Pacete: Tiempo muerto

IN THE sugarcane haciendas of Negros, August is “Tiempo Muerto.” It is a dead month. Less work (or even no work) in the sugarcane fields because the grass has already grown tall, just waiting for the harvest season (middle of September or the first week of October).

Our ancestors called August as “tigkiriwi.” Sugarcane workers sport distorted faces. No work means no money, no money means no rice. Children who are in public schools (primary and elementary) have to drop school sometimes. It is better if the school is just a walking distance. Some pupils and students use to ride in order to reach school.

If the sugarcane worker parents have no money, no allowance could be given to them. The children youth group starts to become undernourished or malnourished. Those who persevere to be in school have to be contented with “one day-one eat” or sometimes “no eat at all.” The secondary school children have to be absent always to take charge of their small brothers and sisters because their parents are out of the haciendas to look for food.

I was told that “big time” sugarcane planters are giving a daily wage of P295 per day but sugarcane planters who are on a tight budget can barely pay P250 a day for the workers. Many landowners are telling their “encargados” to subject the workers to “pakyaw” rate or group the workers for “takay” work. Some workers can only work for one day or two days in one week.

Father and big brothers who know a bit of carpentry try their luck in construction firms who are in need of carpenters, bricklayers, painters, pipe fitters, and all-around helpers. Those who do not want to leave the hacienda have to go fishing or shell- scratching if the shoreline is near. Some of them have to engage in buy and sell business.

Teenage daughters who drop school do job hunting in towns and cities hoping that someone will take them as household helpers, “yayas,” waitresses in carinderias, and some have to take hook line and sinker by becoming night workers in beer gardens. Those who become night attendants have to increase their age. Sometimes they become victims of drunkards and maniacs.

The hopeless and the frustrated are sometimes coerced by their extreme financial needs to do unlawful activities - pickpocket, hold up, snatch bag, slash bag, and to a certain extent push for illegal drugs. Those who are unlucky are ending up in jail or hospital. Those who have consumed all their luck end up in the cemetery.

“Tiempo muerto” is a challenge to the government, churches, non-government organizations, and businesses.

We appeal to your social conscience. Can we do something to our hacienda workers? They belong to the least of our brethren. They are also children of God like us.

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