Bad news brings good tidings to Cebu cooperative
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:38:00 06/28/2008
CEBU CITY -- THE WORLD CAME crashing down on the laborers of Pacific Traders and Manufacturing Corp. in 1997 when the Cebu-based furniture and wood products export company told them the grim news that it was letting them go because it could no longer pay their wages.
The Asian currency crisis was taking its toll and Pacific Traders saw its costs escalate and export orders dwindle to the point that it would have to drastically pare its operating expenses if it wanted to survive, thus the decision to retrench over a hundred of its workers.
But the Mandaue City-based Pacific Traders threw the retrenched workers a lifeline when it encouraged them to group together into a cooperative and become labor subcontractors.
This means that they will do what they have always done—produce proudly Cebu-made furniture for the export market—but no longer as direct employees with benefits and privileges.
Only 55 of the 120 workers let go by Pacific Traders took up the challenge to get a cooperative off the ground. Looking back, they said it was the best decision they had ever made.
That’s because today, the cooperative of weavers, sanders, sample workers, cutters and jig makers put up with a P100,000 seed capital from Pacific Traders and P25,000 from the separation pay of the workers has evolved into one of Cebu’s strongest with an asset size of over P15 million. And the original membership of 55 has grown to 1,000 and still growing.
The journey, however, was fraught with seemingly insurmountable challenges.
According to 40-year-old Alvin T. Monzolin, a weaver of Pacific Trader and founding chair of the cooperative, the members went through an emotional roller coaster during the first few years, as they had to overcome feelings of inadequacy and pessimism.
Since none of them finished college, they thought they did not have what it takes to come together and pursue a common goal. But they managed to dig deep into their hidden reserve of strength and tenacity and get the Tabok Workers’ Multi-Purpose Cooperative, named after a barangay in Mandaue City, up and running.
What cemented their bond were the primordial need to survive and the realization that they had before them the unique opportunity to better their lot. They just had to grab it.
Crucial to their overcoming their early jitters was the leadership and capability-building training provided by the Philippine Business for Social Progress, of which Pacific Traders is a member, through its Metro Cebu Workforce Development Program.
The program was born out of the need in 1998 to help give new life and purpose to the workers of Cebu who were retrenched following the Asian currency crisis that badly hit the export companies of the province.
Unemployment at that time hit as high as 14 percent and PBSP believed that forming strong cooperatives was a viable solution and the Tabok cooperative became the first project under the WDEP.
Tabok has certainly lived up to its promise, thanks to the hard work of the members.
“What we would do was work the whole day and then attend trainings at night, practically every day from six in the evening to 11 or 12 midnight,” says Monzolin in Cebuano, “we were eager to learn.”
Their efforts did not go to waste as they learned valuable skills such as simple accounting, capital build-up techniques, computer literacy and leadership that they needed to ensure the steady and sure growth of the cooperative.
Monzolin says once the momentum was there, it was not hard to get members to join the cooperative, mainly because only members were allowed to work for Pacific Traders.
But then the cooperative imposed standards and that was difficult for many applicants to understand.
Monzolin says the initial thinking was that members just had to pay the membership fee and they would get in. But the members realized that they had to ensure that their work was of top quality if the cooperative was to become synonymous with high standards and get the clients they need.
As word of the quality of their work spread, so did their client base. From Pacific Traders, Tabok today services a number of furniture export companies, whose businesses flourished again as the global economy recovered from the debilitating effects of the Asian currency crisis.
Monzolin says that the cooperative gets between P300,000 and P400,000 worth of job orders every month and signs abound that the orders would further increase as more furniture companies tap the Tabok members’ unique skills.
He adds that the members invested back into the cooperative any earnings they generated from their subcontracting business, enabling the cooperative to diversify into other lines of business, such as extension of multipurpose loans and a cooperative store where the members get their basic commodities, such as rice and school supplies.
Monzolin says the members still can not believe how far they have gone from those dark, uncertain days when they did not know where their next meal would come from.
But even then, he says the members still dream big dreams, and one of those is to eventually be able to produce a line of furniture that they could export themselves—evolve, in other words, from a subcontractor to an exporter.
Monzolin says the members feel they could do it since they have years of experience in the export furniture industry and they are up to the stringent quality standards exposed by the top exporters.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Tying down poverty in Cebu with abaca
Tying down poverty in Cebu with abaca
Manila Bulletin
27 May 2008
Barangay Magsaysay in the Cebu Hillylands was named after President Ramon Magsaysay after the plane crash that killed the late president happened near this upland village.
Another disaster, but more silent and sinister, also struck this village a long time ago and affected the lives of over a hundred households here: poverty. The remoteness of this barangay, plus the non-existence of any significant income-generating activity beyond sustenance farming, has forced families to eke out a meager existence in these hills.
A Community’s Answer to Poverty
In 2005, their plight came to the attention of PBSP or Philippine Business for Social Progress, the country’s largest corporate-led social development coalition, which has been implementing its ARM, or Area Resource Management, program in the buffer zones of Cebu’s three major watersheds. The Cebu Hillyland ARM is a large-scale, long-term, integrated poverty reduction strategy which aims for the protection and rehabilitation of the watersheds while providing livelihood, organizational development, and poverty-reduction programs for marginalized communities in the uplands.
PBSP began by sending their community organizers, project officers, and technical staff to Barangay Magsaysay to ask the residents if they would be willing to participate in PBSP’s ARM program. This would entail the villagers’ commitment to allow themselves to be organized into a cooperative; to elect and follow their leaders; and attend the various training sessions on livelihood, financial management, marketing and production, cooperative building--even health and hygiene.
As the training and organizational sessions were being conducted, the villagers identified abaca as the crop they wanted to propagate in their area, because not only was the soil and climate suitable for its propagation, there were also abaca buyers supplying Cebu’s SMEs and exporters who were willing to go all the way up to the hillylands to buy whatever abaca products they could produce. There was a ready market for abaca and the demand was growing.
Today, the Barangay Unity Key to Integrated Development-Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BUKID MPC) have planted more than 100 upland hectares to abaca. 30 hectares are coop-managed and the rest belong to individual planters or coop members. A hectare planted to abaca can net around P 250,000 a year for one person. Because of this, the coop is expanding the program and they are now targetting to reach 200 hectares planted to abaca in 5 years. Aside from abaca, they have also diversified their crops, with some doing contour farming of pineapples, carrots, lettuce, brocolli, and other high value crops. Some have even gone into dairy farming and have started to produce fresh milk. All this was with encouragement plus technical and financial assistance from PBSP.
For Barangay Magsaysay, poverty has turned into prosperity in only five years. Considering the speed at which they have succeeded, it won’t be long before these hard-working Cebuanos will be the models for other barangays to emulate.
Manila Bulletin
27 May 2008
Barangay Magsaysay in the Cebu Hillylands was named after President Ramon Magsaysay after the plane crash that killed the late president happened near this upland village.
Another disaster, but more silent and sinister, also struck this village a long time ago and affected the lives of over a hundred households here: poverty. The remoteness of this barangay, plus the non-existence of any significant income-generating activity beyond sustenance farming, has forced families to eke out a meager existence in these hills.
A Community’s Answer to Poverty
In 2005, their plight came to the attention of PBSP or Philippine Business for Social Progress, the country’s largest corporate-led social development coalition, which has been implementing its ARM, or Area Resource Management, program in the buffer zones of Cebu’s three major watersheds. The Cebu Hillyland ARM is a large-scale, long-term, integrated poverty reduction strategy which aims for the protection and rehabilitation of the watersheds while providing livelihood, organizational development, and poverty-reduction programs for marginalized communities in the uplands.
PBSP began by sending their community organizers, project officers, and technical staff to Barangay Magsaysay to ask the residents if they would be willing to participate in PBSP’s ARM program. This would entail the villagers’ commitment to allow themselves to be organized into a cooperative; to elect and follow their leaders; and attend the various training sessions on livelihood, financial management, marketing and production, cooperative building--even health and hygiene.
As the training and organizational sessions were being conducted, the villagers identified abaca as the crop they wanted to propagate in their area, because not only was the soil and climate suitable for its propagation, there were also abaca buyers supplying Cebu’s SMEs and exporters who were willing to go all the way up to the hillylands to buy whatever abaca products they could produce. There was a ready market for abaca and the demand was growing.
Today, the Barangay Unity Key to Integrated Development-Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BUKID MPC) have planted more than 100 upland hectares to abaca. 30 hectares are coop-managed and the rest belong to individual planters or coop members. A hectare planted to abaca can net around P 250,000 a year for one person. Because of this, the coop is expanding the program and they are now targetting to reach 200 hectares planted to abaca in 5 years. Aside from abaca, they have also diversified their crops, with some doing contour farming of pineapples, carrots, lettuce, brocolli, and other high value crops. Some have even gone into dairy farming and have started to produce fresh milk. All this was with encouragement plus technical and financial assistance from PBSP.
For Barangay Magsaysay, poverty has turned into prosperity in only five years. Considering the speed at which they have succeeded, it won’t be long before these hard-working Cebuanos will be the models for other barangays to emulate.
Island residents see the light
Island residents see the light
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:47pm (Mla time) 07/19/2008
LAPU-LAPU CITY -- Not a mouse stirred on the island barangay of Pangan-an that rainy afternoon of June 29 when residents sat glued to their small television sets, eagerly awaiting the title fight of boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.
The silence was only later shattered by loud cheers and deafening shouts as Pacquiao routinely landed a flurry of punches that eventually brought Mexican fighter David Diaz crashing to the canvas.
It is in times like the Pacquiao fight that the residents feel immensely blessed that they have electricity in their homes, reliably provided by one of the largest solar power facilities in the Philippines.
Operated and maintained by the Pangan-an Island Cooperative for Community Development, the solar complex at the center of the island has 504 panels generating 90 watts each.
The complex, funded by the Belgian government in cooperation with the Department of Energy, has been providing power to close to 230 households since it started operations on Dec. 7, 1998.
The University of San Carlos organized the beneficiaries of the solar energy into the cooperative and was instrumental in getting it off the ground. The DOE, on the other hand, taught the community how to operate and maintain the solar panels.
Experts from Belgium and the DOE, however, are on call for more serious repairs and technical problems that inevitably crop up.
Carlito Inoc, who collects electricity payments for the cooperative, still remembers the literally dark days when the island did not have any electricity, cut off as it is from the main power grid.
Inoc said in Cebuano that before solar electricity was introduced, the residents had to pay those with generator sets P5 a day just to use one light bulb from six to 10 in the evening. If they want to turn on a radio or television set, they have to shell out another P10 a day. Others resorted to connecting their lamps to a car or truck battery just so the children could study for a few hours at night.
But with solar energy, Inoc said the community now enjoys electricity 24 hours a day at a rate of P15 a kilowatt-hour, except during those rainy days when there is not enough solar energy stored in the complex’s 118 batteries to power the homes.
The community, however, is very judicious in its use of the solar energy since the members want as many households to enjoy its benefits. They also do not want to tax the solar complex considering its age.
None of the solar-powered homes, for instance, can own a refrigerator because it uses up too much electricity. Homes are limited to just a few lamps with television and radio sets for news and entertainment.
But even then, the television set should be turned off after the prime time evening news, again to conserve on energy. Those violating the rules are slapped a penalty of P500 every time they use the television beyond the allotted time.
Pangan-an coop director Romero Udto said in Cebuano it was difficult at the start to get the members of the cooperative to adhere to the rules on the use of solar power, as well as to pay their bill—which runs up to an average of P300 a month per household—on time.
Udto said, however, that with the consistent application of the rules and explanations that they needed to work together to ensure the continued availability of solar energy, the coop members saw the wisdom in following the cooperative’s rules.
It cost about P5,000 to be connected to the solar power network, but the Belgian government shouldered half of the expense. The resident paid for the other of P2,500 on installment, which was added to the monthly electric bill.
The cooperative uses the money collected from the power users to maintain the aging facility, which needs to be rehabilitated soon.
Inoc said some of the batteries already need to be replaced as they are not storing as much energy as they used to, much like car batteries. The cooperative estimated that it would need as much as P8 million to replace all 118 batteries although they should still be good for the next five years.
In the meantime, the cooperative is looking into other sources of funds so it could replace some of the batteries on its own.
The Philippine Business for Social Progress, for instance, is helping the members learn new money-earning skills, such as bee keeping and seaweed farming to add to their fishing and shell gathering.
The projects are part of PBSP’s Olango Island Development Program, which aims to improve the quality of life of 2,300 households, including those in Pangan-an where more than half live on just around P120 a day.
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:47pm (Mla time) 07/19/2008
LAPU-LAPU CITY -- Not a mouse stirred on the island barangay of Pangan-an that rainy afternoon of June 29 when residents sat glued to their small television sets, eagerly awaiting the title fight of boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.
The silence was only later shattered by loud cheers and deafening shouts as Pacquiao routinely landed a flurry of punches that eventually brought Mexican fighter David Diaz crashing to the canvas.
It is in times like the Pacquiao fight that the residents feel immensely blessed that they have electricity in their homes, reliably provided by one of the largest solar power facilities in the Philippines.
Operated and maintained by the Pangan-an Island Cooperative for Community Development, the solar complex at the center of the island has 504 panels generating 90 watts each.
The complex, funded by the Belgian government in cooperation with the Department of Energy, has been providing power to close to 230 households since it started operations on Dec. 7, 1998.
The University of San Carlos organized the beneficiaries of the solar energy into the cooperative and was instrumental in getting it off the ground. The DOE, on the other hand, taught the community how to operate and maintain the solar panels.
Experts from Belgium and the DOE, however, are on call for more serious repairs and technical problems that inevitably crop up.
Carlito Inoc, who collects electricity payments for the cooperative, still remembers the literally dark days when the island did not have any electricity, cut off as it is from the main power grid.
Inoc said in Cebuano that before solar electricity was introduced, the residents had to pay those with generator sets P5 a day just to use one light bulb from six to 10 in the evening. If they want to turn on a radio or television set, they have to shell out another P10 a day. Others resorted to connecting their lamps to a car or truck battery just so the children could study for a few hours at night.
But with solar energy, Inoc said the community now enjoys electricity 24 hours a day at a rate of P15 a kilowatt-hour, except during those rainy days when there is not enough solar energy stored in the complex’s 118 batteries to power the homes.
The community, however, is very judicious in its use of the solar energy since the members want as many households to enjoy its benefits. They also do not want to tax the solar complex considering its age.
None of the solar-powered homes, for instance, can own a refrigerator because it uses up too much electricity. Homes are limited to just a few lamps with television and radio sets for news and entertainment.
But even then, the television set should be turned off after the prime time evening news, again to conserve on energy. Those violating the rules are slapped a penalty of P500 every time they use the television beyond the allotted time.
Pangan-an coop director Romero Udto said in Cebuano it was difficult at the start to get the members of the cooperative to adhere to the rules on the use of solar power, as well as to pay their bill—which runs up to an average of P300 a month per household—on time.
Udto said, however, that with the consistent application of the rules and explanations that they needed to work together to ensure the continued availability of solar energy, the coop members saw the wisdom in following the cooperative’s rules.
It cost about P5,000 to be connected to the solar power network, but the Belgian government shouldered half of the expense. The resident paid for the other of P2,500 on installment, which was added to the monthly electric bill.
The cooperative uses the money collected from the power users to maintain the aging facility, which needs to be rehabilitated soon.
Inoc said some of the batteries already need to be replaced as they are not storing as much energy as they used to, much like car batteries. The cooperative estimated that it would need as much as P8 million to replace all 118 batteries although they should still be good for the next five years.
In the meantime, the cooperative is looking into other sources of funds so it could replace some of the batteries on its own.
The Philippine Business for Social Progress, for instance, is helping the members learn new money-earning skills, such as bee keeping and seaweed farming to add to their fishing and shell gathering.
The projects are part of PBSP’s Olango Island Development Program, which aims to improve the quality of life of 2,300 households, including those in Pangan-an where more than half live on just around P120 a day.
Giant clams reappear off Eastern Samar
Giant clams reappear off Eastern Samar
By Ven S. Labro
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 08:29:00 03/10/2008
GUIUAN, EASTERN SAMAR—Giant clams are returning to the seabeds of Guiuan, an ancient town in Eastern Samar at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, several decades after the delectable bivalves disappeared, probably due to over-harvesting.
The comeback of the endangered clams (Tridacna gigas) was first noted in the early 1990s, when efforts to restore the coastal environment of the old town were started. Over-fishing and illegal fishing methods, like the use fine-meshed net and dynamites in the previous years almost wiped out marine life in this part of the country.
Drop
Alarmed by the resulting sharp drop in fish catch, the municipal government and the private sector worked together to save, restore and protect Guiuan’s coastal surroundings. One initiative was the establishment of the Guiuan Development Foundation Inc. (GDFI) in August 1988, which committed itself to rehabilitate the marine areas and develop the fishing industry of Guiuan and nearby towns.
The GDFI lobbied hard for the enactment by the municipal council of a fisheries ordinance that would identify marine sanctuaries.
“We started first at Bagong Banua,” recalls Margarita de la Cruz, a marine biologist who heads the foundation and teaches at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas in Tacloban City. She refers to an uninhabited islet where the GDFI established the 68-hectare Bagong Banua Marine Reserve and Fish Sanctuary in late 1991.
The islet, then devastated by dynamite fishing and other illegal fishing methods, could be reached by a 30-minute boat ride from the Guiuan town proper.
With a grant of about P200,000 from the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the GDFI started enclosing the Bagong Banua area and seeding it with abalone, sea cucumber and tap shells, among others. “Our seeding was working, so we removed the enclosure so that marine life could spread out. After five years, the corals started to grow,” De la Cruz says.
Marine hatchery
After a few more years, many corals, including species that the foundation did not plant, appeared.
De la Cruz also brought to the sanctuary several giant clams from the UP Marine Science Institute in Pangasinan, where she took her doctorate. “These clams had come from the Solomons Islands,” she says, adding that more than a hundred of the yearlings were seeded in Bagong Banua.
She says it is easy to seed the clams because they stay put in their places. “At first, we thought the clams could be a livelihood of people’s organizations,” she says, referring to the groups that the GDFI formed in Guiuan and nearby towns. “But we found this to be not feasible because it takes years for clams to grow or mature.”
In 1993, the GDFI put up a marine hatchery and research station, in collaboration with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, at the BFAR compound in Guiuan. The facility has been spawning giant clams and abalone, among others.
Today, Bagong Banua is teeming with marine life. Sturgeons, butterfly fish and other species frolic in the clear waters. The giant clams are also reproducing.
Digging ban
Guiuan has regained its marine resources, and it is now widely known for its abundant marine products. But it has forever lost the indigenous giant clams that the early inhabitants consumed to extinction. Only their fossilized shells remind people of their existence.
Bigger than bicycle wheels, some of the shells were unearthed a few years ago off Calicoan Island in Guiuan and reportedly sold in town and even as far as Cebu and Manila for P500 to P1,000 each. Fortunately, the digging of the shells has been banned.
The shells are also used as decoration, jewelry and even as baptismal and holy water fonts in churches.
Giant clams usually breed after seven years, De la Cruz says. “The population of clams [may have] declined because it takes time for them to grow, but then it is easy to harvest or get them out of the sea. So, it easily became depleted,” she explains.
De la Cruz, who is married to a native and has been residing in Guiuan for about two decades, recalls a folk tale about “very big” clams that could even contain a newborn or very young calf of a carabao (water buffalo).
Giant clams can grow to more than 1.5 meters and weigh more than 250 kilograms. Although they are called “giant,” there is a need to protect the bivalve mollusks from people who seek their meat and shell.
By Ven S. Labro
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 08:29:00 03/10/2008
GUIUAN, EASTERN SAMAR—Giant clams are returning to the seabeds of Guiuan, an ancient town in Eastern Samar at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, several decades after the delectable bivalves disappeared, probably due to over-harvesting.
The comeback of the endangered clams (Tridacna gigas) was first noted in the early 1990s, when efforts to restore the coastal environment of the old town were started. Over-fishing and illegal fishing methods, like the use fine-meshed net and dynamites in the previous years almost wiped out marine life in this part of the country.
Drop
Alarmed by the resulting sharp drop in fish catch, the municipal government and the private sector worked together to save, restore and protect Guiuan’s coastal surroundings. One initiative was the establishment of the Guiuan Development Foundation Inc. (GDFI) in August 1988, which committed itself to rehabilitate the marine areas and develop the fishing industry of Guiuan and nearby towns.
The GDFI lobbied hard for the enactment by the municipal council of a fisheries ordinance that would identify marine sanctuaries.
“We started first at Bagong Banua,” recalls Margarita de la Cruz, a marine biologist who heads the foundation and teaches at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas in Tacloban City. She refers to an uninhabited islet where the GDFI established the 68-hectare Bagong Banua Marine Reserve and Fish Sanctuary in late 1991.
The islet, then devastated by dynamite fishing and other illegal fishing methods, could be reached by a 30-minute boat ride from the Guiuan town proper.
With a grant of about P200,000 from the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the GDFI started enclosing the Bagong Banua area and seeding it with abalone, sea cucumber and tap shells, among others. “Our seeding was working, so we removed the enclosure so that marine life could spread out. After five years, the corals started to grow,” De la Cruz says.
Marine hatchery
After a few more years, many corals, including species that the foundation did not plant, appeared.
De la Cruz also brought to the sanctuary several giant clams from the UP Marine Science Institute in Pangasinan, where she took her doctorate. “These clams had come from the Solomons Islands,” she says, adding that more than a hundred of the yearlings were seeded in Bagong Banua.
She says it is easy to seed the clams because they stay put in their places. “At first, we thought the clams could be a livelihood of people’s organizations,” she says, referring to the groups that the GDFI formed in Guiuan and nearby towns. “But we found this to be not feasible because it takes years for clams to grow or mature.”
In 1993, the GDFI put up a marine hatchery and research station, in collaboration with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, at the BFAR compound in Guiuan. The facility has been spawning giant clams and abalone, among others.
Today, Bagong Banua is teeming with marine life. Sturgeons, butterfly fish and other species frolic in the clear waters. The giant clams are also reproducing.
Digging ban
Guiuan has regained its marine resources, and it is now widely known for its abundant marine products. But it has forever lost the indigenous giant clams that the early inhabitants consumed to extinction. Only their fossilized shells remind people of their existence.
Bigger than bicycle wheels, some of the shells were unearthed a few years ago off Calicoan Island in Guiuan and reportedly sold in town and even as far as Cebu and Manila for P500 to P1,000 each. Fortunately, the digging of the shells has been banned.
The shells are also used as decoration, jewelry and even as baptismal and holy water fonts in churches.
Giant clams usually breed after seven years, De la Cruz says. “The population of clams [may have] declined because it takes time for them to grow, but then it is easy to harvest or get them out of the sea. So, it easily became depleted,” she explains.
De la Cruz, who is married to a native and has been residing in Guiuan for about two decades, recalls a folk tale about “very big” clams that could even contain a newborn or very young calf of a carabao (water buffalo).
Giant clams can grow to more than 1.5 meters and weigh more than 250 kilograms. Although they are called “giant,” there is a need to protect the bivalve mollusks from people who seek their meat and shell.
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