the other side of beauty....

... the flipside of beautiful vacation destinations with plentiful food and picture perfect sceneries  is a heartbreaking reality of poverty....shadowed by the sprawling high rise luxurious hotels and vacation destinations are families in poor living conditions in shanty towns,  families struggling to bring food in the table for their malnourished children and the absence of the very basic medical services are the facts of life behind the glamorous and luxurious lifestyle that vacationers enjoy and savor.

a farmer's house in a village in Mindoro


many farmers live in houses made of native materials such as the one shown above...made of sawali sidings (crushed bamboo) and nipa roof-an indigenous grass abundant in the forest region. 

 Many children in remote villages are malnourished primarily due to parent's lack of education, lack of resources and sometimes simple ignorance .  The absence of health centers and basic medical services also contribute to the nutrition problem. Many mothers never received early pre-natal care that is important for the child's development after birth. Infant mortality rate is very high in the villages.

The Mangyans are indigenous people who live in the upland mountain villages of the island of Mindoro and other neighboring islands. They are uneducated and often unexposed to the modern ways of civilization.  The lack of government intervention put these tribes close to extinction.  Mortality rate is very high due to the absence of basic medical facilities.  The lack of sanitary facilities like toilets, water supply contribute to the spread of diseases. 

a malnourished child from Lantuyan,Mindoro 

faces of poverty... the Mangyan tribes



a Mangyan  village in Lantuyan, Mindoro..