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