FAITH and Oriental wisdom

We Filipinos have put our government leaders where they are now through the power of the vote. We believed that they would fulfill their promises of delivering honest-to-goodness public service, and improve the quality of our lives. But sadly, many of them do not keep their word.

What do we do then – the duped and the despairing? We can only shake our heads and regret having voted for them. Others would take a more active role and take to the streets in protest of such leaders. And some of us would rather still hope to find the right people who fit our idea of what a real leader should be.

This may be a classic case of rising expectation but it seems that people in the cooperative movement have spotted at least one such personality. This person used to be a prominent figure from the past but has been away from the limelight for sometime now.

I’m talking about former Senator Agapito “Butz” Aquino. One would imagine that, as Butz is just a private citizen these days, he may be carrying a “been there, done that” attitude towards public service. But no, he is still very much in the thick of serving people as he continues to support cooperatives, an interest which became a commitment ever since he found himself involved in the movement during his Senate stint in the early ’90s.

As chairman emeritus of the National Cooperative Movement (NCM) and concurrent chairman of the Philippine Cooperative Center (PCC), he devotes “a good 80 percent” of his time to promoting the cooperative movement. The other 20 percent, we understand, is for earning a living in real estate.

The former senator expresses elation over the recently enacted Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008 (R.A. 9520) that, he says, represents a significant improvement over the original Cooperative Code of the Philippines (R.A. 6368) of which he was one of the prime movers. He explains that the new Code is now more specific, more accommodating and quite expansive. There are now diverse classifications of cooperatives: advocacy, agrarian reform, banking, dairy, education, electric, financial service, fishermen, health service, housing, insurance, transport, water service, and workers’ coops. That’s 14 in all and quite a leap from only six categories identified in the original code, namely: the credit, consumers, producers, marketing, service and multi-purpose coops.

The basic principle that truly draws people to join a cooperative movement is that it actively upholds democracy, that is — the movement is of, by and for the members. Guided by the laws governing cooperativism, the members themselves set their direction and steer the wheel, empowering them and strengthening their sense of ownership and protectiveness over their own enterprise. And as many well-managed community-based enterprises have become profitable, more Filipinos should consider involving themselves in this vibrant movement by becoming members.

Credited as the “Modern Father of the Philippine Cooperative”, Senator Aquino has come up with a formula that would sustain Philippine cooperatives. “We are now trying to impart cooperative governance”, he says. Since there must be faith in the cooperative movement, this modern coop father has come up with a memorable acronym to live by when it comes to cooperative leadership. “I’m using FAITH as the formula for cooperative governance,” he beams. “F for fairness in all our transactions; A for accountability especially of the officers; “I” for integrity for all, “T” for transparency in all our dealings; and “H” for humility.” Why this last one? Because, according to Mr. Aquino, some cooperatives, after earning a little or accumulating some reserves, have become overly proud. He advises, “Let’s not be too proud about what we have but rather bear in mind that every little thing counts.”

“It has been said that faith can move mountains,” says the ex-senator. “I would like to think that with cooperative faith, we can move not just the proverbial mountain but the whole nation forward.”

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Many of us are thoroughly weary of hearing about the global financial crisis, a highly topical concern that has chalked up over 29 million Google results to date. It’s almost impossible that one doesn’t encounter some mention of the credit crunch in his or her every day internet activities. Also, the majority of economic news is distressing. The fact that it is also rife with financial gobbledygook makes the situation difficult to understand and more convoluted than it has to be. Like most Filipinos, however, I find myself thinking that we aren’t as much affected by the economic downturn as the people in the well-developed countries in Europe, or the seeming cause of it all, the United States.

Maybe because the residual effects of the 1997 Asian financial crisis have somehow inured us and we have become very much accustomed to living frugally. Maybe the tingi-culture for which we are famously ridiculed is emerging as our accidental savior in the face of rising costs and falling credit. Or maybe, because of new developments in Asia, the future of the Philippines doesn’t look as bleak as it does for our western counterparts.

For example, Russia and China are proposing a new supra-currency to replace the US dollar as a reserve currency, purportedly to prevent another economic crisis from happening. The Hong Kong index climbed up three percent at the end of the fifth week of gains. Various companies like Animation Vertigo Inc., an American motion-capture animation company, and Bosch, the German tool powerhouse, are setting up shop in the Philippines and Vietnam, respectively. They are capitalizing on the region’s expertise and know-how in the fields of electronics, animation, and technology.

Abbott Nutrition International, the US leader in pediatric and adult nutrition according to 2008 surveys by Nielsen, has recently erected a new plant in the Tuas Biomedical Park in Singapore, their first major capital investment in Asia as well as the company’s largest nutritional investment ever. Among all the strategic locations available to them throughout the world, the fact that they chose to set up a first-rate production facility in Asia speaks volumes.

These new developments may be an indication that the world is once again turning to the East, looking for those “pearls of Oriental wisdom” that will not only enable it to endure the storm, but actually herald the dawn of a new day and banish the dreary economic climate.

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