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Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to
search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts
Vol. V, No.
11
April 24- 30, 2005 Quezon City, Philippines |
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PHOTO ESSAY
Living on Corn – and Goats and Cattle
Corn is very much a part
of the lives – and livelihood – of the people of Sta. Cecilia, a village
in Aringay, La Union (244 kms. north of Manila). But they don’t live on
corn alone, the crop not being too profitable as they say. To earn extra
income they raise and sell goats and cattle.
PHOTOS BY DABET
CASTAÑEDA
TEXT BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
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Nine-year-old Bato,
who lives in a barrio
in Aringay, La Union (244 kms. north of Manila)
starts the day cooking corn the old way
– over firewood. It is their way
of coping
with the incessant oil price increases.
The corn they eat is
harvested from his father’s small land.
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Sta. Cecilia’s people
grow two kinds of corn: white corn, which is usually sold to manufacturers
of the Ilocos region’s famed chichacorn; and yellow corn, which is
commonly made into animal feeds.
But before it can be
sold, the corn first has to be sorted, as prices of corn cobs vary
according to their size. There are three sizes: primera, which
fetches P1.50 a piece; segunda, P1 a piece; and tercera,
P150 a sack.
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Corn is very much a
part of the lives – and livelihood – of the people of Sta. Cecilia. Like
his father, his uncle who is often seen with his cows whether on the road
or in the field, is also a corn planter.
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Sta. Cecilia’s residents used to grow tobacco under contract with Lucio
Tan’s Fortune Tobacco Company, but later shifted to corn as raising the
former crop is more labor- and capital-intensive.
But Sta. Cecilia’s
folks do not live on corn alone. They say that planting and selling corn
is not that profitable an enterprise.
To earn additional
income, they raise and sell goats and cows. These animals are easy to
raise, they say, as they mostly eat grass which abounds in the fields of
Sta. Cecilia.
Bato’s family lives on corn: unlike many of their neighbors, they don’t
raise goats and cows.
But even on the leanest days, they are sure to have something on the table
as father also plants sitaw (string beans).
Bulatlat
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