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JOSE RIZAL MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE – SUCCESS STORY

Posted on September 24, 2020

HISTORY

            Jose Rizal Memorial State University Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative is operating in the province of Zamboanga del Norte addressed at Jose Rizal Memorial State University, Sta. Cruz, Dapitan City. It is an organization established by the faculty and staff of the University. This was organized in response to the following legal bases:

  • Republic Act No. 6939, the Cooperative Development Authority Law
  • Executive Order No. 935 of 1995 which is the implementation of the mandate of RA No. 6939
  • DECS Regional Memorandum Circular: “Superintendent, School Administrators, and Principals are Encouraged to Provide the Needed Support and Assistance to Enhance the Promotion and Organization of Cooperative in the Areas of Jurisdiction.”

 

Through the leadership of Dr. Felipe O. Ligan, the Jose Rizal Memorial National Vocational School Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative Incorporated was officially registered as an institutional and primary cooperative on the 30th day of May, 1995. It was registered Reg. No. PAG- 10- 14- 95 with an authorized capital of P 240,000.00, a ₱ 50.00 par value, ₱ 50.00 membership fee with Sixty Two (62) cooperators, seven members of the Board of Directors and last Friday of February, the Annual General Assembly Day.

The cooperative’s first operation was a consumers’ store and six months later started the credit and financing operations. Members behind the operations were serving as volunteers. A year after its operations, the cooperative hired two store clerks and cooperative officers received a monthly honorarium at ₱ 200.00. Its operations of the cooperative were closely monitored due to a monthly joint meeting of the officers of the cooperative.

March 28, 2005, the Articles of Cooperation and By- Laws of the cooperative were amended. It was registered Reg. No. AMD- PAG- 1014- 2005 on the 19th of September 2005, with a new cooperative name, Jose Rizal Memorial State College Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative with ₱ 6,000,000.00 Authorized Capital, par value at ₱ 2,500.00, ₱ 50.00 membership fee, seven members of the Board of Directors, 79 members and the General Assembly is on the 3rd Saturday of March. It widened its operation, the whole Province of Zamboanga del Norte. Having an increased in resources, we gradually increased the loan releases maximizing it to One Hundred Thousand Pesos to meet the needs of members most especially for the education of their children.

June 16, 2012, the Articles of Cooperation and By- Laws of the Cooperative were amended pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act 9520. It was registered Reg. No. ZAM- CRA- 000223 on the 6th day of June 2012 with new name; Jose Rizal Memorial State University Multi- Purpose Cooperative with a ₱ 24,000,000.00 Authorized Capital, par value of ₱ 1,000.00, membership fee of ₱ 50.00, Eighty (80) Members, Zamboanga del Norte as area of operation.

March 18, 2017, the Articles of Cooperation and By- Laws of Jose Rizal Memorial State University Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative were amended. The amendment were registered on October 18, 2017, Registration No. 9520- 09002225, Amendment No. 9520- 09002225- 2. It focused on the purpose of the cooperative: encouraging thrift and savings, generate fund to extend credit to members for productive and provident purpose, procure and distributes commodities to members and non-members. It expands membership, embracing retiree and immediate family members of Jose Rizal Memorial State University Campuses of the Province of Zamboanga del Norte.

The establishment of this organization was not easy. There was a hard time for them to with the cooperative. It is a common reaction of men, if money is taken out from his pocket leads to apprehension. The continuous assistance of the Cooperative Development Authority encouraged teachers and support staff of the university to be with the organization. The school administration spent for the three day Pre- Membership Training of the employees and support staff to educate them the importance of cooperativism.

Sixty Two (62) co-operators gave life to the cooperative. Resources of the cooperative increased due to the patronage of products offered by the cooperative. It uplift the life- state of the members. From Thirty Thousand Loan to Fifty Thousand and a hundred thousand loan helped them to cope-up with increased family needs most especially for the education of their children.

Members’ dignity was regained to think that the loan is coming from their own resources. To think that it is a good avenue of helping one another out of shared capital. Time came that members, it had increased from 62 to 179, demand cannot be answered anymore. The cooperative sought the financial assistance of the LandBank of the Philippines. A credit line agreement was carried out between the LBP and JRMSU EMPC. It started with a One Million Pesos to Two Million, Five Million and to present, Ten Million. It can met the times six value of the Paid-in-Capital for a loan to be applied but not more than Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (₱ 500,000.00).

LandBank of the Philippines greatly helps the cooperative operations. The cooperative is able to produce its cooperative code; the constitution of its operations, a vault, proper recording and filing of records and religiously perform what are in the long- term and short-term plans. LandBank of the Philippines regular technical assistance and assessments of JRMSU EMPC operations make the cooperative’s operations clearer and orderly. If the ₱ 15,000,000.00 credit line applied with the LBP is meritorious, the cooperative can respond to expanded needs to the members. Addressing the COVID- 19 pandemic, it offers new products; laptop loan and medical assistance loan.

School Year 2001- 2002 the Jose Rizal Memorial State University suffered management crisis. There was factionalism among the facility and support staff affecting severely the cooperative’s operations. Problems were met. Some of these problems were:

  • Consumers’ Store Closure:

The closure of the consumers’ store depleted the resources of the cooperative. The closure was due to the expansion classroom structures in the university to counter act the depletion two new products were offered and financing operation was strengthened to keep-up the healthy financial fluidity of the cooperative. Year 2018 the cooperative appealed to the university management a store-space for its reopening. The scheduled reopening is in the second semester of school year 2020- 2021.

  • Membership Decline:

Some members withdrew their membership. It brought a deep negative effect to the resources of the cooperative which was relative to its financial operations. To counter act the problem, the Board of Directors and Officers and some members of the cooperative made moves to recruit new members. Pre-membership Training Seminars were conducted. Recruiters were given an incentive for per recruit. Recruits were offered a zero percent interest to a Welcome Loan. These were effective. The cooperative from eighty members in 2002 increased to 179 members. This helped the dynamism of the cooperative’s financial operation.

  • Decline of Repayment Remittance to the Cooperative:

Collection of repayment of loan is 90% effective. This is done through payroll deduction. Due to factionalism, the university management was non-supporting of the welfare of the cooperative. Finances of the cooperative were affected. It had a hard time to accommodate members’ financial needs. The principle of first come first to be served was implemented. Complied loan applications were with priority members. Lapses of the individual’s repayment existed. This created the apprehension of cooperative’s closure or be fused with other primary cooperative.

Before the end of the school year, there was a change in university administration. On officer-in-charge was appointed to appease the crisis. Members of the Board of Directors and cooperative officers did have an audience with the officer-in-charge to air the predicament faced by the organization. The problems were addressed. Slowly it regained the normal operations.

Memorandum of Agreement was instituted between the cooperative management and the university management. An office space was provided. The problems were resolved.

The cooperative is strongly anchored in its operations. Financial fluidity is secured adhering to the provisions of the JRMSU EMPC Cooperative Code and board resolutions to respond to the needs of its operations. It can offer a financial assistance to members to a maximum of ₱ 500,000.00 it is a member of the Shrine Federation of Cooperatives, the Zamboanga del Norte Cooperative Alliance and the Shrine Local City Cooperative Council of Dapitan City. Annually it is with these organizations to promote community morale of the locality. It uses the Community Development Fund to extend assistance to local residents suffering calamity and to school children of their school needs. It coordinate with the Department of Education’s Program of feeding school children. It is active in addressing some problems brought by the COVID- 19 pandemic; distributing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), food and mask to the frontliners. It assists the students of JRMSU who are stranded in the onset of the community lockdown due to the pandemic.

Jose Rizal Memorial State University Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative grows in its technical operations through trainings, seminars, meetings and forum attended. It comes up with the requirements needed for the operations-guided by the Cooperative Development Authority.

The primary cooperative which initially operates at ₱ 240,000.00 Authorized Capital is striving hard to maximize the ₱ 24,000,000.00 Authorized Capital to expand services to the campuses of Jose Rizal Memorial State University: Katipunan, Tampilisan, Siocon, Sibuco External Studies Unit and Dipolog which was conceptualized last October, 2019.

Jose Rizal Memorial State University Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative celebrated the 25th Anniversary of its operation last June 20, 2020 which was supposedly be held last March 18, 2020. The schedule was affected by the lockdown due to the pandemic. The virtual General Assembly was done and was successful. On this day the original co-operators were honoured giving them personalized tokens and a cash for those who are in their seventies.

The cooperative still has twenty five more years to exist. Within this span of time it can be a catalyst of economic dynamism locally and be an asset to the national economic boom of the Republic of the Philippines.

God bless Jose Rizal Memorial State University Multi-Purpose Cooperative, its members, officers and to the citizenry of Zamboanga del Norte.