Bulacan

July 19, 2006

Patience is a virtue. I've been trying to remember this for the last few days. Being home in the Philippines, being in the heart of the Bulacan countryside, has tested my patience. A bit because of my traveling companions, but more significantly because of the disgustingly feudal and impoverished conditions all around me here. I keep thinking that it's 2006. 2006! Laptop computers, flat screen tvs, and high-speed internet seem to be a distant memory. This community still has unpaved roads, no running water, and barely received electricity four years ago. The fight for land is very real here. It is the peasants that cultivate the land. They've been here toiling the fields for generations. Rising before dawn and coming home when the sun sets. Basic farming tools despite hard labor doesn't leave much to harvest. Again, it is the peasants that cultivate the land, yet the Aranetas are trying to claim the land as theirs...thru extortion and hired goons. I met a woman farmer today who was sexually harassed while pregnant by these militia men hired by the Aranetas.

The family I stayed with the other day lived in a one-room house with dirt floor and a makeshift toilet area to the side covered by a tarp. There were 3 sets of families that lived in a space the size of my bedroom. The men have been looking for work for over a year and...nothing. I felt bad for staying there knowing that I displaced a family member for a couple of nights. I felt bad for even eating their food. This whole time, all I can think of is that people shouldn't have to live this way. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking of all of these amazing people that I've met so far, who are trying to make an honest living for themselves and for their families. These are hard-working folks who despite, their struggles, continue to seek changes not just for themselves, but for their whole community and country.

I asked an older manang yesterday, whose husband and son were killed by Araneta goons last year, how she manages to fight on. She said, "My husband and son are gone. It was very painful for me this year. I know they (Aranetas) won't stop harassing and killing until the whole barrio gives up. I don't want anymore people to get hurt or killed. Doing things for others is the best gift we can give to the world, especially in our country. No one else will fight for us, but ourselves."