Starting business, an alternative to going abroad –VP

VICE President Jejomar Binay emphasized the important role played by cooperatives in providing financial capital to those starting their own businesses.

This, he said in a gathering of about 7,000 members of the Cebu CFI Community Cooperative’s 43rd General Assembly at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) yesterday.

Binay who is also Presidential Adviser for Overseas Filipino Workers’ Concerns linked the Filipino diaspora to lack of  livelihood opportunities in the country.

As an alternative to going abroad, starting up a business may help turn around the economic woes of majority of Filipinos. And the cooperative movement as demonstrated by CFI plays a big role in helping micro, small and even medium enterprises.

“Layon po namin sa pamahalaan na punuan ang pagkukulang na ito upang hindi na kailangan pang mag- abroad ng ating mga kababayan. Sa ganitong usapin, malaki ang maitutulong ng mga kooperatiba. Kadalasan, ang mga kooperatiba ang nagpapautang sa mga miyembro nila para magkaroon sila ng kapital sa negosyo. Dahil dito, lahat ay nagkakaroon ng pagkakataong maiangat ang antas ng kanilang pamumuhay, at tustusan ang pangangailangan ng kanilang mga pamilya,” he said.

“Besides nurturing cooperation and unity, successful cooperatives expand access to financial services that consider the unique circumstances of their communities. This builds a wider avenue for those who have less to gain more. And when citizens like you come together under this noble vision, you inevitably inspire people to destroy the chains of poverty that hold them down, and urge them to march bravely towards their dreams,” he added.

Studies have revealed that cooperatives are effective in providing loans for business start up poor families which are considered not bankable by banks and other private financial institutions.

He also noted that cooperatives helped uplift the lives of its members.

“Overtime, cooperatives have proven to be one of the best examples of people empowerment that provides members a chance at improving their lives through the sharing of capital,” he said.

“It is not surprising then, that the cooperative movement has seen a steady rise in our country. The idea of bayanihan is innate in our culture. In our experience as a people, we have found that there is relief in collective effort. The bayanihan breeds an ethos of brotherhood that strengthens the bonds among Filipinos. This is where the idea of cooperatives in the Philippines is rooted, and I am one with you in the belief that cooperatives are crucial in giving our fellow Filipinos, especially those who live in the countryside and have no access to traditional means of capital, a chance at self- sufficiency, even prosperity,” he added.

Binay said he was also a member of the Jeepney Drivers Foundation Inc. in the 1970s.

Binay was personally invited by the cooperative’s founder and Chairman, retired judge Esperanza Garcia, wife of Cebu 2nd district Rep. Pablo Garcia, the kingpin of the Garcia family.

He said that he was personally requested by judge Garcia to be their keynote speaker. He was seated in the middle of the judge Garcia and her daughter, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, who is serving a six-month suspension from Malacanang.

The Cebu CFI Community Cooperative celebrated its 43rd birthday and it conducted its 43rd General Assembly.

The cooperative was established on April 7, 1970. It was born in response to the needs of the Cebu Court of First Instance (now Regional Trial Court) employees for financial assistance. Prior to Cebu CFI Cooperative, employees had to borrow from moneylenders who charged high interest rates. Then clerk of court and now retired Judge Esperanza Garcia, with the assistance of then Executive judge Franscisco Tantuico, sought the help of the Scarborough Fathers of Canada. Together, they organized credit union among CFI employees.

They started with only 29 members who were asked to put up subscriptions in the form of fixed deposits. The total collection was P200. With this membership and capitalization, Cebu CFI Credit Union Inc. came into existence./Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus