In
1986, the province of Bulacan discovered that the cooperatives
had a negative reputation among the people. In the entire
province, there were only 52 existing (many of them just
on paper) with a total of 24 million pesos in assets while
many others had failed over the years. The two agricultural
extension services – one paid by the national government
and the other by the province – were redundant. Both
seemed to focus on technical training when what farmers
desperately needed were better farmgate prices and easier
access to credit at non-usurious terms.
After
extensive consultations with the farmers and leaders of
successful cooperatives, the provincial government launched
the Kaunlaran sa Pagkakaisa Program (KPP). The provincial
agricultural service was converted into the Provincial Cooperative
and Entrepreneurial Development Office, which started an
intensive training program on cooperative formation and
management with the help from private sector volunteers.
Over the next eight years, the provincial government provided
P13.6 million in loans to any credit-worthy cooperative
willing to put up counterpart funds. KPP linked cooperatives
with banks for further loans, helped with the project appraisals,
and aggressively promoted the value of saving mobilization
and self-reliance.
Today,
cooperativism is thriving in Bulacan. 791 coops in 568 barangays
enjoy assets of P1.17 billion with a membership of 20,000
people. Nearly P5 billion have been loaned to the cooperatives
from all sources since 1988. A group of certified public
accountants formed a cooperative whose services are used
by many of the other cooperatives. KPP’s efforts to
establish “people infrastructure” had an unexpected
physical result. Today, the tallest buildings in Bulacan
are all owned by cooperatives.
