My Friends: Dodong Funky Munky

“Show me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are.” — Vladimir Lenin

If you've ever been to a mall or any other place that required industrial grade solar power, Dodong probably had something to do with putting the solar power farm in that place.

Dodong and I have known each other since he started riding on our school bus around when I was in second grade. I'm a year older than him. And as things went back in the day, kids mostly associate with other kids from their class. But Dodong and I started being friends very early in life because we simply liked doing the same things.

That doesn't mean that Dodong and I didn't have our fallings-out. We had two and both were nasty. But let's not talk about that.

Dodong and I became so close that for a time, I would become a fixture (more like furniture) in their house in Paris street. I was there all the time, even when he wasn't. That's because I've become friends with his siblings as well, Yayo in particular. And his mom, Tita Dory, didn't really mind.

I really loved going to Dodong's house not just because we're such good friends but because there was always good food. Yen, Dodong's younger sister, for some reason liked serving stuff for us. She made really awesome spaghetti! I wonder if we can get a taste of that again.

Dodong is a civil engineer who got his degree from De La Salle Manila. I went with him often because there was a girl. But never mind the girl, she's not important any more. What I wanted to talk about was, because I went with Dodong to DLSU often, I learned to park cars very well. It's a major skill that Lasallians have, and it's a skill that rubs off on people.

At some point during college, Dodong and I were a performing duo and we called ourselves Ben Dayo, after our high school principal. We performed in a handful of occasions until we had our first falling out. It think we didn't speak to each other for a couple of years.

We had another falling out a few years later but have since patched things up.

The thing with Dodong and me having fallings-out is there's always a girl. It's not the kind of thing that he and I go after the same person, though. It's about me meddling too much in his affairs. Yeah, I meddle a lot in his affairs— because that's what brothers do when they feel that something's going really wrong. Then again, I am not always right and I am always happy to be at the receiving end of Dodong's patience and forgiveness.