UNIT IV – A CENTURY OF PHILIPPINE COOPERATIVE

MOVEMENT

1. HISTORY AND ASSESSMENT OF PHILIPPINE COOPERATIVE

MOVEMENT

PHILIPPINES WAS POPULARLY KNOWN FOR THE

CONCEPT OF “BAYANIHAN” AS PART OF THE FILIPINO

CULTURE, THIS PRACTICE IS A COMPATIBLE

CONCEPT FOR COOPERATIVES WHICH EVOLVES

AFTER THE COLONIZATION OF THE SPANIARDS IN

THE COUNTRY.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE ECONOMY

FROM SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE TO A

FEUDAL AND COMMERCIALIZED ECONOMY,

MIDDLE CLASS ILLUSTRADOS EMERGED THESE

ILLUSTRADOS WERE THE ORGANIZER S OF THE

“GREMIOS” (LOCAL CRAFTS UNION AND

GUILDS) WHICH WHERE THE FORERUNNERS OF

COOPERATIVES.

A. STAGE ONE OF PHILIPPINE COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT (1896-1941)

1. THE PRE-FORMATION PERIOD – SPANISH PERIOD

During the latter part of the Spanish colonization, the

local “gremios” and other self-help association

emerged

• 1896 - Dr. Jose P. Rizal started an agricultural marketing

cooperative while in an exile in Dapitan, Mindanao

• 1898 – Emilio Jacinto manage a commercial marketing

cooperative, but eventually failed.

• January 1, 1902 - Isabelo De Los Reyes was sked to be a

head of a cooperative association of a group of printers.

• February 2, 1902 - this organization of workers and

gremios became the Union Obrero Democrata, the

first Philippine labor federation

2. THE FORMATIVE YEARS – AMERICAN COLONIAL PERIOD

The Americans replaced the Spaniards as the

new colonial administrators in 1900-1913. The

Raiffeisen-type rural agricultural cooperatives were

implemented in the Philippines through Irish-

American missionaries and teachers also with the

help of local organizers. One of the first reported

credit cooperative in the country was organized at the

University of the Philippines at Los Banos, Laguna.

Prantel (or Prauter) was one of the early rural

credit cooperative organizers

1898 – He came in the Philippines

1907 - He supported the Sandiko Bill

1915- He became chief of the rural credit section of

the Bureau of Agriculture.

• In 1906, the Corporation Law (PA No. 1459) provided the legal framework for all

private organizations which included cooperatives.

• In 1907, Gov. Teodoro Sandiko of Bulacan and Rep. Alberto Barreto of Zambales

introduced a rural cooperative bill which was the first attempt to make use of the

state in assisting rural cooperatives via legislation.

• In February 15, 1915 The Sandiko bill was disapproved and it took 8 more years to

be able to pass a Rural Credit Cooperative Association Act (PA No. 2508) which was

authored by Rep. Rafael Corpuz of Zambales and Reps. Palma and Singson. PA 2508

appropriated P1 million for a fund for farmers' credit through their associations and

rural coops.

• In 1916, PA No. 2508 was amended and the administration of coops by the

government was transferred from the Bureau of Commerce and Industry to the

Bureau of Agriculture.

• On October 20, 1916, the UP Los Banos College Cooperative was formally

registereBy 1926, there were already 541 credit cooperatives in 42 provinces

nationwide.

• On October 20, 1916, the UP Los Banos College Cooperative was formally

registered.

• On October 19, 1916, the first rural credit cooperative association assisted by the

government was formed in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija. It was reported that state

assistance to rural coops has speed up coop organizing

3. STATE-INITIATED COOPERATIVE

• The Cooperative Marketing Law (PA No. 3425) was

introduced by the Americans in 1927. It encourages the

formation of state-initiated farmer’s marketing cooperative.

• This law enforced government control and intervention in

operating cooperatives and gives the Bureau of Commerce

and Industry the right to organize farmers' marketing

cooperatives.

• On June 7, 1940, the Commonwealth Act No. 565 created the

National Trading Corporation (NTC) to supervise

cooperatives and grant them a 5-year tax holiday.

• In 1941, the National Cooperative Administration (NCA) was

created and it assumed the functions of the NTC, but was

disrupted by the war.

4. PRIVATELY INITIATED COOPERATIVE

The privately-initiated Raiffesein-type of cooperatives was

maintained and grew. It was exemplified by the organization of

the Vigan Credit Union, Inc. in August 1938 at Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

Allen R. Huber was the founder of this credit union.

ALLEN R. HUBER

• He came in the Philippines in 1926

• . He went back to the U.S. in 1931 to study at the University of Chicago,

and became a pastor of the First Christian Church in Frankfurt, Indiana,

USA

• He is the one who organized the first Protestant church-based credit

union in the United States.

• Huber returned to the Philippines in 1937 to collaborate with Howe, a

cooperative technical adviser, to train Filipinos in organizing and

operating cooperatives

CONSUMERS COOPERATIVE LEAGUE OF THE PHILIPPINES

It was the first cooperative federation which was

organized in October 1938, and by 1939, there are already an

estimated number of 570 credit cooperatives, 150 farmers’

cooperatives and 48 consumers’ cooperatives. Among these

cooperatives, only 20% were said to be active.

BATAC CHRISTIAN CREDIT UNION (BCCU)

Became a remarkable cooperative because its member

increased to 590 within 2 years, with a capitalization of P 2,000

and loans amounting to P 38,000. Like the other Raiffeisen-

type credit unions, BCCU relied on its own resources and none

from the state.

END