A Coop Is Born. Will Nagkaisa wake Asingan up?

ASINGAN, PANGASINAN: We just ended at noon today, 23 October 2012, the very first General Assembly Meeting of our Nagkaisa Multi-Purpose Cooperative held at the Senior Citizens building across from what is known as the Danggay building but which we will willingly call the Senator Letecia Ramos-Shahani Hall, to honor the lady who planned and funded it through her congressional development fund (pork barrel). For weeks now, we have had the keys to the Danggay building; it is like Occupy Wall Street because Danggay used to be impregnable, off-limits to outsiders.

We learned at the GA meeting that Nagkaisa was officially listed in the registry of the Regional Cooperative Development Authority, Dagupan Extension Office on 10 October 2012. We met at the Seniors' conference room because Danggay is an almost-empty building, no chairs and no desks. It's an old building but it's nice, because it's concrete and has withstood the tests of time; it has 2 floors, 2 rest rooms and a good-sized kitchen.

Everyone was surprised at the high spirits of the group. We were expecting some verbal tussles but, this time, there were none, zero. We were all approving of the general drift of the meeting, all nicely accepting suggestions and recommendations, as well as appreciating what some people had done.
Members of the Board of Directors present were Roger Daranciang as Chair, Lito Sales as Vice Chair, and Jade Badua, Florencio Ramirez as Members of the Board. Mario Yapjoco was nominated and accepted to replace Nestor Salvador who left the country last August and will stay in Canada up to February; the replacement will be effective next month. Julita Orpiano, another Director, was absent. The policy is to replace a Board Member who cannot attend to his duties because he is in another country for a minimum of 3 months. The replacement was decided upon in the last Board meeting, 08 October 2012. While Joe Delmendo was also away from the country, he was not recommended for replacement as Director because he is returning before the maximum 3-month period lapses.

The Chair announced that the Board had decided on selecting Marcelino Casio as Secretary of the Board, and there was no objection from the assembly.

Marcelino announced that putting up a convenience store will be the first Coop business to be set up. Vice Chair Lito Sales was saying Nagkaisa could get into business with minimal capital because a wholesaler is willing to put on some goods on consignment basis for one month.

The Purchasing Committee was tasked to set the operations moving, with Blanca Ramirez as Chair of the Committee. Members are Venus Sales, Poying Altura (who is also Nagkaisa Treasurer), and Lita Daranciang.

The Chair was saying the Audit Committee should be making weekly surprise audits. There was even a suggestion to create something like a Fraud Committee.

Then we were talking about loans for motorcycles, emergencies, housing, appliances, computers, house repairs and improvements.

The Chair announced there was going to be The Joint Regional and Provincial (Pangasinan) Cooperatives Month Celebration on 26 October in the capital City of Lingayen and the members of the Board are being invited to attend.

The Chair said the position of General Manager was open to all members before the Board may decide to go look for an outsider.

The Chair informed us that Nagkaisa will verify with the Office of the Governor about the PhP 80 million fund intended for cooperatives in Pangasinan.

Nagkaisa intended to get a solar dryer from the national government through the Municipal Agriculture & Food Council. Member Pablo Cañadido is offering a lot of 1,000 sqm to put up the dryer.

With its registration on 10 October, Nagkaisa has only up to 25 October to get accreditation from the Municipal Council as well as obtain a Mayor's Permit to operate, before it can register with the Bureau of Internal Revenue as a business. Coops are exempted from paying the Value Added Tax and the Sin Tax in case there is any.

In refurbishing the Danggay building, Nagkaisa will need more than PhP 200,000. We have only PhP 100,000, so spending must be prioritized, such as security first, then comfort rooms next.

The date of 15 November 2012 was set for the Purchasing Committee to set up and make operational the Nagkaisa Convenience Store, which will be located at the ground floor of the Danggay building.
To announce to the people the birth of Nagkaisa, Nagkaisa needs to display a banner 6 ft x 3 ft containing the name, registration number and date, as well as address.

The Chair informed us that before we are issued a certificate of shares of stocks, each one needed to completely pay our capital share within the next 6 months for those investing from PhP 2,000 to 5,000, a year for those investing in higher amounts.

There is now open a logo contest good for 2 weeks, the winner's prize being PhP 1 K, half of that to be donated by me. The contest criteria: The logo must show significance; its meaning should be as close to the name as possible; it should be artistic in execution, original, and of high quality. (The image above is my idea of the logo, the different concentric circles are businesses defining a common objective, the good of the Coop; I am not going to submit it to the contest.)

Nagkaisa will be publishing a magazine with Frank A Hilario as Editor in Chief. I said it should be a self-reliant project, able to generate income for itself. Pablo Cañadido was explaining his ideas about a newspaper. The Chair said that based in San Fernando, Regional Agriculture & Fisheries Council Chair Vincent Adorna promised to help produce a magazine for Region 1.

Mario Yapjoco suggested that the Coop build its own website and accept donations, advertisements.
Neneng Manuel suggested that trainings should now be planned and Vice Chair Lito Sales replied that many trainings have in fact been planned, the list of which he read.

Neneng asked which was the priority project of Nagkaisa and Lito Sales said it was the convenience store.

Mario suggested the raising of native pigs, and I suggested native chickens. Mario also suggested that where construction materials are needed, donations would be welcome so t hat the funds of the Coop need not be tapped.

There was more, but I couldn't catch everything. Suffice it to say that, as you can see, as Nagkaisa, we are ready to begin to serve the needs of Coop members in the 5th and 6th Districts of Pangasinan. To put you in context, to give you an indirect idea of the business and social lives of our hometown Asingan, let me note that the latest reference book in the Municipal Library on the word processing software Microsoft Word is Word 2000 in a Nutshell subtitled A Power User's Quick Reference by Walter Glenn and published by O'Reilly August 2000 (491 pages with 33 pages of index in double column). That means we Asinganians are about 12 years late when it comes to information technology! A native Asinganian, I am at least using Word 2010 to write this. I have always noted that our Asingan is a sleepy town. With Nagkaisa as an economic and social force, we vow that that lethargy we shall overcome!