“Building Better Lives Together.”
This sounds the usual catch phrase for advocacy groups and corporations wanting to invite people’s attention by highlighting some kind of strategy to attain their goals. And indeed it is. However, the phrase seems to have fitted in on the kind of organization that carries it as tag line – the Nabunturan Integrated Cooperative or NICO for short. NICO ‘s main office as its name suggest, is in Nabunturan, Davao de Oro, which of late, is among the top ten richest provinces in the country.
Based on its latest financial report, NICO is now one of the Davao Region’s, and for that matter, the country’s, billionaire cooperatives. And we have no reasons to doubt because it can be clearly seen on the number of branches it has established all over the Southern Philippines, including two that will soon start operating in Calinan and Bunawan, Davao City.
Our having acquainted with NICO was actually accidental. We were invited to the celebration of the 21st Founding anniversary of a barangay High School in Tugbok District last Friday possibly because of the help we have extended the institution in our own little way like bridging them to our former employer, Davao Light, for support. We did not know that there were invitees also from the Nabunturan Integrated Cooperative. The institution sponsored the prizes for winners in various competitive activities of the school. The coop’s personnel who we met in that occasion were Ms. Leonorfa Polinar and Mr. Junnel Rubio, both from the cooperative’s marketing department. Poluinar was once assigned as manager of one of the branches until she was moved to head Marketing.
What surprised us is that NICO being based in a relatively young province the majority of its population are farmers and small entrepreneurs, could grow that big and fast. We are aware that there are also several successful cooperatives in Davao City. But maybe these coops just did not focus much on expansion but instead of developing new products and services for its members. Or perhaps some of the cooperatives here in the city prefer to remain close as far as its membership is concerned. Meaning they limit their members to certain particular sectors, say if its founders are teachers only they can become members. If it is intended for local government employees, then only LGU personnel can be admitted as members, and so on and so forth.
Now, we will refrain from mentioning any single savings products, loan types, social and other services here because we might be misunderstood as helping the coop establish its base in the city. This one piece is only out of our appreciation of the way certain financial organization succeeded in their mission to alleviate the lives of people even as it helps them become part of a community of men and women desiring to contribute to the growth of our country’s economy.
But even with this accomplishment of NICO it is worth reminding the cooperative as well as all the other coops around that such financial organization can only be as good as the officers and members running/managing and composing it.
Meaning, any corrupt officers and directors getting the opportunity to do their thing in the cooperative as well as if members remain uncaring for the welfare of the financial organization, then any such cooperative is bound to fail. It will disintegrate. And the corrupt officers run scot free most of the time leaving the cooperative in disarray.
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We believe people should heed the council of the experts. That is, despite the fact that Executive Order No. 7 relaxing the protocol on mandatory wearing of mask in certain places and the optional wearing in open spaces, is now out and in effect people should be wary that the deadly corona virus pandemic is still very much around. They too, should be aware that even if one is fully vaccinated it is not a hundred percent protection against the infection of the virus.
Yes, let us not be willing instruments in a possible surge of new CoViD cases by sticking to being traditional in the commemoration of either the All Saints or All Souls Days where we troop to the cemeteries to visit the tombs of our departed loved ones.
Health experts are one in reminding that “an ounce of prevention is still better than a pound of cure.” In other words, at this point in time let’s have discipline get the better deal in comporting ourselves rather than being so enamored with tradition tomorrow and Wednesday. Or else…
