PHILIPPINES : OF MONSOON AND MEN | France 5 | Les Routes de l'Impossible

Modernity has not yet completely overtaken the island of Mindanao in the south of the Philippines. In the Bukidnon province, the rice harvest sets the rhythm of life. After each harvest, the peasants of the tiny village of Kalabugao, set deep in the mountains, entrust their precious produce to the drivers and the agents responsible for selling it at market. The overloaded trucks have to travel 70 kilometers, a journey that usually takes around 6 hours, but can last several days during the rainy season. Bogged down, broken down and landslides… the countdown has begun for the “rice convoy”. Every hour lost adds a further risk that the rice might rot. A little further south, in the Compostelle valley, weird trucks, known as “Saddams”¾a reference to the former Iraqi dictator¾set out on their daily outing. Their mission: do the rounds of inaccessible gold mines to collect the bags of rock extracted by toilers of gold at the peril of their lives.