At 16, Edward Became A Man
When the pandemic came, Edward Dapadap’s world shrank. The walls of their house in Bataan were too low to keep the floods out, and too thin to keep despair away.
Edward is the Exp Laner of Aurora Gaming, which, as of this writing, is the top seeded team in MPL Philippines Season 16. Edward just celebrated his 21st birthday on September 11. Everything is comfortable now. But when he was 16, it was a different story.
“Wala akong work,” he remembers. “Sinong magpo-provide sa amin?”
The boy who would one day lift trophies in the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League was, at one point, just trying to lift his family out of the water.
‘Kung wala ako sa esports, sa tingin ko tambay lang ako o maaga nagtrabaho.’
Esports saved him, but not in the glamorous way headlines promise. It wasn’t the arenas or the lights. It was the constancy: The daily scrimmages, the endless rehearsals, the sense that his hands could now make something solid out of all the hours he once spent in uncertainty. He joined pocket tournaments and gave 80 percent of his prize winnings to his lola.
In 2020, during MPL Philippines Season 6, while most of the world was locked indoors, Edward was already working. Sixteen years old, wide-eyed, and armed with a phone and a promise, he became his family’s breadwinner.
“Kung wala ako sa esports,” Edward says, “sa tingin ko, tambay lang ako o maaga nagtatrabaho sa labas.”
He says it lightly, but it’s the kind of truth that sits in the chest like a stone.
In 2022, Edward rebuilt his family’s home. It was right after Balcklist International won the Philippines’ second world championship in MLBB.
“Hindi ko rin alam kung paano gagastusin (yung pera ko),” he says. “Kasi 17 ako noon.”
He could have splurged, like most boys would at that age. But when the floodwaters rose again, he decided otherwise. He looked at their low house, the one that drowned each year, and told himself: Never again.
“Tinibag yung bahay namin,” he says, “tapos nagpatayo talaga ako ng bagong bahay on the same lot.”
A boy, building his own shelter from memory.
When he posed for a photo on top of the house he was building, the engineers scolded him. “Wala daw akong boots at hard hat!”
Sometimes, staying is the hardest part of growing.
But the climb wasn’t straight. He nearly quit once, in Season 7, he remembers vividly.
“Aaaah noong Season 7!” he laughs, that same disarming mix of joy and ache. Back then, he wanted to switch teams. He admired Renejay and Yawi, wanted to play beside them at Nexplay. “Gusto ko rin maging streamer,” he admits, grinning. “Perang pera ako no’n!”
He even called Renejay to help him transfer. But his team, Blacklist International, wouldn’t let him go. Bound by contract and circumstance, he stayed. Then came the news: the spot went to Exort. “Parang hindi ako nakakain noong araw na ‘yon,” Edward says. “Kasi inaasahan ko talaga ako yung makukuha.”
He doesn’t hide the sting. He laughs at it now, calls it “tampo.” But underneath the laughter is the realization that sometimes, staying where you are is the hardest part of growing.
When the limelight is no longer on Edward and his name is no longer famous, he hopes people would remember one thing.
“Yung pagiging consistent ko,” he says. He didn’t coin the title—Mr. Consistent—but he wears it like armor.
“Di naman ako yung nagbigay sa sarili ko no’n! Masaya, masarap sa feeling… pero kapag inconsistent na, wala na, hindi na masarap sa feeling.”
Consistency, for him, is what built his house, steadied his family, and shaped the boy who once feared the floods.
Maybe this is what salvation looks like: Not the trophies, not the light, but a roof rebuilt by one who refused to sink.
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