Sisa Kalusa
NOTE: There are lots of Tagalog phrases and sentences in this post. Sorry for those people who can’t understand Tagalog because I haven’t provided any translations.
We were reshuffled, unfortunately again this semester. That means, I don’t know most of my new blockmates and we all need to adapt to the personalities of our new classmates. But then, I already know some of my new blockmates: one of them was my classmate last year, two were my blockmates just last semester, and another two were my friends since grade school. Yesterday, I and one of my friends since grade school that I’m talking about went back here in San Fernando from school together. Nostalgia hit us. We remembered one reason which made our high school life really memorable: Sisa.
Our classmates call her “Sisa”1 or sometimes “Sisa Kalusa.” I don’t know why or when my classmates started to do so.
It all started during our sophomore year, when Sisa suddenly became the top five of our class. It was very surprising to us because we know that she’s just an average student. From what I have heard from my classmates, she really memorize each single line in our books so when you ask her a question, her answer would always be very long, complete with all of the reasons stated on the book. And then, in our second quarterly test, she absented herself. She reported that she was having dysmenorrhea. She was admitted to the hospital. Actually, we even visited her right after our examinations. She repeated this during our third quarterly test and subsequently, she dropped out from school.
And by that time, one of my classmates who is also my third cousin predicted “Magiging baliw ang babaeng yan.” True enough, for us, she lost her sanity. She kept on telling us weird stories like “Kinukulam ako nung kapit bahay namin kaya nagkukulong ako sa cabinet.” Every time, it was always the different story. “Kinukulong ako sa cabinet ng papa ko, tapos, sinasamuri2 pa niya ako.” There was also this incident when we saw abrasions on her forearm. We asked her why she had those. Her first version was that “Kinalmot ako ng pusa.” The next time I asked her, she said, “Nagasgas ako sa yero, e.” And there was also this speculation from my friends that she tried to commit suicide.
She enrolled during the summer of 2003 and luckily for her, she was still our classmate in our third year. That time, we thought that she was already okay and “Nahigpitan na ang tornilyo niya sa utak.” She was not in the top ten students anymore, but she started to flirt with the first year male students. She had lots of boyfriends, usually, younger than her. This led her to be transfered in the lower section during our final year in high school.
But that, of course, did not help her case. She still dated boys. She also earned more enemies than friends. Her studies were not her priority anymore. And by the second half of the school year, she transfered to another school. But before she transfered to another school, she was reported missing. Her parents were really worried about her. They even went to the house of her best friend (whom I’ll name as Betty). They told Betty that “Kapag may nangyaring masama sa anak namin, ikaw ang mananagot.” Hell, I still don’t get it why Sisa’s parents told that to Betty because they were no longer classmates and communication between them had ceased. Betty’s parents advised her not to mingle with Sisa anymore because “Mabubunits ka lang niyan.” Nevertheless, Betty still helped Sisa’s parents to look for her. While they were looking for her, Betty said, “Bakit hindi ninyo po ipatinging sa psychiatrist si Sisa?” Sisa’s mother replied, “Pinapatingin namin kaso hindi siya nakikipagcooperate.” I only know a little information about this, you see, the next thing that I know was that Sisa was found in a gasoline station.
But her insanity didn’t stop there. Sisa spread a rumor in her new school about an ex-schoolmate. She said that this ex-schoolmate smells like tinapa. This reached our school, all of those fourth year students who were angry with her decided to meet her in a fast food chain here in San Fernando. There, they confronted her, they even bought tinapa and talbos ng kamote and threw it in front of her for effects. The next day, these people were called by our coordinator. Sisa wanted to blotter them because “Binugbog nila ako.” where in fact, there was no physical contact of any sort.
But the most shocking news that we received was that she got pregnant! She even asked Betty to be the godmother of her daughter. From what I have heard, she’s now living with the father of her daughter and she’s a first year college student.
I never imagined that I would have a classmate like Sisa. I still don’t know what triggered her to be like this. But one thing is for sure, we need the guidance of our parents and desirable friends to maintain our sanity. To Sisa, I want to say to you that it is not yet late to change. Of course, we can’t erase what happened in the past, but let these experiences that we had to teach us a lesson so we can move on with our lives for in experiencing, we learn more about our life and the reality.
- The name Sisa was taken from the book of Jose Rizal (Philippine’s National Hero). Sisa became an insane person after she found out that her son was killed. [↩]
- Huwat?! [↩]



















November 10, 2007 @ 8:17 pm
Whoa, grabe ah. I had a batchmate who’s kind of insane too but not like Sisa. He’s pretty much normal, he’s smart and all but there are times na parang baliw and may topak sya. Anyway, for Sisa, she really needs professional help if she’s that way. Maybe she can still change if she wants to. God bless her.
November 11, 2007 @ 6:47 pm
may classmate din akong nabaliw nung HS>. nakatabi ko cya.. mas manifestations din naman kasi minsan naririnig k siya nagsasalita mag-isa or nag ma mouth ng words… so sad babae pa naman cya + mabait pa.
November 11, 2007 @ 7:45 pm
i so pity her for her state. but that’s life.
November 11, 2007 @ 9:25 pm
For me, the past experiences of Sisa, what Sisa has committed through the years is not that important anymore. What’s important now is that she must seek help and needs some adjustment in her behavior. Probably, a change in her entire lifestyle. She is pretty unusual, indeed.
November 12, 2007 @ 12:36 am
Some people just change undesirably talaga and what sucks more is that when you don’t know what triggered that so as a friend all you can do is sympathize or empathize..all the best to your friend Sisa.
November 12, 2007 @ 2:27 am
Hey.
Anyway, tingin ko halos lahat ng batches sa school may ganyang naging ka-batch. Sa school rin kasi namin meron. Sya naman nung grade 6 kami nawawala yung cross stitch project nya tapos maya maya may naglalakad sa corridor na nakabelo na itim at may dalang rosaryong malalaki yung beads kase pinagdadasal daw nya yung cross stitch nya sana bumalik na sa kanya.
Nice to be back here sa blog mo. Tagal ko di nakapunta.
November 12, 2007 @ 7:54 pm
Whoa, that sounds scary, really. I feel sorry for people who end up like her. It’s another proof that life is simply unfair.
[off topic] Hey Christian, may I ask you something about GMail beta in your domain?
November 13, 2007 @ 1:19 am
I hope she’s okay if anything. I think life is rather harsh sometimes but it’s life!
November 13, 2007 @ 6:21 pm
Nelson: You can use GMail for your domain by registering here: http://google.com/a The instructions are there.
November 15, 2007 @ 7:13 pm
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they’re okay, then it’s you.
-Rita Mae Brown-
November 16, 2007 @ 11:34 am
Heh. Things like this really happen? I thought they only happen in manga.
November 16, 2007 @ 8:07 pm
Yeah. Something probably is wrong with her head. I can’t imagine someone who can lie recklessly.
November 16, 2007 @ 11:25 pm
people like Sisa are really very difficult to understand . she reminds me of someone I know. Also very self-destructive. I hope she gets over whatever it is that’s bothering her so she can move on & change her life into the way she’s supposed to live it.
November 24, 2007 @ 9:09 am
what a classmate.. and what a “highschool” memory. quite unusual…
November 24, 2007 @ 10:51 am
Wow her story sounds really tragic but at least it seems like a happy ending >_> I hope things are going to work out for her and that she will get the help that she needs.
October 10, 2008 @ 5:06 am
i think that girl named sisa, was raped that’s why she got insane or lost his normality
i have a cousin with same case of her…she’s intelligent, and an honorable student when she was attending school before, but after she got raped with my uncle(that as of now our elders did’nt know bout that) she changed a lot…
like sisa, she flirted boys, have a lots of boyfriends and even joined in fraternity in their school..until she got pregnant by his boyfriend at the age of 16..
we did a lot just to change her, we advise her what she needs to do, her father even cutted her hair so just she’ll not go outside but she is so hard headed…
so we realized that maybe just time can only change her, that maybe when she grow old, she’ll realize all the unnecessary things she did in her past…same on sisa..