I was just supposed to show you the spot in the coffee forest where we plan to build our modern tiny cottage but then I started sharing with you about my makeup…because… yeah, well, I wear makeup at the farm, lol! Then suddenly it’s time to harvest the corn. Watch the vid!
MomTraNeur - The Self-Help Mommy 
Good morning Momtraneur, I am your silent reader since I started researching about what it feels like to live in a farm in the Philippines, I’m an immigrant here in the USA. Reading your blogs inspire my husband and I to saved our hard earned money until we saved enough, we now own a 6 hectares highland for a very low price. I am very excited and can’t wait to start developing the land. My problem now is the zero support coming from my family, their constant negative feedback about NPA’s left me hanging and scared at the same time. I have a question to ask, do you have any dreadful thoughts about NPA’s will come and knock on your door asking for protection money? If so, how do you face your fears? Is it really true? Btw, I really admire your courage in giving up your Manila life to live in Mindanao!
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Hi Galda,
Wow, thank you for reading. I never really know who gets to read the stories I share here until someone like you makes a comment. So thank you for that.
About your decision to set up a farm, congratulations! It is one hard decision that you will never forget and make you grow as a person. At least, that’s what’s it’s doing to me and I thank God everyday for it.
About your questions, I will answer them by sharing with you some information I know.
– Mahal’s land has been bought by his parents even before he was born (40+ years ago) and not once did NPAs come knocking at their door.
– Locals and even Mahal’s mom would tell us stories about a time in the past when they flee the farm bringing with them their cows and livestock, not because of NPAs, but because they don’t want to be caught in between the crossfires of government soldiers and rebels in the nearby areas.
– I’ve been visiting Mahal’s farm since 2014 when we were just friends and never did I experience any NPAs lurking in the area.
– Mahal said NPA’s still do exist according to the stories of some locals. We can’t really stop them especially because they attack the weakness of the people which is poverty. And poverty is very high in the Philippines so one can never really know what they would do next.
– But in spite all this, personally, me and Mahal in his almost 40 years of existence, never experienced an encounter with NPAs.
I guess, we’ll just cross the bridge when we get there. What we can do is reason out if they want to ask something from the farm. We can only give them what we can afford to give. Next is to report them to the soldiers assigned in the area. Our contacts know soldiers whom we can report to. The reason why NPAs proliferated in the past was because the local community supported their existence. But when the local community started seeing how bad they are for the community and started reporting them to authorities, they slowly diminished in numbers.
I hope my answers give you hope somehow. They are not the ideal answers but they are what’s happening and have happened in our area. Be vigilant and continue to focus on the positive things that farm life can give you. The world is not perfect and if we always focus on the bad things and don’t take risks (at least calculated ones), then what is life worth living for diba?
I wish you good luck and lots of abundance! Do let me know when you’ve developed your farm and maybe we can visit your place in the future. Is it also located here in Mindanao?
Take care!
Jennie Vee
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