MANILA, Philippines — Thousands of rice farmers in northern Philippines are facing hardship and going further into debt after a typhoon mowed down stalks a week before harvest, officials said.Swaths of rice farms were laid to waste or heavily flooded after typhoon Pepeng (international name: Parma) scythed through the farming provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, and Ilocos with hurricane-force winds and heavy rains.
