Magsasaka (The Farmer) 1998

Isang kahid isang tuka, Ang Bayan ko ay umiiyak ng dugo!!!

I spent my summer vacation in Umingan, Pangasinan.

The region is full of rice, shrimp paste and the red flag.

I smelled the mountains and the river of Umingan, The Ilocano culture and the violence that was common in every town in the Philippines.

I remembered that night on a full moon. when I smelled a gun powder. He was in rage because his brother was butchered like a lamb and he was taking his revenged in the river of violence.

Kasamahan ni Nanay ay malapit na maging landlord in his ow way.

Land reform was reintroduced by the Aquino Government, The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program was on it's way to take the land from the rich and giving it to the poor.

I was happy to hear the news but bad news for my Mother.

1500 hectares was lost.

The Castillo's, Estrada's and Gregorio's fortunes and my future was in jeapordy. There will be no third crop in the last few years of the 80's.

Our Kasamahan (Magsasaka -Farmer) is no longer working for the clan but working for himself and for the future of the Filipino peasant. My family was not the typical Hacienda Luicita. We poured our own sweat and blood on the rice that we planted in Pangasinan.