As de la Cruz ponders on these questions and on his future, he is very sure of one thing, according to press reports. He would till a two-hectare farm and go back to farming, just like what an entire generation of de la Cruzes had done before him. My brotherly advise to him is No. Forget it. Find another overseas job but work in a country with the least of work-related hazards. Don’t go back to farming unless your agenda is to live on a hand-to-mouth existence. And unless you want to starve your eight kids.

I am a farmer myself and I will tell you why.

The Filipino farmer generally lives a wretched life. That we are the wretched of the earth is an apt description on who we are.

"Wretched" is a strong word. I would normally use it only to describe non-human conditions, such as the taste of coffee from a vending machine or, say, a movie. To call the life of the Filipino farmer -- all Filipino farmers -- as "wretched" is to me both desultory and self-defeating.

Sure, I may be too optimistic for my own good, farmers do have it hard in the Philippines, maybe even hopeless in many cases. The numbers sure seem helpless:

The Filipino farmer generally lives a wretched life. That we are the wretched of the earth is an apt description on who we are. For example, a typical rice farmer gets P15,000 a year, per hectare, net. The most efficient rice farmer nets roughly P35,000 to P40,000 per hectare, a year. At the most, the two hectares of Angelo will give him P80,000 net a year from rice farming. Filipino truck drivers overseas can ear that amount in two months or less.

But "wretched", to my mind, is also destitute, even worthless, almost void of pride. Certainly those qualities do not fully describe the Filipino farmer, an individual so downtrodden but not without dignity? One would, publicly, reserve the words "wretched of the earth" to describe other more abominable beings. For example, for irresponsible columnists with sticks up their asses.

If the point of the article, hence, is to discourage Angelo dela Cruz from returning to his farming roots, can it not be done without slamming and dissing on the Filipino farmer? I have relatives, friends and in-laws who are farmers, yet the thought of them being in a "wretched" state is far from their mind. Everyone's had hard times, but if you call yourself "wretched of the earth" you might be so utter a failure that you can't even believe that better times are ahead. Admitting you are a loser will no doubt make you one.

Of course, I cannot argue with Mr. Ronquillo if he so believes -- being a farmer himself -- that the life of a Filipino farmer is indeed "wretched". How I wish it was at least a bit more bearable for him, that way he might have stuck to farming and saved us the bloated self-pity of his Sunday column.