Fine aerial shots of volcanic landscapes and flat land on Luzon Island, a typical landscape for rice cultivation.

02.33 - 04.01

An introduction to the Montallos, who are rice farmers but are determined to give their children a better life through education.

04.01 - 07.30

Shots of rice farming as a physically demanding but socially collaborative way of life. Explanations are given of local climatic and economic factors that allow rice growing to flourish but keep the methods labour-intensive compared with those in other Asian-Pacific countries.

07.30 - 09.05

Footage and discussion of how all the family have to pitch in to make farming pay; even then the Montallos have to supplement their income by selling boiled bananas and providing a motorcycle taxi service.

09.05 - 11.21

Rey Montallos talks about good and bad years, and the unreliability of income from farming. The commentary points out that his family benefit from irrigation.

11.21 - 14.14

The Delizdo family, in an unirrigated zone, illustrate the unreliability of rice farming more dramatically. After bad harvests they must take drastic measures, including selling off land, working as hired labour and even giving up school.

14.14 - 16.24

Yvette Delizdo contemplates the option of leaving school and the family farm to work in Manila. Footage and commentary explain this in terms of of the push-pull principle of rural-to-urban migration. The problems of Manila are considered: essentially its inability to cope with the scale of migration.

16.24 - end

Back in the Montallos family home, enormous faith is placed in education as the route to success in life. The Montallos daughters explain their career ambitions. The commentary suggests that emigration from the Philippines may be the only way to meet these hopes. The programme ends with Yvette Delizdo sharing similar thoughts.