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Article: Sour on the plantation.(THE FRONT)(Negros Occidental, Philippines)
- Article from:
- Multinational Monitor
- Article date:
- September 1, 2005
- Author:
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NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, THE PHILIPPINES -- In a community of sugar workers toiling on a 32-hectare plantation in Hacienda Santa Maria, Negros Occidental in the southern Philippines, poverty is etched everywhere--on the flimsy walls of shanties, on the wrinkled faces of workers who have been working on the hacienda for much of their lives and on their undernourished, out-of-school children.
Twenty years ago, Negros was gripped by famine as the sugar-dependent island witnessed the crash of its economy when the world sugar price hit a dismal three cents per pound. Today, hunger remains a daily battle for sugar workers and their families who earn measly wages on ...