Members reap benefits of self-help and savings
In this remote mountain village of Canatuan, prices of basic commodities
can be quite prohibitive. Small entrepreneurs source their goods from urban
centers that are difficult to reach. This ancestral domain of the Subanon
indigenous people is accessible only through rough roads from its host town
of Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, 27 kilometers west or from Ipil town, in adjacent
Zamboanga Sibugay, 50 kilometers east. Hence, the entrepreneurs have no choice
but to recoup the expenses they incur in transporting their goods. Even employees
of a mining firm here who earn higher than their counterparts in the Zamboanga
Peninsula find the prices beyond their reach, considering that most of these
employees have many mouths to feed.
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Above,
TVIRD Employees’ Cooperative Chair and Canatuan Finance Manager Jaime Guillermo (center), flanked by Cooperative Board Members Danny Silvestre and Fidel Bontao, Security Force Department Administrative officer and Environment Manager, respectively, and below, Theresa Dolendo, Finance cashier, are among the officers of the Cooperative who are spearheading its growth in size and strength. “We were able to achieve this because of the joint effort of the members of the Board of Directors, our members and the management of the company,” says Guillermo. |
With this in mind, and with a fervent wish to help their
fellow employees cope with the high cost of living and have money in times
of emergency, five management team members of TVI Resource Development Philippines,
Inc. (TVIRD) organized the TVIRD Employees Cooperative two years ago. They
pooled their resources to raise the initial capital and hosted seminars conducted
by the government Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) for the Cooperative’s
officers and members.
From an initial membership composed of the five organizers
– Fidel Bontao, Environment Department manager; Rey Carubio, Mill superintendent;
Jaime Guillermo, Finance manager; Yulo Perez, former Canatuan General Manager
and now TVIRD vice president for Philippine Operations; and Joe Alcomendras,
former Mill manager – the Cooperative now has nearly 300 members. Of
this number, 114 (representing 40 percent of the membership), are from the
Subanon indigenous tribe that hosts the company’s operations. And from
an initial capital of P110, 000 for the Cooperative store and lending program,
raised from membership contributions and from the financial assistance extended
by TVIRD through Perez, the Cooperative – duly registered at the CDA
since July 2007 – has already raised some P1 million.
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Proud
Cooperative members all. Germidas Laspinas, Mill Operations manager; Rowena Adem, of the Office of the General Managerl Mike Patoh of the Security Force Department; and Danny Halago, Operations supervisor, unwind at the TVIRD Canatuan Clubhouse manned by Cooperative custodian Jescilla Gubantes (in red). The Cooperative realizes profits from its store at the company warehouse and from the Clubhouse. Employees have learned to be financially self reliant. |
“Many of our rank-and-file employees previously had to resort to incurring
debts from loan sharks, or to consistently asking for cash advances from the
company which had to be deducted from their wages,” Carubio relates.
“These happened whenever there were family members who were ill or who
died, or when they had to pay for the tuition fees of their children. Or simply,
many of them just couldn’t make both ends meet. Their woes did not go
unnoticed by management.”
“Today, not only have we been able to minimize those problems, we
have also taught our members to be self reliant,” Bontao adds.
Guillermo, the new chair of the Cooperative, says “We were able to achieve
this because of the joint effort of the members of the Board of Directors,
our members and the management of the company through Mr. Perez.”
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Jescilla
Aguilo (above) and Evangeline Gubantes (below), Cooperative custodians at the Clubhouse and the store, are praised for being cheerful while they attend to members’ needs. The goods sold by the Cooperative are 20 percent lower than other stores in Canatuan. |
The Cooperative realizes profits from two sources. First,
the Cooperative store at the Warehouse, and second, the company Clubhouse
at Malusok (a district within Canatuan) where employees unwind after a day’s
work at the mine and plant.
Since the formation of the Cooperative, its officers have
been working hard to build up capital because apart from being able to provide
personal loans, they also want to extend business loans to members.
“We can only do this if the coop has a formidable
cash position,” Guillermo points out. He said the plan now is to help
employees earn additional income for their families through micro-financing
of business loans. “This will enable husbands and wives to engage in
business or use the money as capital for a livelihood project they think will
help them gain a sustainable income. This would even prepare our employees
for when the life of our mine ends.”
Bontao says that ownership of Cooperative shares starts
with each member investing a minimum of five shares. “Each share is
worth P200, while the registration fee is also P200. Thus, the initial capital
of each member is P1,200. This is very affordable for even a minimum dalily
wage employee earning P232,” he explains.
Cooperative member Roseller Comisas says his being part
of this self-help organization has proven to be a practical proposition. “The
goods sold by our Cooperative store are much lower – about 20 percent
– compared with those in other variety stores in Canatuan. This is the
reason why we buy majority of our household needs at our store.”
Another benefit, he adds, is the profit-sharing scheme,
where members get their share of the interests earned during the previous
year. “The first time I received the interest it was like receiving
a bonus from the company,” Comisas grins. “I also feel secure
knowing that I have somewhere to run to should there be a pressing financial
need.
An added benefit, he says, is that “our custodians,
Evangeline Gubantes and Jescilla Aguilo, are always cheerful to us when they
attend to our needs at the store and the Clubhouse.”
Another member, Guillermo Martinez of the Security Force Department, says
he was able to loan money he used as capital for his backyard hog-raising
project. “The project is helping a lot in sustaining the needs of my
family.”
The board of directors continues to campaign for more members
and capital. For now, however, they are confident of the Cooperative’s
strength and proud of its independence – one that will be able to provide
its members the benefits they truly deserve. (Noelle Nazareno)