09 May 2020

PH Agriculture: Why Do We Filipinos Celebrate In Song The Bad & The Ugly?


To do the good that we can do, we have to know the bad that we have done. And this one I did not know until today, when I’m turning 79 in a little over 4 months time, this little bad song beloved of many Filipinos: (transplanting image from Shutterstock[1], Good Bad Ugly from Alamy[2])

Magtanim Ay Di Biro
(From Akame117
[3])

Magtanim ay di biro,
Maghapong nakayuko.
Di man lang makaupo,
Di man lang makatayo.

Braso ko'y namamanhid,
Baywang ko'y nangangawit.
Binti ko'y namimitig,
Sa pagkababad sa tubig.

Sa umagang paggising,
Ang lahat iisipin.
Kung saan may patanim
May masarap na pagkain.

Braso ko'y namamanhid,
Baywang ko'y nangangawit.
Binti ko'y namimitig,
Sa pagkababad sa tubig.

Halina, halina, mga kaliyag.
Tayo'y magsipag unat-unat.
Magpanibago tayo ng lakas,
Para sa araw ng bukas.
Para sa araw ng bukas!

Here is an English translation; it does not matter how good the translation is (it’s bad):

Planting Rice Is Never Fun

Planting rice is never fun
Bent from morn till the set of sun.
Cannot stand and cannot sit,
Cannot rest for a little bit.

Planting rice is no fun
Bent from morn till set of sun
Cannot stand, cannot sit
Cannot rest for a little bit.

Oh, come friends and set us homeward take our way
Now we rest until the dawn is gray
Sleep, welcome sleep, we need to keep us strong
Mom brings another workday long.

Oh my back is like to break
Oh my bones with the damp still ache
And my legs are numb and set
For their long soaking on the wet.

It is hard to be so poor
And such sorrow and pain endure
You must move your arms about
Or you’ll find you must go without.

Akame117 says it was Felipe Padilla De Leon (1912-1992) who composed “Magtanim Ay ‘Di Biro.” He was multi-awarded: Republic Cultural Heritage Award, Rizal Pro-Patria Award, Presidential Award of Merit, and Patnubay ng Kalinangan Award. The last means literally “Guide to Culture Award.” The composer was telling us that actually those husbands & wives & daughters hate transplanting rice!?

But we have loved the song since it was born, up to now. What do you call this inverse behavior now:

“It is one way of Filipinos laughing at Filipinos.“
“If you are a Filipino composer, you can get away with murder!“

I suspect the poem was composed in the spirit of entertaining Americans, tourists or friends. Yes, at our expense. What are friends for?!

But the planting-rice-is-never-fun joke is on us Filipinos. When transplanted, seedlings break their roots and need time to regrow them. Young seedlings, 2 weeks of age, easily regrow those broken roots, then happily go on and produce many tillers that produce the panicles heavy with rice. Higher yield. Ignorant of science, we prefer old seedlings because they are easier to handle. Old seedlings never die, but they produce fewer tillers, because they have wasted their time and energy growing up!@517






[1] https://www.shutterstock.com/search/farmer+philippines
[2] https://www.alamy.com/good-bad-ugly-image65100996.html
[3] https://www.slideshare.net/akame117/magtanim-ay-di-biro

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