Farm On

Joe had the pleasure of sitting down with Filipino farmer MANNY LAHOZ while he visited family in Chicago. Manny is featured in an upcoming documentary called RICE: A FILIPINO LOVE STORY, which highlights his 24 acre farm and the many other local growers that he has helped to create organic, sustainable practices that nourish both people and land. In this emotional conversation, Manny tells his story of being ordained a Catholic priest, to organizing grassroots farmers' unions under the dictatorship of president Marcos, to eventually helping indigenous mountain tribal groups defeat a brutal government attack on their land. After being imprisoned and surveilled during marshall law, he eventually started a new life in the US, only to return to the Philippines to take over his family's farm with no previous agriculture experience. Manny's harrowing tale of blood, sweat and tears will soon be available in an upcoming book from University of Philippines Press titled OF TYRANTS AND MARTYRS: A POLITICAL MEMOIR. Wat