Coop-Mov't

The Cooperative Movement

History:

The Cooperative Movement began in the 19th century in Great Britain and later spread to almost all countries in the world. It is a series of activities whereby people organized themselves in a common endeavor and share a particular economic goal; specifically, the formation of a non-profit enterprise to serve and for the benefit of its members.

Types of Cooperatives:

The Consumers' Cooperative is the oldest and most widespread form, wherein members could avail for wholesale and retail distribution of staple food and other agricultural products. Membership is usually open to anyone willing to buy cooperative share of stock. While goods are sold to the public at usually the prevailing market prices, any surplus above expenses is refunded to the members. Savings is acquired through direct purchase of goods from producers

Producers' cooperatives are manufacturing and distributive organizations, commonly owned and managed by the workers. Another development in such cooperatives has been the acquisition of failing manufacturing plants by labor unions, who run them on a cooperative basis.

Agricultural cooperatives usually involve cooperation in the processing and marketing of produce and in the purchase of equipment and supplies. Actual ownership of land is usually not affected, and in this way the agricultural cooperative differs from the collective farm. Agricultural cooperatives are often linked with cooperative banks and credit unions, which constitute another important type of cooperative.

There is also cooperative activity in insurance, medical services, housing, and other fields.

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The History and Assessment of the Philippine Cooperative Movement

Cooperatives are compatible to the Filipino culture whose concepts and practices of "bayanihan" (cooperation) preceded the coming of the Spaniards. After the colonization of the country by the Spaniards and the transformation of the economy from subsistence agriculture to a feudal and commercialized economy, middle class illustrados (professionals, merchants and artisans) emerged. These illustrados were the organizers of the "gremios" (local crafts unions and guilds) which were the forerunners of cooperatives.

The history of the cooperative movement in the Philippines can be divided into 3 stages.

The first stage, from 1895 to 1941, is characterized by the aborted germination of coops by some revolutionary illustrados (or the pre-formation period), the introduction and endogenization of the Raiffeisen-type agri-based coops by American missionaries and teachers and western-educated Filipinos which featured the principles of self-help and self-reliance (or the formation period), and the introduction of state-initiated farmers coops by the American colonial administrators.

The second stage is from 1941 to 1986. This stage can be subdivided into 4 phases. The first phase is the period of Japanese occupation which featured a rapid increase in cooperatives as a result of food shortages. The second phase is the period of rehabilitation period after the 2^nd World War. The third phase is the resurgence of the state-initiated coops while the fourth phase is the introduction and rise of the non-agricultural coops. The fifth and final phase is the martial law period and the politization of the coop movement.

The third stage of the evolution of the Philippine coop movement is from 1986 to the present. This stage shows the emergence of the coop movement as a potent political force as it allies with the NGO and trade union movements in pursuing the goals of people empowerment and the strengthening the country's civil society sector. During the 1998 party list elections, the cooperative movement was able elect 3 sectoral representatives which led all other sectors, groups and non-dominant political parties in representing the marginalized and underrepresented masses of the Filipino people.

(Excerpt from: Article of Prof. Jorge V. Sibal, UP SOLAIR, Diliman, Q.C.)

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