Word: abaca
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Principal crops: rice (more of which has to be imported to eke out the local supply), abaca (the famous Manila hemp), copra, sugar, corn, tobacco. The seasons: hot (March through June), rainy (July through October), cool (November through February). In the hot season, the government itself picks up & leaves Manila, settles down in the mountain city of Baguio (pop. 29,262), which is the official summer capital...
...Filipinos had left their nipa huts and tethered carabaos, their paddies and abaca fields, copra sheds and sugar centrals to cast their votes in a free election. After five years of catching their shirttails and mashing their fingers in the machinery of democracy, imported and installed for them by the U.S., the Filipinos had demonstrated that they were learning how to operate...