Farmers’ tale retold with every typhoon

TABUK CITY, Kalinga — Every time a typhoon devastates parts of the country, statistics quickly follow. The number of affected families, the value of damaged infrastructure, and the loss of crops top the lists released by government agencies and non-government organizations.

Relief efforts come soon after, aimed at easing the burden of those hardest hit. Such scenes repeat every year, especially during typhoon season.

For farmer Ampac Ayabo Suyam, the rhythm of the seasons has long dictated the rhythm of his life. For decades, farming has been more than a livelihood—it has been the bedrock of his existence. But in a cruel, swift strike, Super Typhoon Uwan turned years of painstaking labor into a sea of devastation, burying his entire future under thick, wet mud.

Suyam, affectionately known as "Uncle Ampac" in the community of San Juan, Tabuk City, Kalinga, awoke to the nightmare of the swelling Chico River. The river’s fury, unleashed by Uwan's torrential rains, spared nothing.

His 4,000-square-meter rice field, just days away from a crucial harvest, is now completely submerged. His 1.6-hectare cornfield, meticulously planted three weeks before the typhoon struck, suffered the same fate. What were once fields of green promise are now nothing but sludge, water, and debris.

The financial toll on the elderly farmer is staggering, representing the loss of an entire year's potential income.

• Rice field investment: ₱25,450 spent on fertilizers, pesticides, and labor

• Corn field investment: ₱24,800 for tractor work and planting costs

The profits Uncle Ampac had hoped would pay off debts and cover medical expenses are now gone—everything is gone.

The tragedy in the fields is compounded by a crisis at home. Just before the typhoon, Uncle Ampac's wife was rushed to the hospital for high blood pressure, heart, and bladder conditions. The total hospital bill of ₱230,000 was negotiated down to ₱130,000 through PhilHealth and senior citizen discounts. To cover even the reduced amount, the couple had to take out a major loan.

Now, without the expected harvest or the income it would have provided, Uncle Ampac and his wife face an impossible equation: crushing debt with no means of repayment. Their children, burdened with raising their own families, can offer little financial support, leaving Uncle Ampac to shoulder the fallout alone.

Uncle Ampac’s story is a stark reminder of the brutal cycle many agricultural families endure in the wake of natural disasters. What should have been a season of relief and security has become one of uncertainty, debt, and the daunting challenge of starting over.

While Typhoon Uwan has passed from the weather reports, its devastating impacts linger—not in the wind or the rain, but in the lives of ordinary people like Uncle Ampac, who put their faith, labor, and entire future into land that has now betrayed them.