Cooperatives as an economic base

Credit to Author: ROSALINA DE LA PAZ-MAGAT| Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2019 17:43:27 +0000

ROSALINA DE LA PAZ-MAGAT

THE role of cooperatives in the economy has not been given the importance that it deserves primarily due to lack of awareness, by the people particularly, on how cooperatives have been performing a critical role in formalizing economic activities that have benefited especially the informal and marginalized sector. The enactment of RA 6939 on March 10, 1990 marked a milestone creating the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) to promote the viability and growth of cooperatives as instruments of equity, social justice and economic development. Subsequently, RA 9520 was enacted on Feb. 17, 2009 amending further the Cooperative Code of 2008.

I got my first exposure to cooperatives in 1987 when I became a member of the Harvard Coop while I was taking up my master’s degree at Harvard University. Up to now, I go shopping at the Harvard Coop either online or personally whenever I visit Cambridge/Boston. In 1990, I led a group of 20 LandBank officers on a training and observation trip to South Korea and China to learn about cooperatives, under an Asian Development Bank grant. In 1992, I attended the First International Women’s Seminar — Conference on Cooperative Management in Tel Aviv, Israel for one month where I was elected class president and delivered the valedictory address during our graduation, attended by the ambassadors of the countries which had participants in the training program. While at LandBank, I traveled all over the country, interacting with farmers cooperatives. I also joined the Pasig Parish Credit Cooperative (PPCC), founded by the Knights of Columbus. Then, when I worked as senior vice president at the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), I became a member of the DBP Cooperative. In 2008, I became a member of the Countryside Builders Multi-Purpose Cooperative (CBMPC), which started operations in 2004, for LandBank retirees. I am a member of the CBMPC board of directors where I chair the business development and investment committee (BDIC) which screens and evaluates all project proposals. CBMPC is highly successful, with total assets of P55.05 million and total equity of P37.35 million as of Dec. 31, 2018.

We have 530 members composed of 359 regular members who are retirees and 171 associate members. It was founded by the late lawyer
Jesus F. Diaz, former LBP EVP and acting president. Now, CBMPC is under the leadership of veteran cooperative expert, Chairman Rogelio G. Decal. Assisting him are Vice Chairman Pablito M. Villegas, the other seven members of the board of directors, and General Manager Cesar A. Usigan and Assistant General Manager Lydia R. de Asis.

CBMPC has defined its vision and mission as being to assist and improve the quality of lives of Land Bank retirees. As such, it has implemented several programs and projects to accomplish its mission. It has an outstanding loan receivables of P23.75 million from its members. It also has an active CSR program such as its annual feeding program in Barangay 699, Malate, Manila, where the CBMPC office is located, participation in the Manila Bay clean-up program, installation of solar power in Tinglao, Batangas, as well as donations and contributions to disaster areas where Land Bank retirees are affected. CBMPC regularly conducts training programs to update its members’ skill. It conducts observation trips and sends its board directors and officers to attend general assemblies and conferences of the different federations of cooperatives where CBMPC is a member like the Cooperative Insurance System of the Philippines (CISP), Federation of People’s Sustainable Development Cooperative (FPSDC), Metro South Cooperative Bank (MSCB), among others. CBMPC is bullish about becoming a century coop, meaning with P100 million total assets, in the next five years.

Recently, I observed the emergence of transport cooperatives while traveling all over Pasig, Pateros and Taguig. I see the fruition of the study
I made about transport cooperatives when I headed strategic planning and research at DBP. Then DBP President Remedios L. Macalincag and I attended the launching of “Pasada ni Erap” at Malacañang, funded by the DBP transport cooperative lending program for jeepneys.

Somehow, project implementation fizzled out because of the ouster of President Estrada. It is fulfilling to see these transport cooperatives and I hope that they will be properly managed and remain sustainable. Employees, vendors and community-based cooperatives are also active, which bodes well for the future of cooperativism in our country.

The author is a magna cum laude graduate of the UP School of Economics, is a UPMBA graduate, an MPA degree holder from Harvard University, with extensive experience in banking, especially in countryside development and cooperatives.

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