Baguio's oldest credit co-op soldiers on

Baguio's oldest credit co-op soldiers on
Unaffected by slowdown
By Maurice Malanes
Northern Luzon Bureau
Posted date: November 23, 2008

BAGUIO CITY--While some business sectors are feeling the pinch of the global economic meltdown or slowdown, this city's oldest credit cooperative servicing almost 20,000 members remains robust and kicking.

"Thank God, we are hardly affected by the global economic meltdown so we continue to help uplift the lives of ordinary folk," says lawyer Jesus Cendaña, board chair of the Baguio-Benguet Community Credit Cooperative or BBCCC.

Cendaña attributes the cooperative's strength and stability to what he calls the "power of the ‘we'" or the cooperative principle of "relying on our collective initiative and collective self-reliance."

"Ever since our cooperative was founded, we never borrowed money from outside sources, but we completely relied on the capital shares of members," he says.
Cendaña also credits the cooperative's success to its "service above profit philosophy anchored on self-responsibility, self-discipline, teamwork, solidarity, respect, industry, democracy and good governance."

Founded in 1958 by 15 members, most of them teachers of Saint Louis College (now Saint Louis University), what was then known as the Baguio Teachers Credit Union started with only a P250 capital.

In 1976, the credit union amended its by-laws, transformed itself into what is now the BBCCC, and opened its membership to all residents of Baguio and Benguet.
The cooperative now has more than 19,000 members and has P940 million in total assets, including a seven-story building, which houses the cooperative's offices, a grocery store, a 200-seat conference hall, and three workshop rooms.

The BBCCC celebrated its 50th founding anniversary in October and "we're still counting and growing," says Cendaña.

It has come a long way so much so that it is now "extending our blessings to the community" through the BBCCC Foundation, says Amparo Rimas, the foundation's chief executive officer.

The foundation has adopted a barangay (village) in nearby La Trinidad town, helping build a water system and providing facilities such as a sound system for the village's daycare center.

It has also adopted one of Baguio's parks for it to maintain and improve and has offered scholarships to needy but deserving students.

The cooperative counts among its members lowly folk such as car-wash boys and vegetable vendors and prominent people such as the late Justice Romeo Brawner.
For ordinary folk, the cooperative, which offers various loans, has become a takbuhan (fallback) during emergencies such as when members had to pay tuition or when one had to pay a placement fee for an overseas job.

"One time I had to buy milk formula and I had no money so I had to run to the co-op grocery store," businesswoman Golden Guevarra, a co-op member, says. "I would also loan from the co-op to repaint or repair our passenger jeepney."

Besides tuition for her children, government office worker Glea Lagon says loans from the cooperative helped build their house and helped them procure a vehicle.

"Without a scholarship from the BBCCC, I wouldn't have been a registered nurse by now," says Rachelle Ann Coquia, a co-op associate member who passed the nursing board in 2007.

It is these various services which continue to attract members to the cooperative, Cendaña says and BBCCC continues to campaign for more people to join.

He says some 50 to 80 new members are added each month. "We are targeting to draw 100 members each month through our advocacy drive," he says, noting that the cooperative's current membership is still a small fraction of Baguio's population of 350,000 and Benguet's more than 330,000.