"I am poor, past and present" -Francisco Nakpil

Poor and Landless

In Tarlac province, about 100 kms north of Manila, Hacienda Luisita was once touted as a showcase of the land reform program. Here, however, CARP has failed to win the hearts and minds of farmers: In recent random interviews, they told Bulatlat.com that their lives have been ruined further because of CARP. Luisita is owned by the family of former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino.
One of the workers, Francisco Nakpil, is an agricultural worker in the sugarcane plantation of Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) for 45 years. When the stock distribution options (SDO) scheme under CARP was introduced in the hacienda in 1989, Nakpil became one of the 7,000 workers who became instant “stockholders” of the agro-corporation. Within 30 years under this scheme, hacienda owners were to transfer 32 percent of the total stocks of the company to the farm workers.
For the past 15 years, Nakpil received an average daily wage of P9, a sack of rice every month, a P4,000 educational loan every June and an average annual three percent profit share of around P2,000. Based on reasonable market price equivalents of the material benefits, Nakpil was in effect getting an average yearly income of P17,760 - or P48.66 daily. For being an HLI stockholder, he also got a 240 square meter home lot.Yet, has Nakpil become richer through the land reform program?
Today at 62, Nakpil says he has only a home lot souvenir from the HLI, a P20,000 separation pay, and some P2,600 monthly pension from the Social Security System. His retirement ended his profit share from the HLI. He does not have land to pass on to his children. His monthly pension gave him just P86 a day that can hardly meet his family’s needs. And so his answer in Filipino: “I am poor, past and present.”

What can you say about this?

          As a young student, I am a little frustrated. You ask why? Because, for 45 years, he dedicated his service to that sugarcane plantation, but, in return, he was not able to fully enjoy the fruits of his hardship. He was not able to get the right amount that is suited for the work he has done. Php 9 a day, a sack of rice monthly, Php4,000 educational loan is not enough to sustain his family's needs. What can you buy that can satisfy your hunger with just 9 pesos? Come to think of it, 9 pesos isn't even enough for one person. What if he has a big family? What will he do then? Can we say that he is lucky because he is one of thee 7,000 people who became instant "stockholders"? Oh well.

          "I am poor, past and present"-- for me, this indicates that for all those years, nothing changed in the life that Mr. Nakpil is living. He stopped working now. To have food on the table, he relies on his monthly pension which is only Php86 a day. Still, it's not enough to sustain all their needs. 45 years of working didn't pay it all off. All the hardships went to waste. They lost the good life that they are hoping for. Nobody wants to work hard/work for 45 years and get nothing in return.  His situation really fits his answer-- "I am poor, past and present."