Lloyd Cafe Cadena with his father, Jun “Khalid” Cadena. Image: Instagram/@lloydcafecadena
MANILA, Philippines — The father of famed YouTube vlogger Lloyd Cafe Cadena expressed devastation over his son’s death, as he called it “the saddest day of my life.”
“I lost my son Lloyd Cafe Cadena,” Jun “Khalid” Cadena said in his own YouTube vlog uploaded Saturday, a day after his son died at the age of 26.
Jun, who is an overseas Filipino worker in the Middle East, said that he got the news from his daughter while he was at work.
“She called me ‘Papa, wala na si Lloyd (Papa, Lloyd’s gone),” Jun, who broke down in tears, recalled the moment of how he was informed of Lloyd’s death.
“Napakasakit. Ang hirap tanggapin na namatay lang siya. Mabait ang anak ko. Di man lang kami nagkita pang huli. Anak, patawad di na kita nakita muli,” Jun then expressed his regret.
(It hurts. It’s hard to accept that he died. My son is good. I didn’t even see him for the last time. I’m so sorry I didn’t see you for the last time.)
“Parang nawalan ako ng lakas kahapon nung narinig ko yung sinabi ng anak ko,” he added, describing his initial reaction of the news. “Nagulat ako, di ko maintindihan. Maybe two to three minutes or more, tulala ako eh.”
(It’s as if I lost my strength when I heard that. I was in shock. I couldn’t understand it. I stared blankly maybe two or three minutes.)
He then asked viewers to refrain from asking what was the cause of Lloyd’s death.
“Galangin niyo na lang yung privacy naming pamilya (Please respect our family’s privacy.),” Jun said.
Lloyd started his YouTube career in 2011. He was one of the video-sharing site’s most famous Filipino vloggers, as he had 5.48 million subscribers on his main channel and 3.25 million subscribers on his vlog channel, as of this writing.