GUIMBA, Philippines -- Harvest time in the Philippines usually lifts the spirits of the country's 2 million rice farmers, but this year the mood in the agricultural heartlands north of Manila is gloomy.
"This is such a serious tragedy that hit us," said Roy Valdez, a farmer in the town of Guimba, where roads are covered with unhusked rice drying in the sun and paddies are dotted with mechanical harvesters and water buffaloes.
