BATANG KALABAW by : Jay Taruc

In the mountains of Agusan del Sur, entire communities make a living off illegal logging. The adults cut down trees while some of their children carry the logs down the mountainside.
Some as young as six years old do this back-breaking work, trekking up to four hours a day to bring logs down to the valley, where eager buyers await.
Jay Taruc documents these children as they carry logs even in the rain. Jay takes a fall along with them down the mountainside during one rainy day of work.
Richard, Carlo, and Randy make up the group of young boys he follows as they transport logs on their backs, attempting to balance their heavy responsibilities with their need for play. There is one child among them, however, who is all business, working faster than all the rest.
Cherilyn, at 14, acts as both father and mother to her five younger siblings. She is the family's sole breadwinner. as her father was imprisoned for murder and her mother suffers from a mental illness. She carries her burden without complaint, no matter how heavy the logs get.
Sine Totoo host Howie Severino discusses the production of the documentary with Jay Taruc's executive producer Lea Llamoso and long-time cameraman Jayson Cruz. They share how they endured not only the physical difficulties of the shoot, but also the pain of seeing these children suffer. And within 3 hours they get there and he ask Jay Taruc to the children "WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING YOU DO ?" then he answer "TO WALK WITHIN THE MUD :( The setting was in a very rural area in some province in our country, and was a mountainous place. It was muddy, rich with wood trees and grasses, and steep. The children who slog their way to living had to carry some eight-feet-long, 2" by 2" or 2" by 4"-thick-and-wide pieces of wood on their shoulders from the higher part of the mountain, down, through a steep muddy path. During the video, it was rainy. The weight the kids had to carry ranges from fifteen to twenty kilograms, so there's no way for me to avoid empathizing with them for they do not deserve to experience that tough labor on their young ages and very innocent and small bodies. It was as if they were literally and figuratively carrying their own crosses. Some of them got slipped because of the slippery, muddy route they had to pass and because of the heavy weight they were bearing with their petite bodies. Everything was quintessential of what really might happen to poverty-stricken places not just in our country but even the world. Often, families of children like them are financially paralyzed mainly because of the meager supply of ideal jobs on their home place. It's awkward for me to say this but it's true that in some cases, the parents are irresponsible, so the children have nothing to do but play the parents' role themselves, to keep their family together and earn something to provide for their daily needs and their siblings'.
The rest of the kids who were with Carlo,Randy recieve 12 pesos but if the wood became dirty or it has dirt it will not accepted. :(





post by: janine daluz :)