JUAN and Maria de la Costa are a poor farmer couple living with three children in the mountains of Zambales, 140 kilometers north of Manila. They have lived in poverty making a living from planting vegetables, honey and gathering mango fruits to sell in the market many kilometers away from home. Like millions of impoverished indigenous people they are subsistence farmers surviving on what they can grow on sparse public lands they don’t own.

They live in a small ten-meter by ten-meter shack made of bamboo and grass. No electricity, sanitation or running water. Billions of poor people live, survive on the edge of life, in this age of the towering skyscrapers of the rich.

Premium + Digital Edition

Ad-free access


P 80 per month
(billed annually at P 960)
  • Unlimited ad-free access to website articles
  • Limited offer: Subscribe today and get digital edition access for free (accessible with up to 3 devices)

TRY FREE FOR 14 DAYS
See details
See details