"Farmer and His Plow"

'Farmer and His Plow
Tiwi, Albay 1959'

This is a very evocative picture of a Tiwinhon and his way of life. A very powerful image go a hardworking man just after a day's toil on the rice fields. A glimpse of a rustic and rural Tiwi back in the day.

I first saw this photo on a Facebook post shared by my old college buddy Gibbs Cadiz, Lifestyle Desk Editor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. I contacted the original poster, Ernie Sarmiento, who turned out to be the son of the photographer Jose Recil Sarmiento, and received his consent to re-post the picture here.

In the 1950s, Jose Recil Sarmiento went on trips all over the archipelago documenting the people and sceneries of the Philippines for the Philippine Tourist and Travel Association (now, Department of Tourism). He probably chanced upon the subject when he visited Naglagbong, Tiwi's number-one tourist attraction at that time, which was proclaimed a National Park by President Ramon Magsaysay five years earlier. Mr. Sarmiento died in 2013.