By Nora Na'am The Leyte Herald
Bangalore, India
October 3, 2024
Imagine this: you’re a farmer in the Philippines, standing in a field that your family has owned for generations.
You’re poor, uneducated, and desperate. Along comes a rich guy in shiny shoes, offering to "help." He’ll cover your planting costs, give you rice to feed your kids, and all you have to do is hand over your land as collateral. Sounds like a good deal, right? Spoiler alert: it’s not. You’ll be lucky to keep 5% of your harvest, while he gets fat off the rest. Pretty soon, the loan becomes a chain, and the land that your grandfather fought to keep is no longer yours. Sound familiar?
This isn’t just the Philippines; it’s happening in India, too. Same story, different country.
Poverty Is the Currency
Here’s the punchline of this cruel joke: nobody ever expects you to pay off that loan. That’s the whole point. The system is built on the fact that farmers like you will never get ahead. You pawn your land because you have no choice. You accept that bowl of rice because you’re starving. But make no mistake: it’s all by design. The rich don’t want you to succeed. They want you trapped, hungry, and grateful for the scraps they throw at you. In India, they call it a suicide crisis when farmers see no way out.
In the Philippines, it’s just called "business as usual."
Losing More Than Land
So, what’s the real cost? Sure, you lose your land, but that’s not all. You lose your dignity, your future, your hope. The land wasn’t just dirt; it was your inheritance, your pride. And now, it’s gone, snatched up by some faceless corporation or wealthy landowner. Mario, a farmer in Leyte, took the deal because he had no other options. Now he’s left with nothing but regret and an empty field that’s no longer his. This isn’t just a story about losing land; it’s about losing everything that makes life worth living.
No Happy Endings
Maybe you’re thinking, “Well, someone has to help them, right?” Sure, in places like Leyte, an NGO is trying to fight back, giving farmers a better deal than the banks. But let’s be real: the system is too broken for a happy ending. It’s like trying to fix a sinking ship with duct tape. In India, in the Philippines, it’s the same script—different actors. The rich get richer, and the poor? Well, the poor just disappear, swallowed up by a system designed to keep them invisible.
Nora Na'am (Nora is a passionate writer about cultures in Asia specifically about India and The Philippines)
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