He left farming.
Then he came back for the farmers.
I’ve been living in Cebu for almost 3 years, and I thought I was going to hear another story about young people leaving agriculture.
Instead, I met someone who had left farming too.
Melvin moved to Lapu-Lapu City and worked as a merchandiser at SM Savemore.
Then the pandemic came.
"No job."
"No income."
So he went back to farming.
At first, I thought this was simply another story about why young people leave agriculture.
But the more I listened, the less simple it became.
Young people are looking toward technology.
Farming is hard.
And there is still so much land that needs people to work it.
As we talked, Melvin told me:
“I will do more for the farmers, not for myself.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Because this wasn’t a story about someone who never left.
It was about someone who had left farming, experienced another life, lost his job, and eventually came back to help the farmers facing the same challenges.
I came looking for a story about why young people leave farming.
Instead, I met someone who left — and came back for the farmers.
What makes someone come back — and stay for the farmers?
Still Learning.
Still Exploring.
One story at a time.
Daghang salamat, Melvin and the farmers🙏
I came here expecting another story about why young people leave farming. That's the story I've heard again and again since moving to Cebu three years ago — the city's pull, the land left behind.
Melvin left too. Merchandiser, uniform, SM Savemore in Lapu-Lapu City. Then the pandemic took the job away in a single sentence: no job, no income.
I expected the ending to be about hardship. Instead it was about a decision.
He went back to farming — but not for himself. “I will do more for the farmers, not for myself,” he told me, and I sat with that sentence longer than I meant to.
I know what it means to leave one place and build a life somewhere else. I left Japan and came to the Philippines, expecting to build something different here.
But Melvin’s story made me look at leaving differently.
He had left farming too. He experienced a different life in the city, lost that job during the pandemic, and eventually returned to farming.
What stayed with me wasn’t simply that he came back.
It was what he chose to do after coming back.
The question changed.
I came looking for a story about why people leave farming.
I left wondering what makes someone come back.
| Date | July 19, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Location | Amancion, Catmon, Cebu |
| Event Type | Invited by a local contact (Melvin) |
| Access Method | Local introduction through Catmon's farming community |
| Food Featured | None |
| Cost to Attend | Free (by arrangement) |
| Rarity | 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ — A quietly recurring but rarely told local story |
| Bayanihan Index | 🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜ — Motivated by collective, not personal, gain |
Whether coming back for others is rare here or I have simply been asking the wrong people the wrong question is still something I don't know.