Adventures of Isabel

Del Monte is one of the biggest landowners in the area around Cagayan de Oro. This particular field was once used to grow corn. Like much of the land on Mindanao that was once planted with staple foods, it is now used to grow fruit for export.
Once the rice basket of the Philippines, Mindanao now [...]

Barangay Kalawitan, Misamis Oriental
This is classic Filipino style, in a way that’s almost impossible to explain. As in: “Yeah, I’m hanging out drinking in a shack, but it has the damn finest videoke machine money can buy.”
Or maybe: “I’m thinking of opening a bar, but I only have limited capital. What should I [...]

In the past, I’ve had to threaten to withhold future postings until I start getting some email/comments. Let’s hope we don’t get to that point again….

This is a quick-and-dirty little slideshow of Lorena Navarro, at Bankerohan Market in Davao City. She used to grow corn, but the price of fertilizer got too high, and her earnings were to low, so like many farmers, she had to leave the provinces and come to the city to look for work.
“It’s become [...]

At the NFA warehouse in Davao City, image courtesy of Jim Tan Nuevo
There’s something more than a little ironic about sitting down to write about food prices, conflict and poverty when the cup of coffee I just bought would buy 4 kilos of NFA rice.
(Well, 3 now that they’ve just hiked up the price again)
It’s [...]

Women buying government subsidized rice at Bankerohan market in Davao City.

A laborer loads 50 kilo sacks of government subsidized rice at the National Food Authority warehouse in Davao City

-And we interrupt this public service announcement for a bit of shameless hedonism-I spent last summer in the Philippines, but somehow (workaholism?) never managed to go swimming. Determined to rectify this error, I took a trip with friends to what they consider to be the best beach near Davao City — Canibad on Samal [...]

– I wrote this on the 2nd, but couldn’t post until now –
A round-up of news from today’s local papers, just to give some context on what this place is like:

Rice prices up 10 pesos per kilo in the last week, hitting record highs of 50 pesos in some municipalities. Panic ensuing.
Writ of habeus [...]

The first topic of conversation on everyone here’s lips in the price of rice.
The last time I was here, you could buy a kilo of good quality rice for 20 pesos, (about 50 cents). In the year since then, it’s more than doubled, and the price is rising every day. Rice is the [...]