Two dads, one dream

Alvin Miranda and Jappy Reyes share their beautiful journey from early conversations to welcoming twins through surrogacy

- JANE KINGSU-CHENG

When Alvin Miranda and Jappy Reyes met in 2011, one of the first things they talked about was starting a family. "On our first date, Jappy asked if I wanted kids and said that we probably wouldn’t work out if I didn’t," recalls Alvin, 43, a vice president for marketing. "I really liked him, so I said yes-then joked, 'But what would they call us? We can’t both be Dad.' Now, they call me Papa and him Dada.

Little did they know that this early conversation would one day lead to not just one child, but two-twins, Gia and Franc, born via surrogacy in October 2024. Jappy Reyes, 41, a group director for marketing, communications, and sustainability, had always envisioned building a family. “We originally prioritized and explored adoption. But one of our stipulations was that our future children would have to be legally both ours,” he explains. “This was virtually impossible to do in the Philippines or in the countries we were living in at the time, which was Singapore and France.”

Working on the dream

Their parenting journey officially began in May 2018, a year after the couple married in France. “We were both in our mid-30s. We had been together for around seven years and were more comfortable with ourselves as individuals and confident in our partnership as a couple. The timing felt right,” says Jappy.

They began doing their own research, which eventually led them to California. “It had the most advanced and progressive surrogacy laws, and an established commercial surrogacy industry,” shares Alvin. During a trip to San Diego in 2018, they visited a surrogacy agency, signed up, and even provided sperm samples-all within the same week.