Note: Written by Mr. Reynaldo B.

Almenario in November 2016, the following

feature story was submitted to the De La Salle University as a requirement for
the 2017 model cooperative search across the Province of Cavite, Philippines:
a search bested again by the Palangue Agrarian Reform Cooperative.

PALANGUE AGRARIAN REFORM COOPERATIVE:

A Continuing Journey through Socio-Economic
Transformation1

TIME was when this coop of agrarian reform beneficiaries counted on only 17
members, without a physical office wherefrom to conduct its affairs, a share capital
of some Php12,000.00 in the hands of various officers, without a management staff,
and with hardly a collective project, if at all, to promote and achieve the common
goals that gave the organization its reason for being.

What It Has Become

Today, the Palangue Agrarian Reform Cooperative (PARC) counts on 265 regular
and associate members, a complete set of elective and appointive officers, a paid
management staff manned by a General Manager, Secretary, Bookkeeper, Sales
Clerk, Cashier and Maintenance Officer, and manualized operating systems.

As of 31 December 2015, its assets totaled Php5.78 million and its liabilities Php2.53
million, reflecting a net worth of Php3.25 million. Over last year’s performance, this
year’s reflects an increase of 41.55 percent in assets and 14.6 percent in net worth.
By end of 2015, its net surplus rose to Php1.06 million from Php.33 million the
previous year, reflecting a significant increase of 221.93 percent.

Meanwhile, with a combined value of Php2.25 million, its possessions include,

among others:

 3 Units Power Tiller Cultivator

 2 Units Water Pump
 4 Units Power Sprayer
 1 Unit Rice Thresher
 2 Units Hand tractor
 1 Unit 4-wheel drive tractor

1Written by Mr. Reynaldo B. Almenario in November 2016, the following feature story was submitted to
the De La Salle University as a requirement for the 2017 model cooperative search across the Province
of Cavite, Philippines: a search bested again by the Palangue Agrarian Reform Cooperative.

1
 In addition, it owns a jeep that provides transport services in support of its
operations, a huge building erected on a 600-square meter lot it acquired that now
houses its administrative, finance and treasury offices; consumer store; garage for
its farm machineries and equipment and vehicle; store rooms; packing area; botika
sa barangay; a spacious conference room; and kitchen.

Its Services and Products

PARC services and products through which it generates income and capital for
operations include:

 Savings deposits;
 Buy and sell of agri-inputs;
 Rice trading;
 Botika sa Barangay;
 Vehicle rental;
 Rentals of farm machineries and equipment such as threshers, power tillers,
water pumps, cultivators, and power sprayers;
 Seed nursery; and
 Loan programs that include production and emergency loans for members,
micro lending for small non-member entrepreneurs, and low-interest ATM
loans for industrial workers who used to be at the mercy of loansharks.

Liquid as the coop has been, it has been able to distribute patronage refunds to
patronizing members. In 2015 alone, it remittted over Php200,000 in refunds.

Coop Social Responsibility (CSR)

Conscious of its responsibility to society at large, PARC, apart from serving its
members, decided to embark on social activities for the benefit of the locality within
which it operates. Accordingly, with material assistance from the local goveernment
unit (LGU) of the municipality of Naic, Cavite Province, it volunteered to help carry
out the anti-rabbies vaccination program; so far, the coop has been instrumental in
administering the vaccination on some 500 heads of dog, an activity that has
apparently reduced the incidence of rabbies resulting from dog bites.

Likewise, the coop seeded a man-made dam with 2000 tilapia fingerlings sourced
from the municipal LGU’s Office of the Municipal Agriculturist (LGU-OMA). Since then,
the dam has become a source of free food to poor residents in the vicinities. In
addition, PARC also volunteered to undergo training under the LGU-OMA in
deworming and vaccination of cows and carabaos for hoof and mouth disease, in
effect developing the coop’s capacity to assist the municipal LGU in these endeavors.

On the other hand, with its soft spot for senior citizens, the coop hosts an annual
breakfast for seniors in the vicinities of its offices, including gift-giving during the
Yuletide season.

Growing into a Model, Award-Winning Coop

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 The relative success of PARC, coupled with its CSR activities, has caught the
attention of the officials of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the agency
that took pains nurturing the coop into what it has become today. Soon it would be
recommended as model for various local coops to visit on study tours, including
foreign visitors from Bangladesh and Nigeria. Indeed, news of the coop’s success
would not be lost to the successive secretaries of DAR--from Hernani Braganza,
Roberto Pagdanganan to Delos Reyes--who all honored the coop with their personal
visits. The same news would not be lost to the media either. Personal visits from a
TV-5 crew and from Ka Jerry Geronimo of the famous tv program, Ating Alamin,
would also be hosted by PARC.

It is no surprise that, over time, the admirable performance of PARC would attract
a host of donors. A leading donor has always been the DAR which has given out
grants in the form of farm machineries and equipment worth Php2.25 million under
its Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and Economic Support Services Project
(ARCCESS); provided Php22.5 million under its ARISP-II to cement 5.3 kilometers of
farm-to-market roads; Php20.0 million for irrigation canal lining; and Php250,000.00
for agri-development loans. These grants are apart from business development and
agricultural extension services delivered by private service providers paid for by DAR
under its ARCCESS project.

Other PARC donors include the DA-RFU which gave out a thresher and provided
Php100,000.00 to implement the nursery house project; the municipal government
of Naic which donated Php65,000.00 to acquire a jeepney; the provincial government
of Cavite which donated Php250,000.00 to acquire a new jeepney; the Provincial
Agrarian Reform Council Committee (PARCCOM) which provided Php3.3 million to
rehabilitate the Culong-Culong dam destroyed in the wake of a super typhoon; the
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) which provided the coop access to a soft
loan of Php105,000.00 for re-lending; and the Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco
Corporation (PMFTC) which donated Php400,000.00 to augment the coop’s lending
capital.

Meanwhile, endowed with the foregoing resources at its disposal, what impact has
PARC created on its members and on the community so far? Interestingly, the coop
managed to devise its own system to monitor and evaluate the impact of its
interventions. Below are findings from initial 10 members covered by its on-going
surveys who received various forms of assistance from the coop.

Name of Recipient, Years with

Intervention Received Frequency
Coop, Enterprise, Impact
1. Joselito Tibayan
Years w/ coop: 20, Farm machineries rental Thrice a year
currently coop general services
manager
Enterprise: Production & Forced savings Per credit
marketing of vegetables accessed

3
 Social involvement: Production loans Thrice a year
Promoting & teaching
nutrition farming to fellow
farmers
Impact:
 3 children are
degree-holders
 Vehicle acquired
 Home appliances
acquired
2. Ariel Bunag
Years w/ coop: 5 Production Loan Thrice a year
Enterprise: Buy & sell of Micro-lending Twice a year
vegetables
Impact: Forced Savings Every credit/loan
 Able to send a child received
to college
 Acquired a
passenger jeepney
 Able to finance
house renovation
 Acquired house
appliances
3. Allan Tibayan
Years w/ coop: 12, Forced Savings Every credit/loan
currently coop chair received
Enterprise: Production & Agri-Service Operation Thrice a year
marketing of GAP-certified
vegetables
Impact: Emergency Loan Once a year
 Sent children to
college
 Acquired house
appliances
4. Jaime Limbo
Years w/ coop: 20 Production Loan Thrice a year
Enterprise: Production & Forced Savings Every credit/loan
marketing of vegetables & received
cattle fattening
Impact: Agri-Service Operation Thrice a year
 Able to send
children to school
Emergency Loan Once a year
5. Eddie Mojica
Years w/ coop: 13
Impact: Production Loan Thrice a year
 Able to sustain
livelihood activities
as production &
marketing of

4
 vegetables & cattle
fattening
Forced Savings Every credit/loan
received

Agri-Service Operation Thrice a year

6. Elma Garcia
Years w/ coop: 5
Enterprise: RTW store
Impact: Microlending Thrice a year
 Able to set up a
new store branch
 Sent children to
college
 Acquired a service
vehicle
Forced Savings Every credit/loan
received

7. Arlene Garcia
Years w/ coop: 5 Micro-lending Thrice a year

Enterprise: RTW store Forced Savings Every credit/loan

received

Impact:
 Able to set up a
new store branch
 Sent children to
college
 Acquired a service
vehicle
8. Aileen de la Cruz
Years w/ coop: 12 Production Loan Thrice a year
Enterprise: Marketing of Forced Savings Every credit/loan
vegetables received
Impact: Emergency Loan Once a year
 Able to send
children to school
 Acquired home
appliances
9. Herminia Maralang
Years w/ coop: 18 Production Loan Thrice a year
Enterprise: Marketing of Forced Savings Every credit/loan
vegetables/operation of received
sari-sari store
Impact: Microlending Twice a year
 Able to open a sari-
sari store
 Sent a child to
college

5
  Acquired home
appliances
10. Elena Maralang
Years w/ coop: 20 Production Loan Thrice a year
Enterprise: Production & Forced Savings Every credit/loan
marketing of vegetables received
Impact:
 5 children have
become degree-
holders
 Able to acquire a
tricycle
 Able to open a
computer shop
business
 Able to renovate
house
 Acquired home
appliances
Source: PARC surveys.

The coop has yet to design a system to monitor and assess the impact of its
activities on the locality at large. But offhand, its interventions in the existing
livelihood activities of members and non-members alike must have done a great deal
to raise the production and distribution of healthy food products, sustain existing
livelihood activities, cause the opening of new ones, and create local employment
opportunities.

Recognition is essentially an external gesture that naturally befalls an individual

or an organization that stands out for the role it plays in society. And it looks like
recognition is a destiny to which PARC is headed. Without even asking, it was
nominated for and awarded the Outstanding Cooperative of Naic in 2010,
Outstanding Micro Scale Cooperative in the Province of Cavite in 2012, and once more
Outstanding Cooperative of Naic in 2016.

Looking Back

Against this backdrop, the coop, like any typical community organization, has had
a rough, difficult beginning. It began in 1994 as the Palangue Agrarian Reform
Beneficiaries Association organized by DAR, following the launching of Palangue as
an Agrarian Reform Community in 1993. There were 17 initial members and around
Php12,000.00 in share capital contributions. For reasons of leadership incapacity and
perhaps members’ apathy, the association was inactive.

It was then that the DAR Development Facilitator (DF) turned to Mr. Joselito
Tibayan, a farmer then not yet an agrarian reform beneficiary, for help. Still reeling
from his failed expectations as member of other community organizations corrupted
by the leadership, Joselito attended the organizational meetings called by the DF, but

6
initially refused to join, all the while bombarding the cooperative idea with criticisms
based on his sad experiences.

“Ayaw ko na sa samahan,” (translation: I don’t like joining an organization again)

Joselito told the insistent DF. “Ganun din naman ang kararatnan niyan,” (translation:
It will end up with the same sad experience.) he argued. “Bigyan mo pa ng isang
pagkakataon, ito na lang,” (translation: Give it one more chance, just this one.)
replied the DF. “Sige na, hawakan mo ang samahan,” (translation: Please, lead the
organization.) the DF pleaded. “Dahil kung hindi,” (translation: Because if not,)
challenged the DF, “mananatili kang laging talo.” (translation: you will stay always
defeated.)

And that softened Joselito who finally relented and accepted the offer to head the
association in the throes of demise. Right then, he asked those known to hold the
share capital contributions to turn over the money to the temporary treasurer he
appointed. This gesture incensed 15 of the members who opted to desert the
association, leaving only three that now included him.

Be that as it may, Joselito in the company of two others did not lose heart. They
campaigned for new members until their number rose to 34. Finally, on 5 July 1995,
the Palangue Agrarian Reform Cooperative was registered with the Cooperative
Development Authority (CDA) with an initial capital of Php21,000.00. Joselito was
elected chairman. On 25 January 2010, the coop was re-registered with CDA.

Without a physical office, the coop had to conduct its meetings in the premises of
the Catholic Church. Later denied use of the church facility, it had to meet under the
shade of a tree, a location that also became the setting for the coop’s annual general
assemblies during which reporting had to use manila papers held on both ends by
two individuals. A little later, the coop was able to construct an office structure with
walls and beams made of light materials and roofing made of nipa shingles. Some
photos of what was the coop in those days are provided as appendices to this feature
story.

It was not until the arrival of common service facilities (CSFs) such as thresher
from DAR-DA/RFU, power tiller from a private donor, and a jeepney from the LGU-
OMA that the financial position of the coop began to look brighter. With proceeds
from rentals of its farm machineries and transport services, the coop began to
accumulate funds for its operations. Succeeding CSF grants from DAR and from the
provincial LGU (which provided funds for a new jeepney transport) raised the capacity
of the coop to generate more income. Likewise, cash grants from the PMFTC and a
soft loan from the DTI enabled the coop to extend livelihood loans to members and
non-members alike, in the process earning interest income. The Nursery House
project funded by the Department of Agriculture/Regional Field Unit (DA/RFU) in the
form of grant would also enable the coop to produce seeds it has been selling to
members and non-members.

7
 And there began the long and winding journey of PARC from survival to stability
and growth. As it is, growth is a stage at which the coop is believed to have climbed
to.

Looking Ahead

Tucked against the upper wall of the coop’s treasury office is a laminated frame
containing the vision of PARC. And the vision reads:

Isang maunlad at matatag na kooperatiba na tumutugon sa pagpapataas at

pagpapahusay ng antas ng kaalaman at antas ng pamumuhay ng bawat
kasapi.(translation: A progressive and stable cooperative committed to raising the
level of knowledge and socio-economic status of every member.)

There is no time frame when this vision is supposed to materialize. Nonetheless,

judging from results of its interventions on the socio-economic lives of its members,
however limited the data gathered so far are, there is unmistakable evidence that
the coop vision has already unfolded to a significant degree. On the other hand, the
continuous and phenomenal growth of the coop’s assets over the years is a testament
to a progressive and strong organization, one that can come into being because of
actively participating members, because of a responsive, transparent and
knowledgeable leadership that does the right things, and because of a management
staff that does things right.

Asked what other aspirations he has for the coop to achieve, Joselito Tibayan,
PARC’s pioneering chair and incumbent general manager, smiled and said, “We want
every Caviteño to be able to stand on his/her own feet, to be self-reliant. We want
the coop to popularize nutrition farming across the province. We want the coop to
develop the capacity to supply healthy, organic food products.”

Bold aspirations perhaps yet achievable. Having come so close to the attainment
of its original membership-focused vision, PARC now seems intent to embark on a
continuing journey through social transformation, not only for its members, but also
for the Cavite society at large. Joselito thinks no dream is impossible. Such is a
mindset aptly described in a philosophical poem penned long ago by Walter D. Wintle,
as reproduced below.

If you think you are beaten, you are.

If you think you dare not, you don't!
If you want to win, but think you can't,
It's almost a cinch you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you're lost;

For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will;
It's all in the state of the mind.

8
 Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger and faster man,
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.

May God bless and guide PARC in this noble journey.

9
 Appendices in Pictures

ANG KOOPERATIBA NOON:

Figure 1 The first PARC Office

10
PARC MACHINERIES NOON

Figure 2 PARC First Thresher

11
Figure 3 First Power Tiller of PARC

12
Figure 4first Jeepney of PARC

13
PARC MACHINERIES NGAYON

Figure 5 PARC Thresher Today

14
Figure 6 PARC Power Tiller Cultivator Today

15
Figure 7 PARC Power Sprayer Today

16
Figure 8 PARC Jeepney Today

17
Figure 9PARC hand Tractors Today

18
PARC AGRI PRODUCTION-RELATED ACTIVITIES

Figure 10 PARC Vermi Composting

19
PARC CSR (COOP SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY) ACTIVITIES

Figure 11 PARC Anti Rabbies Vaccination Program

20
Figure 12 PARC Program Cattle & Carabao Deworming & Vaccination for Hoof and Mouth Disease

21
Figure 13 PARC Seeding of Man-Made Dam with Tilapia Fingerlings

22
PARC GENERAL ASSEMBLIES

Figure 14 PARC GA During Its Survival Stage

23
Figure 15PARC GA Presentation During Its Survival Stage

24
Figure 16 PARC General Assembly Today

25
Figure 17 Where PARC Holds Its General Assembly Today

26
Figure 18 PARC GA Report Presentation Today

27
 PARC VISITORS

Figure 19 Former DAR Sec. Hernani Braganza

28
Figure 20 Former DAR Ser. Roberto Pagdanganan

29
Figure 21 Former DAR Sec. De los Reyes

30
Figure 22 PARC GM Joselito Tibayan in a Discussion with DAR Sec De los Reyes

31
Figure 23 Visitors from Nigeria on Study Tour

32
 Figure 24 PARC Visitors from Bangladesh

Figure 25 Ka Jerry Geronimo of the TV Program Ating Alamin

33
Figure 26 5.3-kilometer Farm to Market Road Donated by DAR

34
Figure 27 Shooting for TV-5

35
 PARC PRODUCTS

Figure 28 PARC Product 1 Sold in Its Consumer Store

36
Figure 29 PARC Product 2

37
Figure 30 PARC Product 3 (farm supplies)

38
Figure 31 PARC Product 4

39
Figure 32 PARC Product 5

40
Figure 33 PARC Product 6

41
Figure 34 PARC Product 7 (seedlings)

42
Figure 35 PARC Product 8

43
Figure 36 PARC Product 9

44
Figure 37 PARC Product 10

45
Figure 38 PARC Product 11

46
Figure 39 PARC Product 12

47
Figure 40 PARC Product 13

48
PARC PROMOTING ORGANIC FARMING

Figure 41 Composting of Rice Stalks

49
Figure 42 PARC Taking Part in Agri-Lakad Gulayan

50
Figure 43 PARC GM Joselito Tibayan Showing Off His Giant Ampalaya Farm

51
Figure 44 Patola Farm Assisted by PARC

52
Figure 45PARC GM Tibayan Showing Off His Fruit Vegetable Farm

53
Figure 46 PARC GM Tibayan Beside His Papaya Plant

54
Figure 47 PARC Lakbay-Aral Visitors Listening to Testimonies of PARC Members

55
Figure 48 PARC Screen House Donated by DA-RFU

56
Figure 49 Harvest Festival Sponsored by East West and Hosted by PARC

57
 THE PARC MOVERS

Figure 50 Management Staff of PARC

58
Figure 51 PARC Board of Directors

59