Work for Melita Tii starts early. As part of the food crew that prepares meals for employees of TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc. (TVIRD) in Canatuan, she has to report to the company’s mess hall at dawn in time for everybody’s breakfast. In the Subanon indigenous community where she belongs, women like her are often seen only in homes taking care of the children or helping in the farm. But being the single mother to a teenage son that she is, her job is a most welcome source of income to meet her child’s growing educational needs.

Tii is also a proud member of the TVI Employees Cooperative, Inc. (TVIEC), which she considers a strong partner of TVIRD employees like her in their quest for a better quality of life. Organized by employees themselves in 2007, TVIEC began with only P100,000 initial capital for its Soft Loan Program and grocery store. Today, only three years later, the cooperative has paid up capital amounting to P3.7 million. TVIEC prides itself with having been organized by officials led by Yulo Perez, TVIRD Vice President for Philippine Operations; Jaime Guillermo, TVIRD Canatuan Finance Manager; and Rey Carubio, TVIRD Canatuan Mill Superintendent.

Although Tii has a regular income as TVIRD employee, its was not easy for her because she also has to look after the educational and health needs of herself and of her son. But through thrift, hard work, and the loans and dividends she has received from TVIEC, she was able to own properties in Canatuan, the ancestral domain of her people which hosts TVIRD’s copper-zinc mining operations. Just recently, a relative sold to Tii two properties that are good for coconut and rubber tree planting. She paid for these properties using the money she loaned from the cooperative.

“These properties will help me send my son to college,” Tii says. “I have actually began planting rubber trees on one of the lands because Canatuan’s terrain, climate and soil type are well suited for rubber trees. The fruits of these lands will be my main income source when TVIRD ceases its mining operations here. With these properties, I am assured of a brighter future for my son and his would-be family even if TVIRD will no longer be here.”

Guillermo, who also serves as TVIEC chair, reported that the cooperative just recently distributed a total of over P780,000 in dividends and patronage refunds to its nearly 400 members. The monies were distributed after a general assembly meeting attended by Ruben Cunanan, Regional Director of the Cooperative Development Authority of Western Mindanao in Southern Philippines.

“Many of our members received dividends equivalent to their half-month’s salary,” Guillermo shares. “The amounts ranged from P4,000 to P7,000 – quite a considerable amount of additional money in this part of the country.”

Marvin Comisas, a TVIRD Canatuan Reverse Osmosis plant operator and TVIEC member whose paid-up capital has reached P26,000 confirms Guillermo’s figures. He reveals this year, his dividend and patronage refund amounted to about P7,000. “This is definitely more money for me than if I had just deposited my capital to a bank,” he says beaming. “I would have just earned an interest of P900 from a bank.” He is planning to put up a business in June, one that, he prays, will help him and his family prepare for life after TVIRD

Guillermo adds that TVIEC has lived up to the expectations of its members. He points out that the cooperative has helped members in a big way because it sells basic goods at lower prices.

“We grant cash loans ranging from P3,000 to P100,000,” he explains. “The loans are used by our members in many ways, including the repair or construction of their houses, the settlement of school obligations, the purchase of lots and of motorcycles for greater mobility, or the funding of businesses such as those of Tii and Comisas.

A non-Subanon cooperative member who also benefited from TVIEC’s lending program is Edgar Perocho. He says he was able to buy a motorcycle is now used as service vehicle of his children who are both studying at Siocon National High School some 30 kilometers away from Canatuan. “My next loan will be used as initial fund for the construction of a house for my growing family,” he adds.

The coop has also made John-John Bason’s life easier as he was able to obtain a loan to fund his backyard hog-raising project. From an initial paid up capital of P1,000, Bason’s contributions to the cooperative has grown to P23,000. “My wife Melissa who was only used to taking care of our home and two children now has income of her own from our piggery business,” he says. The Basons’ monthly earnings are now being supplemented by the additional income they receive from their hog meat sales to the cooperative store, which is patronized by employees and community folks.

“With the small income that we have, we are now able to help my father-in-law, who is still recuperating from his second stroke,” Melissa avers. “We were also able to buy a refrigerator for our business.”

Guillermo says that for 2010, TVIEC has big plans, among them to be able to distribute dividends amounting to no less than P1 million, to construct a cooperative building, to secure more merchandise for sale, as well as to have a capital buildup of P4 million for the first semester and an additional P500,000 by yearend.

Indeed, many people are impressed with TVIEC’s fast growth. One of them is Cunanan himself who, during the general assembly, congratulated the cooperative officers and members. “I am really amazed by your feat,” he said. “Maintain your vigilance and you can be assured of continuous growth.”

The stories of Tii, Comisas and Bason are just a few examples of the Subanon tribe’s many struggles to overcome poverty and to achieve a life of economic independence and sustainability. With the help of institutions like TVIRD and TVIEC, these three Subanons and the several hundreds like them in Canatuan, success is not far fetched. (Lullie Micabalo)