Surviving through ‘kamoteng kahoy’
- Everyday People, Uncategorized -
By Marjorie Gorospe
INQUIRER.net
“Bili na kayo [Buy now], kamoteng kahoy”, this is the line which Aling Feliza dela Cruz would always yell to encourage passers-by to buy her product.
Dela Cruz, 60, lives alone in Baseco, Manila and sells kamoteng kahoy for a living.
To costumers, eating this crop means satisfying their hunger. But for her, it means survival. Dela Cruz gets her income from selling kamoteng kahoy for her weeklong supply of rice. If she’s lucky and earns extra, she might have something to buy coffee.
Sadly, a small portion of her sales goes to her because her supply of kamoteng kahoy is provided by her neighbor.

IN textbooks, tribes are often pictured in their twilight years dressed in their native clothing. So when I visited the Tam-Awan Village in Baguio City, I was expecting to see the elders dancing. But instead of the elders, young Igorots dressed in their tribal costume were the ones performing and entertaining the audience.