BESAO MPC awarded as one of The Most Outstanding Organizations of the Villar Sipag Awards on Poverty Reduction

Besao Multi-Purpose Cooperative is proud to be one of the top 20 outstanding awardees on community and social enterprises for the year 2015 Villar SIPAG Awards. Our cooperative received a plaque and cash incentive of P250,000.00 which was received by the manager Lilian Beswilan, treasurer Andrea Placido, Board of Directors Daisy Busacay and Menchie Buking and the Municipal Mayor Wellington Pooten on December 11, 2015 at Las Pinas, Paranaque. The cash incentive should be used to start a new enterprise or expand the existing enterprises of the organization.

The Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (SIPAG) Awards aims to recognize good practices and innovations of community enterprises, which create jobs and increase household income especially in vulnerable sectors. It also highlights outstanding initiatives of community enterprises as models of good practices in poverty reduction.

The awards program targets community enterprises owned and managed by local residents having a democratic governance structure with one member one vote system accountable to its general membership. Not subsidized by government or supported by philanthropy, they generate revenues through a wide array of programs and services patronized by the members. Any profit or surplus generated is reinvested in the community and distributed among the members.

The objectives of Villar SIPAG Awards are three-fold:

1. To recognize outstanding in initiatives of community enterprises as models of good practices in income poverty reduction.
2. To document and share outstanding initiatives through the SIPAG Resource Center.
3. To inspire exchange, transfer or adaptation of these outstanding initiatives to other places in the country through action research, capacity building, conferences and symposia.

For Besao MPC, most of the members benefited from the programs and services of the cooperative. Below are the samples of our programs and services with their impact on poverty reduction which the Villar SIPAG Foundation has recognized.

A. Credit/Lending Services

We offer the lowest rate in town, our different loan windows are designed to fit every need of a member. Regular, agricultural, micro- financing, salary, housing , commercial and emergency loans are offered at the option of a borrower in clear cut policies like mode of payments convenient to him/her. The coop’s lending services is very much availed thereby improving the socio-economic status of the coop and its members.

1. For Business/Livelihood EnterpriseCapital
   These enterprises such as ukay ukay business, poultry and egg production, hog raising etc has contributed to the economic development of the members and generated employment among the community members.Five of the coop members contracted with San Miguel for their poultry production at Pangasinan. Others were able to buy rice lands in other places like Isabela, etc. and they are now engaged in rice farming. One of our members started gasoline station in Baguio City and some of our members bought taxi unit/s thru coop financing.
2. Housing
   The granting of salary, housing and commercial loans by the cooperative at affordable interest rate opened opportunities for the coop members to construct or buy their houses in Besao, Baguio and other places.
3. Education
   Some of the coop members were able to support the college education of their children with the loans from the cooperative. With these, some of the professionals from Besao are gainfully employed in government and private offices here in the country and abroad.
4. Placement Fee
   Another purpose of loan availed at the cooperative is for placement fee. Job opportunities are limited in our municipality as there are no factories and big business establishments, thus people seek jobs outside the town and the country. Members usually loan from the cooperative  for their placement fees and other processing fees.
5. Medical and Medicine
   Members availed loan at the cooperative for medical purposes.
6. Appliance Loan
   In the early 2000, only few households in the locality have home appliances.  The purchase of appliances boomed at the locality as the cooperative introduced the appliances loan program. The members can avail of home appliances such as televisions, washing machines, gas range, refrigerators, electronic gadgets and technology equipment by applying at the cooperative and pay on installment basis with minimal charges

B. Another service unique in our cooperative is the organization of Livelihood Interest Groups (LIGs) in partnership with CHARMP-DA

Fifteen or more individuals organize themselves to come up with a common livelihood enterprise to augment their regular income. An example is the Besao MPC livelihood partnership with UBAYA food processors’ organization.

The Ubaya Food Processors’ Organization was organized in July 2009 with an initial membership of 34 processors.  It is a tripartite program of  the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Philippines (EDNP), Besao Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BMPC) and Besao Local Government Unit (LGU) aimed at providing livelihood project for food processors in the community by processing the excess produce in the community.  The Besao LGU provided packaging and labeling materials, the EDNP provided cooking equipments like stainless working tables and sinks, dividers and display racks and BMPC offered  thePost Harvest Facility  building as the processing center. Products of the organization are fruit jams and jellies, wines, concentrates, peanut butter  andcamote products such as camote flour, cookies, polvoron, ice cream and other delicacies.

Processing is done at the Post Harvest facility/coop building in Domdomacog, Kin-iway, Besao, Mountain Province. Members come from the fourteen barangays of Besao and some opted to do individual processing at their homes, then bring it to the marketing center for quality control and labeling.
Processed products are brought to the LGU Marketing Center for sale and distribution to the different marketing outlets and one is the Besao Multi-Purpose Cooperative consumers store.

Since agricultural produce is no longer limited to rice and vegetables,  some farmers planted sugarcane and the organization expanded its membership by organizing the sugarcane producers and processors.

Members are  classified into: ( Some members process one or more of the products)

• 30 fruit producers and processors
• 15 sugarcane producers and processors
• 23 Camote producers and processors
• 33 Coffee producers and processors

In all the endeavors of Ubaya, Besao Multi-purpose Cooperative is always a partner providing the following:

1. The processing Center and some equipments.
2. Marketing arm of the organization,
3. Loans as initial capital for members,
4. Linkage to other marketing outlets.

There are now six fruit processors and eight camote processors who were able to buy their own cooking equipments and are regularly processing their own agricultural products. One member was also able to buy his own sugarcane presser and is now one of the sugarcane processors in the community.
For the coffee group, most of the members were able to expand their plantation because of the farm input loans extended by  Besao MPC. We are proud to say that Besao MPC in partnership with Ubaya organization greatly helped some of the members in their livelihood activities providing additional income to their families and in caring for the environment by planting coffee, fruit trees and sugarcane.

C. BMPC  "OG-OGBO"/SHARING FOR HEALTH

The value of sharing and self-reliance regarding health care was realized in our cooperative and municipality, with the program on "Sharing for Health or Og-ogbo". This program aims to provide financial assistance to in-patient and out-patient  members and their dependent and to  share one another's burden and encourage savings among the members for health protection.

This is a joint program of the Besao MPC, Besao LGU and the Besao District Hospital conceptualized for the benefit of the community. This is a strategic partnership since BMPC has staff but with meager resources while the LGU has sufficient fund but lacks the staff to manage the program. The LGU remits  to the cooperative its annual financial assistance of 60,000 pesos every year including assistance from the fourteen (14) barangays of Besao amounting to 5.00 pesos per capita totaling to more or less 90,000 per year. This is to augment  the annual premium of four hundred eighty  pesos from member families.

Members are entitled to a financial package of 800.00 pesosper  year for out-patient medicines and a maximum of 1,500 pesos for in-patient and out-patient hospital services. There is an  averageof 327 in-patient and out-patient beneficiaries/claimants per year. At present, there are  more than three hundred members enrolled in the program. It’s immense progress are due to the  overwhelming support of officers and members, good governance and the local governments (both municipal & barangay) participation in exercising its social responsibility to this noble cause..

D. Mortuary Aid Plan (MAP)

Another service being provided by the cooperative for its members  is the “Og-ogbo” or sharing  one anothers’ burden in times of death. Each regular member contributes fifty pesos (50.00) as death aid and with the 3,000 plus members, the beneficiaries receive between one hundred fifty to one hundred sixty thousand pesos(150,000-160,000.00).
This is a testimony to the cooperative principle on cooperation among the members. More so that the Besao culture and practice during death involves butchering of 10-20 pigs for rituals and for consumption during the wake. There is no insurance program in the community thus this is the best local insurance wherein there are no tedious documentary requirements.  With the death aid contributions and donations, the families of the departed are relieved of the burden of borrowing money for the ritual and other expenses.

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