In 2018, Rogelio “Roger” Santos, a 34-year-old man from Nueva Ecija, dreamed of escaping poverty by raising pigs. He rented a vacant section of a mountain in the town of Carranglan to turn it into a small piggery.
He used up all his savings, even took out a loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines, built pig pens, installed a deep well, and bought 30 piglets.
On the day he brought the first batch of pigs up the mountain, he proudly told his wife Marites, 31:
“Just wait for me. In one year, we’ll be able to build our own house.”
But life was not as easy as the success stories on television about getting rich.
In less than three months, African swine fever spread across Luzon. One by one, nearby pig farms collapsed. Some neighbors were forced to burn their entire pig pens just to stop the virus from spreading. For weeks, thick smoke hung over the mountains.
Marites became frightened.
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