Empowering People Through Cooperativism
Social scientists widely agree that the root cause of poverty in the Philippines—especially in resource-rich Mindanao—is not the lack of natural resources, but the powerlessness of the people to access and control these resources and utilities, which are rapidly being taken away from them.
There is no doubt that Mindanao is rich in ecological resources. According to a study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO), Mindanao ranks as the most biodiverse area on Earth per unit area. For instance, the 5,000-hectare Mt. Kitanglad in Bukidnon hosts a greater number of plant and animal species than the entire one-billion-hectare continent of North America. And this richness isn’t limited to what’s above ground—beneath the surface lie deposits of at least 72 different kinds of minerals.
Yet, despite this abundance, poverty remains widespread. A study by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reveals that the poor in Mindanao are the poorest in the entire country. Of the 25 poorest provinces in the Philippines, 14 are located in Mindanao and suffer from extremely high poverty gap ratios.
In Mindanao, you will find thousands of hectares planted with pineapples, bananas, palm oil, and other export crops—feeding the consumerist lifestyle of people in the Global North. Meanwhile, hunger is painfully evident in the South. Hunger persists in Mindanao—ironically dubbed the “food basket” of the Philippines. What a paradox! According to the Food and Nutrition Institute, 28% of Filipino children are malnourished, 27% are stunted, and 30% are underweight.
Where have all our forests gone? Gone to the loggers. All 17 million hectares of dipterocarp forests—once teeming with biodiversity—have vanished from the face of the earth. And our minerals? Taken by miners, every last one. Who controls our resources and utilities? Only a few oligarchs. Take the case of Electric Cooperatives. It was former Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez of Cagayan de Oro who championed rural electrification in the late 1960s, when electricity was limited to urban areas. After the Rural Electrification Law was passed, nationalist senators like Lorenzo Tañada and Jose Diokno, along with several congressmen, visited the United States to study how Electric Cooperatives functioned there. They were amazed to discover that these cooperatives were owned and run by the member-consumers themselves.
Electricity, like water and air, is essential to life—and should therefore be owned and managed by the people who depend on it. As a vital necessity, it must remain beyond the reach of profit and private greed.
In 1969, the Philippines began its rural electrification program, which was implemented through electric cooperatives with funding support from USAID amounting to $800 million. However, it eventually became evident that these so-called electric cooperatives were not truly owned by their member-consumers, despite the fact that these consumers were the ones paying for loan amortizations and reinvestments. Over the years, their collective capital contributions—estimated today to amount to around one trillion pesos—have never been properly recorded or recognized.
By 1972, the World Bank had discovered that these electric cooperatives were cooperatives in name only. In response, it extended another round of multi-billion dollar loans intended to educate millions of member-consumers. However, instead of serving their intended purpose, these funds were diverted to support anti-insurgency efforts during Martial Law. At that time, the Department of Energy and the National Electrification Administration (NEA) were effectively run by military generals. Records show that it was indeed the generals who held leadership roles in these agencies. A Presidential Decree—PD 1645—was issued, its name symbolically referencing military firearms (M-16 and .45 caliber), while the powers granted to NEA fell under Section 357, in reference to the Magnum 357.
Following the 1986 EDSA Revolution, the framers of the 1987 Constitution sought to correct these social injustices. They established the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) as the sole registering agency for all types of cooperatives, including electric cooperatives. The CDA was created to promote the viability and growth of cooperatives as instruments of social justice, equity, and economic development.
A Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the first Chairperson of the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), Chair Edna Aberilla, and then Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Emmanuel Pelaez, mandating that all so-called Electric Cooperatives (ECs) register with the CDA within three (3) years. To operationalize this, an Omnibus Rules and Regulations was drafted.
However, over the years, these so-called ECs have formed a powerful network of vested interests. Out of the 119 ECs, only 13 have registered with the CDA—these are the ones that have officially recognized the capital contributions of their member-consumer-owners. The registration of even these few is now being questioned. Why do some oligarchs in the energy sector resist the transformation of ECs into genuine cooperatives?
When will this long-standing social injustice against 11 million member-consumer-owners be corrected? The time has come to return power to where it truly belongs—with the people. While these ECs claim to provide electricity, they continue to keep their members in the dark about their rightful ownership. As member-consumer-owners, these individuals are entitled to rights that must be recognized and upheld.
Transforming ECs into true cooperatives is a powerful means of empowering the people—liberating them from poverty and integrating them into inclusive development. But this transformation starts with one essential truth: recognizing the members as genuine owners. At the heart of poverty lies the people’s lack of power—power to access and control resources and utilities they rightfully own. Yet, some oligarchs cannot restrain their greed.
It’s time to wake up. The people must reclaim what is rightfully theirs.
