To the girl who calls me Frankikay:

"Well, I haven't seen you in a while. You know I miss our talks, I miss your smile."
-Song For The Rich, Tristan Prettyman

For some, name-calling is a start of something bad or it's not a good way, or the way, to start a relationship. Be it a friendship or a romantic relationship. But for me and Janjan, it isn't.

Thanks to our History 3 prof (whom we call by the wonderful, endearing name of Shawie) I became Franky. Yes, Shawie-Frankie just like the Megastar and her Mega daughter. :) I forgot the whole story behind the name but somehow the name stuck.

Flashback: Janjan, Pauie (Raizel) and I, after the NSTP Bisitang Institusyon decided to call each other degrading names. Or rather, degrading forms of our true, normal names. I call Raizel "Pauie" and Janjan calls her "Paupau". Janjan calls me "Franky" and Pauie calls me "Franks". I call Janelle "Janjan" and Pauie calls her "Pare". Gets?

Anyway. Instead of hating the name "Franky" I tolerated it (despite the "truth" that it doesn't actually fit me like a glove). Just for the simple fact that it became some sort of bond between Janjan and I. That even though we are separated by two psywar-ring campuses (separated by miles apart) who tend to say they are better than the other, we still consider each other close friends. Or at least, I do.

If this is was Area Studies 101, our freindship can be called "crossborder friendship".

And just in case you're still wondering about the "kikay" part . . . that's from the Sagada fieldtrip. Justine called me "Kikay" and Janjan (I think she finds the name funny) sort of adopted it and formed a "neologism" (haha). Thus the name, Frankikay.


To You, Janjan:

Who still calls me Frankikay.
Who shared my dislike for Ma'am alam-mo-na before (kasi ayaw niya sa maingay)
Who liked, like me, to call people codenames (secretly, of course)
Who knows who Hannibal is
Who knows who all "our" Bestfriends 1-6 are
Who likes chismax :))Whose insightful (haha) blog posts I read,
Whose sister I call Wachel,Who is, by far, the youngest ka-batch I know
But certainly not the most childish,Who just celebrated her 18th birthday . . .

Happy, happy birthday!
May you find what you are really hoping, wishing and waiting for in the right time.
Always remember, just what I said before, you are maybe losing friends but "You're not losing me." :))

----------------------------------------------------
Janjan, alam ko long overdue na 'tong post na 'to. :) Naging busy lang. Sorry, and Happy Birthday.

Pantay(o)

Pantay(o)*
by Jo Ann Madarang

Sa unang tingin
maaari nating tanungin,

"Di ba't ang pagsulong ng ekonomiya
ay pagsulong rin ng nakararami?"


Isang masaklap na katotohanan:
Ang mga mahihirap, sa pulitika'y walang laban.
Pa'no maisusulong ang kanilang pangangailangan,
Kung ang mga pulitiko ay ayaw silang pakinggan?


Ating tatanungin, pa'no nga ba gagawing
ang pagsulong ng ekonomiya ay pagsulong rin ng nakararami?
Ang gobyerno, korupsyon, mga programa at implementasyon
Sa kanila nakasalalay ang tunay na pagsulong.


Laganap na korupsyon, nagdudulot ng kahirapan tiyak 'yon.
Ang gobyerno at pribadong sektor
dapat magtulungan, at may isang layon:
Maihatid sa mahihirap ang benepisyong hinintay ng maraming taon.


Hindi man maganda (sa pandinig) ang tulang ito:
sana'y nakinig pa rin kayo.
Tandaan: ang tunay na pagsulong
ay ang pagsulong na "pantayo".

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*This is my first poem in Filipino. I made for my Econ101 class under Prof. John Ponsaran. The topic assigned was pro-poor growth.