3 SAMPLE

WORKS
By Ma. Anna Margarita V. Bueno

Contents

Growing up without the gender gap … 2

Is there a basis to declare martial law in Mindanao? … 13
5 young farmers who are changing the way we eat … 19

All for CNN Philippines Life

Growing up without the gender gap
By ANNA BUENO, Mar 17, 2017
(For CNN Philippines Life. Cover story for March 2017; online version
here.)

The 2016 Global Gender Gap Report states that the Philippines is one of
the most gender-equal societies in the world. Yet there exist subtle
nuances that still allow for pockets of discrimination to affect women in the
workplace, nuances that call for increased sensitivity on how we perceive
gender differences, which all starts from childhood.

Manila (CNN Philippines Life) — In Little Sandbox Preschool in Quezon

City, four-year-old Isabella Sheng sits with her peers after a day of learning
and play. Isabella, her hair in double braids, is a “little discoverer” — she’s
in nursery — and she wants to be a teacher. What does she want to teach?
“Fractions,” she says.

Beside her sit five-year-olds Lian Tan and Maggie Loreto. A level higher
than Isabella, thus now a “little builder” (kindergarten level), Lian wants to
be a fashion designer. It’s what she’s most interested about during play,
says Mia Villavicencio, the owner of Little Sandbox, and who also used to
teach the kids.

Maggie, for her part, wants to be a spy. She’s inspired by “Barbie: Spy
Squad,” a trio comprised of Barbie and her two best friends, ballerinas who
become undercover agents upon being discovered by a spy agency.

Inside the preschool, the girls easily pick up aspirations and lightly carry
their dreams, answering seemingly innocuous questions with the most
matter-of-fact answers. Why does Maggie want to be a spy? “Because it’s
cool,” she responds immediately. Can boys be fashion designers too? “Of
course,” says Lian, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

And why not? “One of Maggie’s classmates wants to be a soldier when he

grows up,” shares Villavicencio. “The other girls play with him, march with

2
him, create tanks. And you won’t hear the boys saying, you can’t do that,
only boys can become soldiers. I had not heard it in the classroom.”

Figure 1. Can boys be fashion designers too? “Of course,” says Lian (pictured above) — who wants to be
one when she grows up — as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Photo by JAKE VERZOSA

At home, Isabella plays with two brothers. “They play with each other's toys
without labeling them as either for girls or boys only,” says her mother
Diane Sheng.

Ten, 20 years from now, Isabella, Lian, and Maggie — more likely than not
— will change dream careers, as it is with any other child who first unravels
herself to the world. One of them may become a doctor. Another a lawyer.
But another may still want to be a spy.

Inside the safe walls of school and home, kids “are encouraged to be
whoever they want to be,” says Villavicencio. Outside, there seems to be a
wealth of opportunity for Isabella, Lian, and Maggie, especially in a country
that prides itself as the number one nation in the Asia-Pacific that has
closed the gender gap between men and women.

***

3
The Global Gender Gap Report of 2016, published by the World Economic
Forum (WEF), seeks to measure gender disparities in four key areas:
health, education, economic opportunity, and politics.

As of 2016, the Philippines ranks 7th out of 144 countries in the world in
bridging the gender gap. The perception is that locally, the gap seems to
have closed significantly — or there seems to be little to no disparity — in
terms of educational attainment and health and survival between men and
women.

The gender gap in politics and economic opportunity, however, can still be
closed further in terms of electing more female leaders and assigning them
ministerial positions in government, among others, as well as increasing
the number of women who join the workforce. But overall, the report views
the Philippines as one of the most gender-equal societies in the world.

The report is a useful tool in measuring differences of treatment between

women and men. But it may have little to say about the invisible pressures
that put women down in the 21st century.

“The glowing statistics of women’s achievements do not capture the

negative experiences of women as they establish their footing in the world
of work. The workplace is still a man’s world,” writes Maria Victoria
Caparas, an associate professor in the University of Asia and the Pacific.
Caparas has conducted several studies that discuss corporate family
responsibility and the challenges facing women in the workforce.

“The WEF measures gender gap and not levels. It penalizes or rewards
countries on the size of the gap, not on the levels of economic opportunities
or access to education,” she says.

Thus, while the report can indicate that women lag behind men in labor
participation, it does not detect that some women, in the first place, may not
join the workforce as frequently as men because they often choose to care
for the family. Neither does it detect that while women may have closed the
gender gap on educational achievement with men, the content of such
education may still reinforce harmful stereotypes about women.

4
Figure 2. Four-year-old Isabella wants to be a teacher. What does she want to teach? “Fractions,” she
says. Photo by JAKE VERZOSA

Despite positive statistics and strides that women have made in business
and leadership, unequal treatment manifests itself in the workplace in other
ways, with those in less-than-ideal working conditions being the most
vulnerable.

One such manifestation is in recruitment. “HR [human resources]

managers don't normally ask men their plans about marriage, [but] women
are asked if the employer sees high costs behind paid maternity leave,”
says Caparas.

Companies see paid maternity leave through the perspective of costs even
though they should not, says Atty. Amparita Sta. Maria, director of the
Urduja Women’s Rights Desk and professor of law at the Ateneo Law
School. “It’s a sexual reproductive role that women give birth, and she does
not give birth alone,” she says.

“[The role] should be seen holistically — instead of saying I’m pregnant, the
parents should say, we’re pregnant, because we’re in this together,” Sta.
Maria adds. But this is not the case. At least, not yet.

5
“All things being equal, if choosing between hiring a man or woman, [the
employer] would probably hire a man. And between a woman who’s
married or single, [the employer] would probably hire the single one,” she
says. “Lalo na if ‘yung time mo sa work on call or
erratic, walang consistency.”

Availing of the benefit of maternity leave, contentious as it is in the first

place, poses added repercussions to the working woman, such as the
possibility of a prejudiced promotion and the pressure of finding a suitable
substitute while on leave. “In other countries, the mindset is it’s something
you just have to accommodate,” says Sta. Maria.

Women also suffer from the perception that their responsibilities within the
family may cause poor performance at work, even though a newly married
man does not suffer from the same perception, says Caparas. Working
women who hesitate to travel far for work may appear less interested in
career advancement, thus affecting their promotion.

“We try to make everything gender neutral. We try to

set up an environment to remove that notion that dolls
are just for girls. Our kinder girls build their own
rocket ships, and it’s not something you’d expect
from girls. It’s sharing interest [with the boys].”
Even a seemingly gender-blind age cap for scholarships can negatively
affect a woman’s desire to pursue latter studies, after she has chosen to
prioritize her family. Sta. Maria herself, who pursued further studies at a
later time than her peers, obtained her Master of Laws at the University of
Toronto (under a Reproductive Health Fellowship) after the university did
not take the 40-year-old limit for scholarships against her.

“If you apply a gender perspective on that, percentage-wise, I’m sure, more
women would be excluded or affected by that [age] cap because they have
to raise their families first,” she says. “There are a lot of things na
mukhang gender neutral, but if you apply it, it will work — more probably
than not — against more women than men.”

In the workplace, deep-seated assumptions about the ideal, effective, and

dedicated worker persist: one who is focused on the job, subordinates all

6
personal goals to company goals, and has no qualms about spending time
in the office and being away from home to fulfill the rigors of a job, says
Caparas.

These assumptions, while holding up both men and women to the same
standard of what makes a good employee, nevertheless creates a backlash
that affects women more than men.

Caparas points out: “Philippine society appears to practice and value

gender egalitarianism as per many research studies … However the
workplace, even if it is a microcosm of society, can be run by values that
are contrary to societal values.”

While Philippine culture consistently values the family and recognizes the
nurturing role that women play in it, in the workplace, there is a failure in
some instances to recognize the same nurturing role. Rather, what is
emphasized is the ideal of a productive worker. The conflict works to the
woman’s disadvantage — paving the way for subtle discriminatory
treatment to creep in.

Figure 3. Inspired by “Barbie: Spy Squad,” a trio comprised of Barbie and her two best friends, Maggie
wants to be a spy when she grows up. Photo by JAKE VERSOZA

7
 ***

Even as there are nuanced ways by which implicit discrimination seeps in

the workplace, it is good to know that in the Philippines, these can be
overcome by the power of strong female leadership.

From the view of an outsider looking in, the Philippines looks like it is more
gender-equal than other nations. Sitting in a panel of four women for
Google Philippines’ and Cosmo.ph’s celebration of International Women’s
Day on March 8, Stephanie Sy, CEO and founder of Thinking Machines
Data Science, says: “In the Philippines, I have seen a lot less gender
discrimination. There are a lot of strong women leaders.”

Sy herself sits at the head of a data science consultancy firm where most of
the employees are young and skilled women. She used to work abroad,
where discrimination comes out in a more implicit way, as when a male-
dominated workplace dictates the kind of conversation and environment
one has to work in.

But existing along with unseen prejudices that still manage to find their way
into the workplace are empowering perceptions of progress that women
have made. Four-year-old Isabella’s mom, Diane, observes: “I work for a
firm where the board is half men and half women … We've seen progress
in having the same kinds of opportunities being available for both men and
women.”

Diane, like her husband, works and contributes to the family’s income.
There is a clear recognition of what her dual role entails. “We have four
kids, ages 13, seven, four, and three, so it is a bit difficult raising them
especially since my husband and I are both working … After the whole
work day, I still have mommy duties to attend to at home, that is, studying
with my seven-year-old son, playing with the girls, et cetera.”

Fortunately, the existence of “mommy duties” does not affect how Diane
sees her work’s potential to provide fair opportunities. “From my previous to
my current employer, I have seen how opportunities are made available to
both men and women alike without bias on gender,” she says.

Villavicencio, who herself owns the preschool where Diane’s daughter

studies, thinks people are more “open-minded” now to notions of gender

8
neutrality, a quality that she hopes can be passed on to the next
generation.

“Philippine society appears to practice and value

gender egalitarianism as per many research studies …
However the workplace, even if it is a microcosm of
society, can be run by values that are contrary to
societal values.”

She herself is aware of her role, as an educator, in preventing stereotypical

assumptions about gender to creep into the school. After all, notions of
race, gender, sexuality, or class are not inherent, but learned.

Inside a room in Little Sandbox, a poster of a policewoman (as opposed to

that of a policeman), annotated with the children’s perceptions of what a
police officer does, is placed on the wall, to help dispel popular perceptions
that being a police officer is a job only for men.

Moreover, neatly put away are blocks of wood, which all of the children use
during play. “The blocks are always a sure hit, where they can build or do
anything they want,” says Villavicencio. “These are mostly open-ended toys
that can help them create. They’re open-ended, which [means they] can be
anything.”

“We try to make everything gender neutral. We try to set up an environment

to remove that notion that dolls are just for girls,” she adds. “Our kinder girls
build their own rocket ships, and it’s not something you’d expect from girls.
It’s sharing interest [with the boys].”

As an educator, Villavicencio is able to observe what drives behaviors and

attitudes between children. “There are kids who prefer to be with all girls,
some kids, all boys. There are also some kids who play with both boys and
girls,” she says. “So it’s all a matter of personality, maybe, on what interests
them. More than gender, it’s based on personality.”

***

9
It is a widespread perception that the battle for women’s rights is largely a
battle for gender equality. Yet Caparas and Sta. Maria are both wary of the
term “gender equality,” especially when applied not strictly in the context of
legal rights, but environment and culture.

Figure 4. Inside the safe walls of school and home, kids “are encouraged to be whoever they want to be,”
says Mia Villavicencio, the owner of the preschool, Little Sandbox. Photo by JAKE VERZOSA

Caparas, in fact, pledges for more gender flexibility for women at work.
“Parity, as any reality in life, has negative consequences. High women
labor participation can result to lack of the mother’s presence at home,
discipline problems in school,” she says. It can also lead to unrealistic

10
standards for women, one that fails to take into account their differences,
especially in reproductive roles.

“Sometimes, hardcore feminism wants us to leave what is ours by nature

— the nurturing side of women. I fully believe we need to work with nature,
not against it,” adds Caparas. “Because if we do, it's women themselves
who will be at the losing end.”

To consider the nurturing side of women is to come up with

a different “excellent worker standard” for women, one which provides them
a varied and extensive set of opportunities “to make work really work,” says
Caparas.

One way is to first provide women with opportunities to start an equally-

paying owned-business, or engage in freelance jobs, before going into full-
time employment, recommends Caparas. The key is flexibility, not only for
women, but also men, to combine family responsibilities with a successful
career, and to prevent brain drain from workplaces.

Beyond the workplace, Sta. Maria emphasizes gender sensitivity. “We do

not want to be treated identically, because we’re not,” she says, in the
context of the long history of inequality that has plagued women, as it did
the disabled, children, and other disadvantaged individuals. “It’s not the
same as [equality], because we’re not equal in oppression, we’re not equal
in situations … it should be [about] accommodating differences.”

Gender sensitivity has two levels: recognition of the difference in

circumstance, and the willingness to respond to that difference. An ideal
example of gender sensitivity at work is that of a judge who asked Sta.
Maria, in the course of her gender sensitivity trainings, if it is gender
sensitive to ask a pregnant lawyer, conducting a direct examination in
court, to sit down if she finds it difficult to continue her examination while
standing.

“All things being equal, if choosing between hiring a

man or woman, [the employer] would probably hire a
man. And between a woman who’s married or single,
[the employer] would probably hire the single one.”

11
“If you actually told the lawyer to go home and stop practicing for a while
because she’s pregnant, then that would be discrimination, because the
way you recognize her condition and the way you address it is by stopping
her from exercising her profession,” says Sta. Maria. “You’re just in the
guise of protecting her, but you leave her no choice but to go home.”

“But ‘yung ganun [you made her sit down], it’s not discrimination because
she’s situated differently,” she explains. “You have to address how she can
perform her work in the same comfort level as the man, who’s not pregnant
at all or who has no difficulty walking or standing in the same position.”

“It’s okay, because you accommodated her position, which is different. That
is gender sensitivity, the accommodation,” Sta. Maria adds.

Yet gender sensitivity, or flexibility as applied in the workplace, is not easily

implemented, which is why constant trainings and exposure to examples is
important. The key may be to begin early.

In Little Sandbox Preschool, where Isabella, Maggie, and Lian are still
beginning to learn how the world works, their mentor Villavicencio thinks
about gender equality, the way she sees it when her students learn and
play.

“I think it all boils down to respect,” she says, “when they respect [one
another]’s interests, [one another]’s choices, ideas.” From this youthful
respect hopefully blooms a nuanced understanding of what it means to be
any gender, in a world that must find spaces to accommodate its
differences.

“There’s no putting down of each other’s feelings, dreams, and aspirations,”

adds Villavicencio. “No one has told Maggie you can’t be a spy, because
only boys can be spies. They respect her, they know it’s encouraged to
support her, let [them] think for themselves, be who they want to be.”

12
Is there a basis to declare martial law
in Mindanao?
By ANNA BUENO
Updated 19:35 PM PHT Wed, May 24, 2017

(For CNN Philippines Life. Online version here.)

Figure 5. A declaration of martial law allows the president to exercise extraordinary powers in the case of
an invasion and rebellion, when the public safety requires it. What does it mean for Mindanao? Photo by
JAKE VERZOSA

Manila (CNN Philippines Life) — The last time a Philippine president

declared martial law was at the heels of the Maguindanao massacre. At
that time, the massive carnage brought by the attack on 57 people —
supporters and family of Esmael Mangudadatu, including journalists —
prompted then-president Gloria Macapagal-Arrroyo to issue Presidential
Proclamation 1946, declaring a “state of emergency” over Maguindanao,
Sultan Kudarat, and Cotabato City on Nov, 24, 2009, a day after the
massacre.

13
Thereafter, Arroyo issued Presidential Proclamation 1959, which declared
martial law over Maguindanao, and suspended the writ of the privilege of
habeas corpus in the province on Dec. 4, 2009.

(The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus enables the release from
custody of persons unlawfully detained. The writ itself protects individuals
from illegal arrests and detention, through a court order compelling officers
to “produce the body” and explain the basis for a person’s continued
detention.)

On May 23, 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law over the
whole of Mindanao, based on reports of clashes in Marawi City. He has
previously expressed that he will not hesitate to declare martial law “to
preserve the nation.”

Such power to declare martial law is found in in Sec. 18, Art. VII of the
1987 Constitution, vested in the president under his commander-in-chief
powers. He has three powers as commander-in-chief: in order to prevent
lawless violence, (a) to call out the Armed Forces (calling out power) when
it becomes “necessary”; and in case of invasion or rebellion, and when the
public safety requires it, to (b) suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus, or (c) declare martial law. Significantly, the mere declaration of
martial law does not automatically suspend the privilege of the writ
of habeas corpus.

Check and balance

According to Constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ, these powers are

“graduated powers,” each varying in degree of severity in order to address
the situation on ground, with the calling out powers being the “mildest” and
most easily available, and martial law being that of last resort. However, it
is up to the president’s discretion which to utilize when the circumstances
call for it.

The declaration of martial law, for its part, sets to motion several check-
and-balance mechanisms found in the 1987 Constitution. Coming from the
experience of former president Ferdinand Marcos’ declaration of martial
law — which led to human rights abuses occurring under his regime, some
of which are still uncompensated for — the framers of the Constitution
ensured that other branches of the government (and even a citizen, by

14
filing a suit) will have the immediate power to overturn a baseless
declaration of martial law or render it unconstitutional.

These check-and-balance mechanisms applicable to a declaration of

martial law, found in Sec. 18, Art. VII of the 1987 Constitution, are the
following:

 The basis of the declaration of martial law must be a case of (a)

“invasion or rebellion,” and (b) when the public safety requires it;

 The period of implementation must not exceed 60 days;

 Within 48 hours from proclamation of martial law, the president must
submit a report of his findings to Congress;

 Congress (the Senate and House combined), voting jointly, on a majority
vote, may revoke such proclamation; and

 The Supreme Court, upon a suit of any citizen questioning the sufficiency
of the basis of martial law, must promulgate its decision on such suit 30
days after filing.


Arroyo, in her case, reported the declaration of martial law before

Congress. The case of Fortun v. Macapagal-Arroyo provides that Arroyo
justified her actions based on her finding that “lawless men have taken up
arms against the government.” In her report, she described the “the scope
of the uprising, the nature, quantity, and quality of the rebels weaponry, the
movement of their heavily armed units in strategic positions, the closure of
the Maguindanao Provincial Capitol, Ampatuan Municipal Hall, Datu Unsay
Municipal Hall, and 14 other municipal halls, and the use of armored
vehicles, tanks, and patrol cars with unauthorized PNP/Police markings.”

The declaration’s constitutionality was never determined, however — and

Congress was never able to act on her report — because Arroyo lifted the
declaration of martial law and restored the privilege of the writ through
Presidential Proclamation 1963 around a week after, on Dec. 12, 2009. The
Supreme Court in Fortun dismissed the suit filed questioning the
declaration of martial law, saying the issue had become moot and
academic.

15
Thus the president will need to outline the factual
bases constituting a rebellion. If the bases don’t hold
water, Congress may revoke such proclamation.
Of note, however, is Justice Antonio Carpio’s dissent, which stated that the
Court can in fact decide on the matter, and provided that “Proclamation No.
1959 [Arroyo’s declaration of martial law] was anchored on a non-existent
rebellion.” He elaborates: “[T]he discovery of the Ampatuans’ private army
and massive weaponry does not establish an armed public uprising aimed
at overthrowing the government. Neither do the closure of government
offices and the reluctance of the local government officials and employees
to report for work indicate a rebellion.”

Rebellion or invasion?

Eight years later, the Constitutional parameters of the president’s

commander-in-chief powers are again put to the test. According to Defense
Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, the Maute group — tagged in the clashes —
occupied several establishments in Marawi City, including the Amai Pakpak
Hospital, the city hall, and the city jail, as well as part of the Mindanao State
University Compound. Several facilities — St. Mary's Church, the city jail,
the Ninoy Aquino School, and the Dansalan College — were also burned
down.

According to Lorenzana, the declaration covered all of Mindanao because

of security problems also existing in nearby areas, like Sulu, the
Zamboanga peninsula, Central Mindanao, and the Davao region.

Considering the circumstances, the following questions concerning

Duterte’s proclamation must be answered, following the letter and intent of
the Constitution: did the clash in Marawi City constitute a rebellion or
invasion? Spokesperson Ernesto Abella has indicated as such, in a report,
that the recent proclamation “was possible on the grounds of existence of
rebellion because of what is happening in Mindanao based on Article 7,
Section 18 of the Constitution.”

Thus the president will need to outline the factual bases constituting a
rebellion. If the bases don’t hold water, Congress may revoke such
proclamation.

16
The framers of the 1987 Constitution ensured that
other branches of the government (and even a citizen,
by filing a suit) will have the immediate power to
overturn a baseless declaration of martial law or
render it unconstitutional.
If a suit is filed, the question of what constitutes a rebellion under the
Constitution (as distinguished from the definition under the Revised Penal
Code) might also come up, as already explored by Justice Carpio in his
dissent in Fortun. The Constitution itself does not define what a rebellion
means under the context of martial law, leaving the definition up for the
courts to consider if it will apply the definition of "rebellion" under the
Revised Penal Code.

Another relevant question is if the declaration of martial law automatically

justifies the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. It does
not, as clearly provided in the Constitution.

In this light, Defense Secretary Lorenzana’s recent statement regarding the

declaration of martial law needs to be reevaluated. He said: “Lahat ng
gagawin na dapat gawin sa martial law (Everything that needs to be done
during the martial law), we will implement. Control of movement, searches
and arrest of detained people for suspension of writ of habeas corpus.”

Even considering that the privilege of the writ has been suspended in
Mindanao, Lorenzana’s statement — made at a point when only the
declaration of martial law was made clear — somehow misleads one into
thinking that the suspension of the privilege of the writ comes hand-in-hand
with the declaration of martial law, even if it does not. The distinction is
important because suspending the privilege of the writ already greatly
affects an illegally detained person’s right to liberty.

To declare martial law already presupposes a grave threat to national

security — a case of invasion and rebellion — thus warranting careful
exercise of its extraordinary power. As details of the proclamation and
events unfold, care must be taken not to aggravate the situation on the
ground and ensure the safety of civilians involved in the clash. It is also
important not to misinform and to carefully study the scope of the
president’s power in making and implementing the declaration.

17
The declaration of martial law does not suspend the application of basic
human rights nor does it supplant the Constitution or suspend the courts.
Like Arroyo’s declaration of martial law over Maguindanao, Duterte’s
proclamation of martial law all over Mindanao must also fulfil the rigid
Constitutional parameters as summarized above. In the end, these
parameters still manifest, as Fr. Bernas states, the Constitution’s “great
reluctance to allow the activation of martial law powers and of the power to
suspend the privilege of the writ,” thus calling for renewed vigor in knowing
what our rights are, and in remaining vigilant in their protection.

***

The story has been updated at 7:04 p.m., May 24, 2017, to reflect
President Duterte's suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
in Mindanao.

18
5 young farmers who are changing
the way we eat
By ANNA BUENO
Updated 17:22 PM PHT Fri, June 2, 2017

(For CNN Philippines Life. Online version here.)

Figure 6. Beneath Manila’s booming restaurant scene and a growing reliance on fast, store-bought food,
there’s a silent movement to slowly change the way we eat and how we source our ingredients, starting
from small farms around Metro Manila. Photo by JABEZ FLOR

Manila (CNN Philippines Life) — There are exactly three stalks of arugula
in my otherwise abundantly leafy salad.

19
It was Enzo Pinga, farmer and chief operating officer of Earthbeat Farms in
San Pablo, Laguna, who noticed the apparent lack of the vegetable on my
plate. Pinga’s farm, among others, supplies arugula, as well as lettuce,
kale, herbs, tomatoes, and eggplant to various restaurants in Manila. The
arugula I was conserving for consumption might as well have come from
his farm.

Pinga laughs, then says arugula is actually difficult to grow in the summer,
explaining its scarcity that season. Pinga, along with Gio Espital, Charlene
Tan, Raffy Dacones, and Ana Ojeda-Osmeña, is part of a small group of
young organic farmers who meet up every month to share best practices
and ideas in order to boost organic farming in areas near Metro Manila.

Espital, for his part, heads Elements of Tomorrow (ELMNTM), a farm

based in Quezon and Mindoro. The farm has been around for two years,
cultivating wild and endemic species as well as root crops and fruit trees. I
first met Espital at Madrid Fusión, where he instructed me on the virtues of
“sangke” — a local leafy plant which, when its leaves are crushed and
rubbed, smells like root beer.

Figure 7. Enzo Pinga of Earthbeat Farms. Photos by JL JAVIER

A few steps away from ELMNTM’s booth that day was El Dorado Farms’,
which started out as an orchid farm before Ojeda, its owner, ventured into
organic farming. “We grow leafy vegetables, herbs, tomatoes,

20
kalabasa, bahay kubo vegetables,” she says. “Like the rest, we’re trying to
experiment which grows best in the soil, what the local people grow. We try
to protect their heritage there.”

Charlene Tan of Good Food Community is of the same mind as Ojeda.

Tan, like most of her colleagues, works with smallholder farmers (farmers
who till small plots of land, often with their families, and often use some of
its produce for their own) in different areas in Capas, Tarlac, Mountain
Province, La Trinidad, Benguet, as well as indigenous farmers among the
Dumagats in Rizal and Aetas in Tarlac.

“We exist to bridge people with these smallholder farmers,” she says. The
farmers in Capas typically produce lowland bahay kubo vegetables, while
in La Trinidad, they produce the chopsuey types of vegetables. “The IP
groups have different varieties of bananas, mostly root crops,” Tan adds.

For Dacones, the vice president for operations of Teraoka Family Farm in
Mangatarem, Pangasinan, the farm exists to promote the cultivation of local
ingredients. “We try to grow whatever’s local in the area, promote whatever
local ingredients we have in the Philippines, which is actually “a better way
to promote the Filipino cuisine here,” he says.

Figure 8. Charlene Tan of Good Food Community. Photos by JL JAVIER

His farm “specializes” in leafy greens and bahay kubo vegetables, and
fruits like mango, avocados, and guyabano. While his family has owned a

21
farm since 1992, it was only in 2014 that he started devoting the land to
organic farming.

At a time when agriculture faces a scarcity of farmers and “going organic”

has become a loose term that has somehow lost its ethical implications —
it’s supposed to be a “whole movement of trying to live in such a way that’s
in harmony with the environment,” says Tan — the five young farmers
(along with other members of their community) try to raise awareness on
the origins of the food that we eat, and what it means for the people who
produce them.

The ‘big gamble’

To become a farmer, interestingly enough, does not require deep roots in

agriculture. For each of the members of the “young organic farmers” group
— as Pinga, Espital, Ojeda, Tan, and Dacones call themselves — getting
into organic farming was either a tentative choice that had become a
lifelong commitment, or an accident they happily stumbled upon.

Ojeda was jobless and had just resigned from government when she found
herself growing her own plants in her backyard. She started with tomatoes
and okra. “Everyday I would be like, it was so cool that you could [see the
plants] in progress. You’d have to water it, say hi to it before going to work,”
she laughs. “You talk to your plants too?” she asks Pinga.

“Yes, it works,” he responds, to another round of laughter.

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Figure 9. The farmers at Teraoka Family Farm grow and harvest fruits, such as mangoes and avocados.
Photo from TERAOKA FAMILY FARM/FACEBOOK

Espital also took to backyard farming in Taguig before his uncle offered up
his farm in Dolores, Quezon, for Espital to pursue his interest. Having
worked in an NGO focused on sustainable agriculture, Espital knew the
values of planting his own food. “Kailangan pala natin i-
spread ‘yung organic agriculture,” he says. “Wala kasing access to healthy
and nutritious food. Nauubos na rin ‘yung mga nagtatanim, ‘yung mga
gustong bumalik sa farming.”

Dacones took the “big gamble” to quit his job after witnessing successful
farming practices in Japan. “I started with a 500-square-meter lot,” he says.
“I planted veggies, basic stuff for the house, until I started building a better
relationship … helping farmers, helping them market their own [produce].”

Tan was more motivated by the “bigger philosophical questions: like how
should we live in this time. How we can create new systems based on
social justice, where there’s more equitable distribution,” she says.

“I guess that’s the experiment of community-shared agriculture,” Tan adds.

“If we could just be more than customers, if we really could have a stake in

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farming, if we could meet our farmers, maybe that is a better solution for
everyone.”

Figure 10. Newly transplanted kalabasa seedlings need a bit of shade. Photo from EL DORADO FARMS/FACEBOOK

But meeting the farmers, as Tan says, requires more than interest or
capital. Most farmers are into conventional farming methods (which
includes the use of chemical pesticides), and these are less labor-intensive
than natural or organic farming, and bring in more profit at lesser costs.
Convincing these farmers to plant using natural methods, as to yield
organic produce, is akin to dancing the cha-cha, says Espital.

“There’s so much pesticide involved in keeping your

regular vegetables looking the way they do.”
Espital recounts the first time the farmers in Quezon tried organic farming.
The farmers harvested tons of vegetables, but discovered that at that time,
it cost them more to transport the produce to the market. “So tons of
vegetables, naibalik sa lupa kasi first, walang market, ‘di pa maganda
‘yung road access at that time,” he recounts. “And ang

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daming supply. ‘Yung mga galing sa north na Baguio vegetables, sobrang
baba nung price.”

“‘Yung mga tao, parang, ‘Wala naman pala ‘yan.

Walang market ‘yan,’” adds Espital. “So bumalik na naman sila
sa conventional.”

As Espital persuades the same farmers to try organic farming again, he

and his colleagues grapple with the reasons why some farmers go back
into conventional farming, even though the latter option is more harmful to
one’s health and the environment.

“Mas madali sa kanilang maglagay ng pesticides. Kasi

‘yung difference ng labor cost ng pesticide ng[conventional] farming, mas
mataas ‘yung labor cost ng natural farming,” he says.

Figure 11. Ana Ojeda-Osmeña of El Dorado Farms. Photos by JL JAVIER

It may not come as a surprise, therefore, that the farmers don’t eat what
they plant for the market. “Kasi alam nila na puro pesticides ‘yun. So
sasabihin nila, ‘Sir, ‘wag mo kakainin ‘yan, kasi para sa Manila ‘yan,’” says
Espital.

Dacones recounts the same experience with some commercial farmers. “I

visited one of their farms, and I saw how they … have a separate site for

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organic farming and those for commercial use. So I asked them why they
have a separate site … [it’s because] they do bad practices to earn a
higher profit.”

“There’s so much pesticide involved in keeping your regular vegetables

looking the way they do,” adds Tan, discussing her experience with some
commercial farmers in La Trinidad, Benguet. “For [the farmers], [it’s like]
‘We want this healthy option, but we need it to make economic sense,
because we need to send our kids to school.’ The challenge was, how do
we find a market that’s willing to pay a fair price?”

Competing with ‘palengke’ prices

Even if they compete with the advantages of conventional farming, the

young organic farmers see no need to take shortcuts.

“I can’t compete with palengke prices, because those are practically what
we pay our farmers at the farmgate,” says Tan. “And then to bring their
produce to the market, I have to pay for the freight cost, quality control,
what dies along the way, and even the assurance that they are farming in a
way that respects the soil.”

Figure 12. Gio Espital of ELMNTM: Elements of Tomorrow. Photos by JL JAVIER

Organic produce is expensive, and this turns most people off, says Pinga,
but he clarifies a few things. The first is organic produce can exist in the

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mass market. “When you go into the mass market … mayorganic din
dun, from farmers that can’t afford [chemical] inputs. So they’re in the same
market as all the conventional ones, so they end up selling at the same
price,” he says. The produce is “organic by neglect.”

Even so, there’s not enough organic produce to go around. “Organic

produce in the Philippines is just not enough,” says Pinga. “We’re small
farmers. Walang malalaking farmer, or farm, yet, na all-organic. Because of
such [a] small quantity, we try to position in a way that we can get the most
money for our efforts din.”

“The kind of knowledge we get from universities or

even our agriculturists is like a particular kind of
education that is tied to corporate interests.”
Organic farming also has to compete and compensate for the mass
machinery of commercial farming, especially when it comes to knowledge
sharing. As it is, there is a dearth of knowledge and information about
natural farming methods. “We have to create our own compost, even
knowledge of what variety [a plant] is, all of these things we have to do
ourselves,” says Tan.

Figure 13. Kalinga red rice from Hungduan, Ifugao. Photo from ELMNTM: ELEMENTS OF
TOMORROW/FACEBOOK

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Espital says they get most of their knowledge from YouTube. Ojeda shares,
however, that most knowledge online is based on Western practices. “We
can’t apply that because we don’t have the same seasons. You really have
to talk to a lot of people,” she says. “[In] books, [there’s] not that much
[knowledge] and you don’t even know where to start looking for those
books.”

“A lot of it is also experimenting, depending on your area and on the seeds

you have. You just have to try it out and hope it will grow well,” Ojeda adds.

Tan also comments about the content of available knowledge. “The kind of
knowledge we get from universities or even our agriculturists is like a
particular kind of education that is tied to corporate interests,” she says.
“That’s the kind of war happening in the Department of Agriculture. There
are some people who are pro-organic, others who are not, and even if they
wanted to go organic, that’s probably not what they were taught in school.
So they can only tell you what they read in books.”

Figure 14. Raffy Dacones of Teraoka Family Farm. Photos by JL JAVIER

The most important kind of knowledge on organic and natural farming,

however, cannot be found in books or in the internet. Pinga says there
must be efforts to preserve the knowledge with the “experienced farmers,
the older generation.”

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The idea is to preserve and pass down what the elder farmers know to
benefit future generations. “More experienced farmers, they can tell from
the way plants look, what does it lack, and what should I plant next,” adds
Tan. “If we could extract that knowledge from our farmers, that would be
amazing.”

But perhaps the biggest hurdle is changing people’s attitudes about what it
means to go organic, beyond its meaning in the Organic Agriculture Act.

Figure 15. Rows of purple corn. Photo from EARTHBEAT FARMS/FACEBOOK

“People just haven’t fully grasped the value of organic produce,” says
Pinga. “Right now it’s such a loose term. Sometimes, it’s like planting
conventionally but just using non-chemical inputs. People [also] really don’t
fully grasp the value of protecting the environment [through organic
farming], the farmers’ health.”

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“We’ve [also] been misled by this notion of abundance that we can get
everything year-round and at cheap prices, but at what cost?” Pinga asks.

Meanwhile, Pinga and the rest of the young organic farmers continue to do
the difficult work of intimately knowing the soil where our food grows, and
shortening the distance between farm to table, in the hopes that slowly and
surely, these small efforts will somehow help consumers make better
lifestyle choices.

***

Organic, sustainably produced, and earth-friendly products (including those

from the farmers featured here) are available every week at Good Food
Sundays at Mandala Park in Shaw Blvd., Mandaluyong.

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