Philippines Statement
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COUNTRY STATEMENT ON PHILIPPINE COOPERATIVES By: Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat Department of Agriculture, Philippines Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Allow me to thank the hosts and organizers of this conference, particularly the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Thailand and the International Cooperatives Alliance of Asia and Pacific Regio n for invit ing the Phil ippin e Depar tment of Agr iculture, which I am representing, to this event. Brief History of Philippine Cooperatives The first Philippine cooperatives trace their roots back to as early as 1895. Being a primarily agricultural economy then characterized by subsistence agriculture prior to for eign occupation and a feu dal agricultural system af terwards, the first coo peratives in the country were understandabl y agriculture-based. Even then, the concerns being addressed by the formation of farmers’ cooperatives were mostly related to financing and marketing. No less than the country’s national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, initiated the formation of one of the earliest cooperatives—an agricultural marketing cooperative—in 1896, while the first rural credit cooperative was organized at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños in 1908. Recognizing the important role coo peratives pl ay in peopl e empowerment and economic develo pment, state-initiated cooperatives started to proliferate beginning in 1927 with the passage of the Cooperative Marketing Law, In particular, agricultural cooperatives increased significantly to meet with the growing demand for food especially during the war era. Challenges In spi te of the success achieved by some coo per atives and coo per ative federations, many cooperatives in the country—particularly those that are agr iculture-based such as farmers’ coop eratives—gene rall y remain non- viable and financially-challenged. Majority of agricultural cooperatives are composed of small, weak ly- organized primary cooperatives with narrow acti vity (e.g . pro duc tion -cent ere d) and memb ersh ip-b ase. Most of the se cooperatives ar e unable to access financing fr om banks or other formal sources and have to rely on usurious traders and informal lenders to finance their farms. The need to cluster small farmer cooperatives into bette r - or ganized and lar ger coo per atives, and ins uff icient access to sup port 1
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7/28/2019 Philippines Statement
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