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BIO 151 Uuwi Na Si Udong

Udong is a 10-year old child who was brought by his father to work harvesting sugar cane in Luzon plantations to help pay off their family's debt, like another child named Barcelito. These children and other impoverished workers from Aklan work long hours from dawn to dusk for low wages, living in cramped quarters, with no food or recreation provided by contractors. Even after months of difficult work, many return home penniless due to debts taken from their wages. While contractors claim workers can rise above poverty through hard work, the system remains stacked against improvements for many. Changes are needed like investments in health, education, and emerging jobs to provide alternatives to intergenerational poverty.

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Lennon Davalos
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2K views2 pages

BIO 151 Uuwi Na Si Udong

Udong is a 10-year old child who was brought by his father to work harvesting sugar cane in Luzon plantations to help pay off their family's debt, like another child named Barcelito. These children and other impoverished workers from Aklan work long hours from dawn to dusk for low wages, living in cramped quarters, with no food or recreation provided by contractors. Even after months of difficult work, many return home penniless due to debts taken from their wages. While contractors claim workers can rise above poverty through hard work, the system remains stacked against improvements for many. Changes are needed like investments in health, education, and emerging jobs to provide alternatives to intergenerational poverty.

Uploaded by

Lennon Davalos
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lennon Blaise dC.

Davalos
BIO 151 W

Uuwi na si Udong

The rural poor of Aklan are forced to choose manual labour as their source of income to

support their families. Intergenerational poverty brought on by the inheritance of illiteracy and

lack of skill is rampant in this area. Child labour is a common occurrence as debt is the only

legacy left behind by their forefathers.

These impoverished peoples join the annual Sakada to harvest sugar canes in Luzon

plantations. They work from dawn till dusk only to sleep like a pack of sardines within tight

living quarters. Here we see Udong, a 10 year old child who was brought along by his father to

help pay of their debt. Barcelito Toto is in a similar situation his work is payment for his

parents dues. It is heart breaking to see that these supposed to be children break their backs and

bathe in blood and sweat in a span of three months to do it again in a repetitive cycle of

continuous poverty.

Food and recreation is not provided in their contracts. These provisions are cut off from

their salary. Their only forms of entertainment are addictive vices, alcohol, gambling, and

cigarettes. It is not unusual for Sakadors to go home penniless after toiling under the harsh

tropical sun due to debit in their earnings.

Ironically their contractor, who was once part of the Sakada, said that to rise above

poverty one must work hard without giving up on ones dreams. I find that to be foolish, the

same situations that allowed him to be where he is now do not apply for everyone. Working hard

does not always pay off in this established system. Dante Canlas (2008) argues that changes are

required such as financial reforms along with sustained increases in labour demand. Most
importantly the government should allot more investments for health and education in order to

produce more competent individuals skilled enough to work for emerging jobs of the future.

A moral and cultural revolution of the Filipinos also needs to happen. Pinoys are natural

show offs who sacrifices money in order to look good. We are easily distracted and forgetful that

nowadays we have learned to tolerate corruption. We are our own enemy. And we must have

the courage, the will, to change ourselves (Jose, F.S. as cited in Fritz, 2017).

Reference:

Canlas, D. (2008). Why the poor remain poor? A Centennial Conversation: Poverty:
Facts,Theories and Remedies held at NISMED, UP Diliman. Retrieved September 10,
2017 from gmail.com
Fritz. (2017). Why are Filipinos so Poor? Retrieved September 10, 2017 from gmail.com

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