When most of my childhood friends were forced to work overseas after Yolanda

Our coconuts; our source of life

By: Lottie Salarda

     I was born in a small village of Leyte town here in Eastern Visayas. I spent my childhood there. Until such time that I studied in Tacloban City and found work. I spend more than 10 years in that City. It is the City where we, from the hinterlands, find a work opportunity. The minimum wage is only 260 pesos. Many of my co-villagers in my age tried to find opportunity outside of our town. Our livelihoods were mostly on coconut farming. We depend on it.

      For many years, many of them depends their lives out of what they’ve got in their tenancy. Although we have vegetable gardens, our lives still depend on coconuts. Most of them weren’t able to finish even high school or college. They work honestly and with dignity. They live simple lives. Until typhoon Yolanda came and destroyed not only their coconut trees but also their lives. We’ve lost our livelihoods. Coconut farmers have just heard from the radio the billions of rehabilitation funds for the coconut industry.

     Months later, they were hired just to clean their coconut farm fields. Just that, nothing follows. Another series of waiting, but nothing happened. They have wondered what kind of intervention that will be implemented for the coconut farmers. It’s been two years and the news about the billions of pesos became a myth. The two meals a day became one. It’s very hard to rise again if you know that you have no opportunity to do so.

     A poor farmer can survive his daily meal. But that feeling of uncertainty that maybe tomorrow or the other day, he cannot even have his once a day meal. It’s just a basic need of a human—to eat. But with what I see in my community where most of us are coconut farmers, to eat their meal three times a day is already a luxury. They are old enough to work in Cities.

    They stayed and plant something so they could sell it someday. No one from the government, especially the national government, bothered to address the problem of our coconut farmers. I’m hurt. I hate myself. I felt that I am doing nothing to help them. Writing their stories didn’t even ease their suffering. Whenever I see a farmer selling bananas, sweet potatoes, eggplants etc. I wanted to buy them if I have something in my pocket. 

     When I am talking with them I encourage them to plant more. I certainly understand their situation. Raising a family nowadays is very hard for poor coconut farmers. But is it that everything seems to be normal? Is it because suffering poverty has been our way of lives? Or it is just normal for the government to let his people suffer until they became numb.

       After the storm, I have noticed that most of my childhood friends have applied for a job overseas. They work as a domestic helper. Some of them work in Muslim countries where a lot of Filipino workers are in demand. I certainly understand them. They chose to work far from their families instead of living in our place without food to eat.

       They see a lot of work opportunities abroad and maybe I too. I know the feeling of starvation. I experience all the hardships in life. That’s why I understand them. I too do not see any work opportunity here in the Philippines that will help us in our situation. I have to feed and support myself and help my cousin’s family. My aunt and her husband are too old to work. I felt the obligation to save them. I felt useless. I have to do something for my community.

     I have to forget my dream and passion just to feed my stomach. This is the reality of a life of a Filipino. There’s no work opportunity for Filipinos in his own country. All you can do is to accept the reality and chose to suffer.