The result? Lack of domestic industry and widespread landlessness-conditions that have pushed Filipinos into poverty, and subsequently out of the country to find work. In essence, Filipino peasant farmers who work long days to produce goods that feed and supply the rest of the world face the harsh contradiction of being unable to provide for their own families. This is due to unequal trade agreements with imperialist countries that seek to dump excess products on foreign markets to earn profit. On the other hand, finished consumer goods-like electronics, clothes, and cars-are largely imported and sold to the Philippines at high rates rather than made domestically. On one hand, agricultural products like sugar and coconuts produced on feudal haciendas (with one of the largest haciendas in the Philippines located in the same province Eudocia hails from), as well as other natural resources like minerals, are exported to other countries. Along with imperialist interests from countries like the U.S., feudalism helps to maintain an economic structure in the Philippines that is export-oriented and import-dependent. In a feudal society, bahala na (come what may) becomes a guiding principle, just as Eudocia was forced to internalize.ĭomestic feudalism also plays a role in the forced migration of millions of Filipinos every year. It produces a society where exploitation is downplayed as a temporary state worth bearing to prevent any collective resistance and thoroughgoing change. Oppressive religious practices combined with the lack of access to quality education produces a culture in which people internalize unquestioning obedience and utang na loob (debt of gratitude). In effect, it has left 9 out of 10 farmers landless today and has forced peasants and families to sell their labor to landlords, in urban areas, and abroad.Įqually important to this economic system is the backward haciendero, or feudal, culture needed to maintain it. Over decades, this setup has become dominant across the Philippines. No matter their destination, they are undoubtedly a product of the massive landlessness and joblessness brought about by feudalism in the Philippines.įeudalism is primarily an agriculture-based economic system where most farmers or peasants don’t own land and are forced to work for a landlord who profits off excessive land rent rates, exorbitant loan interest rates, and very low crop prices, among others. These domestic helpers are very often young women who must face exploitative conditions. In the Philippines, thousands of Filipinos are brought to the cities, suburbs, and wealthy households in the countryside as domestic help. It is an unjust practice that stems from a violent history of colonization and exploitation of the Filipino people. The use of underpaid and overworked katulong, utusan, and kasambahay-the kind of servitude Eudocia was forced to perform-is common practice among many Filipino families.
Behind the heart-wrenching storytelling is a reality we must face: the oppressive class structures and culture that brought forth Eudocia’s enslavement and trafficking, and the need to change them in order to address the root of modern day slavery within the Filipino community. In the viral Atlantic article, “My Family’s Slave,” author Alex Tizon tells his account of Eudocia Tomas Pulido, who was to Tizon’s family both “Lola” and slave.
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