Kim’s Dream Orlan Ravanera
Improving Lives & Creating Positive Societal impact
For those who have dreamt, struggled and even died for it, social change has been so elusive all these years despite 14 year of Martial Law sand two people-powered revolutions. The structures, systems and ingredients of a highly skewed societal order are as formidable as ever. How do we then effect social change in a country under the elitist rule of a few powerful oligarchs where economic power begets political power?
As recently declared by the Social Weather Station, some 13 million Filipinos are living in extreme poverty in a country that is characterized by gross social inequity and social injustice. Poverty in our country that is oozing with ecological resources is rooted not in the lack of resources but in the powerlessness of the people to have access and control over their resources, based on the analysis of social scientists. Who control? Who decides? Who benefits? Not the people but only a few oligarchs in cohort with power-that-be. Thus, liberating the people from the quagmire of poverty can only be done by harnessing their collective power through cooperativism. This truism is now being manifested by some twenty thousand cooperatives nation-wide with some 18 million members. These cooperatives are drawing those in the margins into the mainstream of development processes. They are exemplifying to the highest degree the essence of cooperativism as stated by the Constitution in Chapter 15, Art. 14 that, “The State shall promote cooperativism as instrument of social justice, equity and economic development.”
Indeed, the essence of cooperativism has come of age in a world that has been buried in unbridled materialism and consumerism. Based on the study of Oxfam, high veneration to the profit motive has already captured the mindset of all governments, all universities, all institutions and even of religious groups. The prevailing mode has always been to maximize consumer good, to maximize short-term profit which is tied-up to the mundane but not to the sublime. Let us not maximize consumer goods but maximize our values and be with that transcendental dimension where the Universal Intelligence governs. It is in this context that cooperativism has come of age as its DNA is that of being members-owned where no one shall be left behind, value-based (not maximizing consumer goods but maximizing values), and sustainable, meaning that the people and the environment must not be sacrificed to the altar of greed and profit.
Maximizing values through education is amazingly exemplified to the highest degree by one of the most outstanding cooperatives in the country, the Philippine Army Finance Center Producers Integrated Cooperative (PAFCPIC) Chaired by former BGen. Francisco Paredes with former BGen Fernando Zabat as President and Col. Regidor de la Cruz as Committee Scholarship Chairman. These gallant military officers have brought peace not through the barrels of the guns but through cooperativism and education through its scholarship program firmly believing that “education is a powerful tool to transform lives and create positive impact to the community. Through its Scholarship Program, PAFCPIC is committed in promoting equal access to education and empowering talented individuals from diverse backgrounds. PAFCPIC also understands that financial constraints often hinder students from realizing their educational dreams. Hence, by providing scholarship to deserving individuals, this will allow them to reach their aspirations and showcase their full potential”.
To date, a total of 575 scholars from the marginalized sectors, i.e, fisherfolks, urban poor and the Indigenous have finished Bachelor Degrees and are now professionals, going back to their communities to serve the least of their brethren. PAFCPIC has indeed correctly prophesized that to have a better future for the marginalized communities can be done through the scholarship program. Our firm salute to PAFCPIC especially to Ms. Arlene Villaflor the chairman of the Committee of Membership, Education and Community Development Services. Our appreciation to Ms. Louise Donna dela Peña, the manager Satellite Office of PAFCPIC of Cagayan de Oro for the successful graduation ceremony of IP Scholars held in Tribal Court in Dansolihon, Cagayan de Oro. The ceremony was attended by no less than Pastor Noli Garvida overall head of the Tribal Church for Christ together with Pastor Roberto Cabaring, the IPMR and the appointed City Councilor for the IPs. Also in attendance during the graduation ceremony was Mr. Norman Torres as Chairman Development Committee.
It was so amazing to hear the parents of the graduating scholars expressed their deepest gratitude to PAFCPIC declaring the truism without the scholarship assistance, no way could their children become professionals as the IPs are living in extreme poverty because of the horrible incidence of gross social injustices being done through AGAW LUPA, AGAW TUBIG, AGAW BUHAY in Mindanao. That is how oppressed our IPs are as the enrichment of the powerful grabbing their ancestral domain means the displacement and poverty of the IPs. Thus, empowering the Indigenous Peoples through education is the much awaited trailblazing program to liberate the IPs from so much poverty and oppression.
Again, to PAFCPIC, our firm salute and warm embrace.
