From college barkada to sisters in wings to entrepreneurs and business partners
If there was one beautiful thing this pandemic did to the airline industry, it united almost everyone regardless of which airline or color they are flying. Amidst the crisis, you see flight attendants from different airlines supporting each other as all are facing the same uncertainty brought by this covid-19 crisis. Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight attendant Erika Nera and Cebu Pacific flight attendant Kristine Canafranca prove that with unity, we can all rise above and beyond this crisis.
PAL and Cebu Pacific are two competing airlines in the Philippines. Despite one being a legacy carrier and the other one being a low-cost airline, competition for Filipino passengers is intense. However, it is truly always heartwarming to see people from these two airlines work together for a common goal, just like Erika and Kristine who own a business together named “Forksilog” that serves the popular and very affordable “Silog” dishes that Filipinos truly love.
The two cabin crew actually placed up Forksilog as a result of the crisis. Since flights were suspended as a result of the lockdown from March to May, the two flight attendants needed a source of income to pay bills and expenses.
“We decided to open a silog meals since most filipino really love it. We have a bunch of resources since Erika started to sell thymeatbedone’s processed products/steak,” both shared to us.
However, Erika and Kristine’s friendship was not only solidified just recently, in fact, they two had been ‘barkada’ for 11 years since 2009.
College besties and barkada
Erika and Kristine were best friends since 2009 in college. Both came from the same school which is St. Paul College Quezon City and both took BS Tourism Management. They also shared that they formed a “barkada” of four including Mikiel Baring and Christine Lois “Tee” Evora. Throughout the years, their friendship and closeness were solidified, witnessing each others ups and downs, victories and even losses. They were more than just college friends, they were family to one another.
Their barkada was not just only about fun and fanfare, they became a support system to one another in order to pursue a common dream which was to be a flight attendant. Later on, both Mikiel and Tee earned their wings, the former flying for Cebu Pacific and the latter flying for PAL.
Flying for PAL and Cebu Pacific
After Erika graduated from college, she tried her luck in applying at PAL since one of our friend Tee is currently working there. Luckily after one try, she got in. She started flying year 2016. Since one of our friend is currently working in Cebu Pacific (Mikiel), Kristine tried her luck and got in the job and started her career in aviation year 2018.
So there you have it, a college barkada of four flight attendants, two working for PAL and two for Cebu Pacific. Despite flying for different carriers, their barkada remained intact and strong, even during tough times.
Retrenchment
The coronavirus crisis did take its toll on the aviation industry, so as the carriers of Erika, Kristine, Tee, and Mikiel, however, it did not even cause a dent on their friendship. It was made stronger.
Kristine is one of the cabin crew that was part of Cebu Pacific’s retrenchment. “We were video calling together with Mikiel and Tee when Kristine got the email that she was part of the retrenchment. We comforted her and sent out her favorite pack of bacon, her favorite beer and chocolate. We never saw Kristine cry. She is a tough baby girl, but you will see it through her eyes that she was sad. This pandemic is one of the toughest event in our life/job and without each others support we cannot get through this,” Erika shared.
Opening a business together to rise above the effects of this crisis
Erika and Kristine opened “Forksilog” in order to push forward and to augment the loss or depleted income. It is a straightforward food business serving “breakfast-all-day”. These include your favorite “Silog” meals like “Bacsilog” which include Bacon, Egg, and Singangag rice; “Sisisilog” which uses Sisig, and they also serve the classic “Tapsilog” and “Tocilog”.
Division of work is simple too. Since Kristine doesn’t know how to cook, Erika is incharge of cooking and taking orders while Kristine is incharge of prepping the meals, delivery and costing.
So far, Forksilog is going strong since they have joined Food Panda. They are now looking for a stall that we can operate and have customers dine-in and be known as the best all day breakfast in town.
Valuable lessons
More than just the income are the valuable lessons they have learned about unity and working together regardless of colors. “We have learned that no matter what company you are working for on the aviation industry, humanity and compassion with each other will always prevail,” shared Kristine.
No matter what, we can all rise above any crisis or pandemic with unity, perseverance, and love. This is what Erika and Kristine have proven as they face a time of uncertainty and hardship.
Erika shares her advice to all our present flight attendants, relating how each of them were trained and molded. “To the present flight attendants, we know that we were trained with resilience and perseverance. We will all get through this. Be positive and smile. This is just temporary and this will be over soon.”
For our future flight attendants, we should not allow this crisis not to take over our dreams. Kristine now shares, “to the future flight attendants, do not loose hope, your time will come and you will have your wings. Flying with you soon!”
To order food and to check out what’s on the menu list of Forksilog, please check their Facebook account ForksilogQC.
This article was originally posted last October 20, 2020 on our old website.
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