Having grown up in Mindanao, one thing that caught my attention when I first came to Ilocandia, the northern part of Luzon, was the farm hand tractor commonly called locally as the kuliglig.  It is a Tagalog word for the cicada insect. I don’t know why it’s named after the cicada but I think that it’s maybe because this little machine can really make a lot of noise.

I haven’t really noticed this kind of farm hand tractor in Mindanao. Not even in the Visayas. I could be wrong. Maybe I missed it but it’s not so common as it is here in these rice-planting provinces of Luzon. There’s just so many all over the place and it can even slow down traffic on highways and in every town you pass by.

It’s interesting that this kuliglig is not only a farm hand tractor but as I noticed all over central and northern Luzon, farmers are using it as an all-purpose vehicle. They use it as their family vehicle transporting all kinds of things including people haha! Another amusing thing about this is when this vehicle needs to turn left or right. I often see the driver get off on the left side or on the right side (depending on where he’s going) and in perfect timing, hop in back again as soon as the vehicle is already in the right direction. Really amusing to me haha!