point that his original account with almost 850k followers was hacked, and was never returned to him till now.
“No’ng una pa lang ‘di ako nahiya kasi confident ako, kasi sabi ni Mama kumbaga wag mahiya kung ano meron ka, kung ano ‘yung talent mo pakita mo. Naglakas lang ako ng loob mag tiktok, ‘di ko po inisip na ma bash ako,” Maat said.
Naturally born without hands and feet, according to Aldren, his mom during her pregnancy is fond of teddy bear and turtles, but the medical explanation as per Aldren is her mom took anti malaria drugs during her pregnancy that caused his disability when born.
Nevertheless, 23 year old Aldren didn’t embark on the loss in his physical appearance. In fact, he is happy to be called Starfish as related to “Patrick” the starfish character in Spongebob cartoon series. He said that he did embrace that part of his life and he must continue living.
“Pag nabo-bore ako at wala ako magawa sa bahay ‘yun po ang libangan ko talaga ang pag tiktok kasi gusto ko talaga na e-express ‘yung emotion ko , ‘pag nalulungkot ako isasayaw ko na lang sa tiktok gano’n po,” Maat added.
But what Maat was surprised is the love and support from the different PWD community online, many of them became his fans and shower him gifts and tokens. He was elated knowing many people like him are getting inspired by his simple dance moves, that he film and edit all by himself.
“Super dami po, natutuwa ako sa kanila kasi sabi nila isa ako sa inspiration nila, kahit binabash ako ng ibang tao lumalaban pa rin ako, do’n pa lang sinabi ko na sa sarili ko na kahit PWD ako kaya kong lumaban kaya tuloy pa rin ang pag-tiktok ko,” Maat said.
Maat videos in Tiktok is being noticed by some known vloggers and celebrities in the country. Comedian TV Host Super Tekla was one of them. But his ultimate bucketlist to have a collaboration project is not with some famous stars or influencers, he is happy if given a chance to do a dance video with Palawan’s Boy Hugot Bitoyz Cortez.
“Kagaya ni Kuya Bitoy, idol ko po ‘yan siya dahil sa mga hugot-hugot nya nakita ko na siya one time nag pa picture na ‘ko sa kanya. Siya po talaga ‘yung one of the na gusto ko maka-collab sa sayawan kasi sabi dancer din siya gusto ko siya maka collab sa proud pinoy dance ko,” Maat added.
To check Aldren Tiktok videos, follow him at Pawa Maat Aldren in Facebook and aldren_pawa in Tiktok.