By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
ECA: Here are snatches from the research work “Migration Patterns of Sacada Children and their Families in Selected Sugarcane Plantations in the Philippines” by the University of the Philippines Social Action and Research for Development Foundation, Inc. (UPSARDFI) July 2015 (http://abk3leap.ph/…/01/ABK3-SAKADA-Research-Report.pdf ) which shows that becoming a sacada and remaining such is not entirely unavoidable, that in some cases, working in the sugarcane fields is the product of wrong decisions and habits of parents or of the sacadas themselves. My comments are enclosed in open and closed parenthesis.
Of the eight (8) sacadas who came back in May 2014, only four (4) were able to improve their housing condition. The other four (4) allegedly went back to their easy-going lifestyle and engaged in heavy drinking. When they needed cash, they again borrowed from the contractor, paid debts through sacada work, got advances while in the workplace, and returned home with very little money or “resto” (negative balance), and with more debts. If unable to work for health reasons, they find replacements from among their family members who shoulder the burden of paying off the debts; hence, the cycle of indebtedness is repeated. Page 43
Most (94%) of the 31 respondents originated from Aklan and the remaining percentage came from Antique. Household size ranges from two to 10, or five on the average. Number of children ranges from zero to eight, or three on the average. All respondents are female with ages ranging from 18 to 58, or an average of 34 years. The ages of their spouse range from 21 to 58, or an average of 37 years.
Despite their hard work and family cooperation, income was not enough to meet the daily needs of his big family (11 children). For Igmidio and Teresita, their children’s education is their primary concern. To enable them to do so, their grown up children help in supporting their siblings’ education. For instance, Erwin had to stop schooling after finishing grade 5 so his younger sisters and brothers could continue schooling. He helped in swine and poultry raising for added income for the family. Page 54 —(Emilio Dulnuan had asked why bear children you cannot feed?)
Fe would always worry about Jimmy’s health particularly when Jimmy got sick due to over- fatigue in January 2014. She advised him “Rest ka muna” (take a rest). Sacada workers do not get paid if they rest, so Jimmy was concerned that he would lose his daily income of PhP150 per ton. Jimmy decided to continue working and ignored the body pain. To relax, he enjoyed the daily “kwentuhan” (peer conversation) and the color television set provided by the contractor. He refused to join his peers’ drinking sessions for health reasons and to save some money. Page 57 —(Your situation is already near hopeless and you still drink. You break your back working and you do not value the fruit of your labor. Do you deserve a better deal from life?)
Now 25 years old, Ramie has his own family and lives in a one-room extension of the house occupied by his parents and other siblings. He started sacada work at the age of 15 when no birth certificate or barangay clearance was required for employment. Since then he has worked thrice as a migrant sugar worker. Initially he joined his father to do sacada work in order to augment their family income; now, he does the same to support his wife and four (4) children. He sees being a sacada as a way to get a quick cash advance. He worked in sugarcane farms in Tarlac and Pampanga. Apart from sacada work, Ramie earns income from construction jobs, rice, abaca and copra production, and habal-habal (motorcycle) operation from which he gets an average of PhP100 a day. Page 67 —-(You work as sacada and you have four children?)
Ariel is 13 years old and comes from a big family of 10 children, only five (5) of whom are still living. His parents are Benjie, 48 years old, and Madonna, 36 years old, both from Quezon. The father is from General Luna while his mother is from Dalahican. His parents met in Dalahican port, Lucena and got married when his mother was just 14 and his father was 26. At that time, his parents were both working: Madonna who finished grade 5 was working in a Dalahican port canteen, and Benjie who finished grade 6, was working as copra cargo ship loader in the port. Page 69
Mike is from the sugarlands in Bindoy, Dumaguete, Negros Oriental. He comes from a big family with six (6) grown up children. He is the fourth. His eldest brother (39 years old) and two younger sisters finished elementary education. Mike and two other brothers did not. Mike said that when he was younger he was fun-loving and preferred hanging out with his “barkada” (peers) than go to school. At times, Mike blames himself for not getting a good education. A man with a growing family like him has big responsibility. He has seen his father’s struggle to raise them with the money from cane cutting. His father Case Studies Page 78 Migration Patterns of Sacada Children and their Families in Selected Sugarcane Plantations in the Philippines never finished primary school — he only completed grade one. He thinks his father at age 60 should no longer continue sacada work. Pages 77, 78 — (Already with a bleak future due to big family and poverty and still did not take school seriously.)
From the foregoing portions of the UP report, it can be gleaned that some sacadas do not possess the attitudes and traits demanded of people who want to leave poverty behind. They show that some sacadas make their lots worse than they already are by their own failings.
Regarding the need for genuine land reform to emancipate the sacadas from poverty, what if such a government action would never happen? Should the sacadas be like Juan Tamad waiting for the guava to fall into his mouth? Shouldn’t they be climbing the tree to pick the fruit instead? What I mean is that if no opportunity presents itself, the poor should create their own opportunities like the Igorots upped and moved to the wilderness that is now Tabuk City.
Netizen 3: Mayat daytoy nga conversation ta piliten na ni Estan nga ag research jay internet a hehe. The long discourse about Sacada migration pattern simply shows that poverty also create unwanted values and culture. The Sacadas are consigned to that destiny unless the pattern or system is broken. Again, there are some who may by their own.making can get out of the mess but most of them are enslaved by the system.
ECA: To that I would say that ultimately, people are still the master of their own destiny. As you said, there may be some who are able get out of the system by their own making which means that the system after all is not as unyielding as granite rock to determined souls. And since the system could be beaten, it could be said that those who remain do so by their own choice. I did research in the Internet regarding the sacada problem but about how most of the landless farm workers in Dilag are consigned to life of poverty through their own making, I personally made the research. As for how the 4P government intervention is failing in Kalinga, what I shared is public knowledge.
Netizen 3: The system can be broken like landlordism but very hard. It takes our collective to do so. It takes a govt that is compassionate just and with political will to enforce genuine land reform so as to free those who are enslaved. There is nothing that cannot be changed in.this world and that includes personal values attitudes behaviours and a system.
ECA: If our hopes for the improvement of the lot of sacadas rests in genuine land reform, a development which is overdue for several generations, I ask again what if it never happens? Should the sacadas go on with their lives like their forefathers have been doing baka sakali tomorrow would be a better day? Since it is not as though the system is a prison no sacada could get out of, shouldn’t they take matters in their own hands and free themselves like some sacadas have done before? It is worth pondering how an Igorot would react if placed in sacada-creating and maintaining situation. The world does not belong to those who wait for the world to adjust to them but to those who through their decisive action, make the situation yield to them. In short, the people who live by the tenet of Brian Tracy. And granting that finally, genuine land reform will be implemented, of what significant good will a 1 hectare farm lot bring to a family of 10? Could it feed, shelter, clothe the entire family as well as send the kids to college to revolutionize the situation of the family? What change of fortune will a small farm lot give to the family of a sacada who loves to drink after work and go to the cockpit on Sunday? I hold that in the hands of people who do not possess the traits embraced in the quotation from Brian Tracy, opportunities are likely to go down the drain. On the other hand, people imbued with the Brian Tracy kind of thinking could create opportunities where most people can see none.
Netizen 3: It is too presumptous to.conclude that the receiver of the one hectare goes to cockpit drink smoke.and.indulge in other vices. The issue is give them a chance and opportunity to prove themselves and they can.
ECA: I beg to disagree. Qualities such as discipline, sound decision-making and judicious usage of resources are not instant. They take years to adopt. If some sacadas could live undisciplined lives when they have overseers, how much more when they already own the land and are their own very bosses? Furthermore, the phenomenon of land reform beneficiaries losing lands has been there for sometime. According to Bulatlat, as of 2004, some 100,000 hectares distributed through the CARP have been foreclosed the foremost reason of which the beneficiaries did not have the money to sustain and improve farm production (http://bulatlat.com/news/4-21/4-21-agrarian.html). With all other things equal, people who do not know how to make good use of their resources become short of money first so it is highly likely CARP beneficiaries who love fun were among those who lost their lands.** End of thread
