Adopting the theme, "Gaining headways in cooperative development through the building of strong partnership among stakeholders," the participants declared in categorical term their oneness and their commitment to work together as embodied what they called the "Davao Declaration."

In that 3"day convergence, they have agreed to ink a Memorandum of Understanding where each party will identify respective responsibilities and together, advance cooperative development in partnership.

Creating the right policy environment to promote cooperative development means recognizing the best practices of model cooperatives and to award those who have shown outstanding performance. In pursuance of such, the present CDA leadership has included in its agenda the recognition and giving of awards. During the Strategic Planning-Workshop, the Chair put to task the Institutional Development Department (IDD) to draft the guidelines on Awards and Recognition to take effect this year.

On Policy Direction No. 3. Ensuring Local and Global Competitiveness of Cooperatives.

The new Chairman believes that empowering the cooperatives by enhancing their capabilities and developing their full potentials will create breakthroughs and headways, thus, catapulting them to become competitive, locally or globally, to achieve economic development.

However, it is his contention that economic development for our cooperatives means they first become increasingly productive or become successful entrepreneurs but such do not come easy. We must first erase our illusion that the cooperatives can scale the heights without first addressing very basic and fundamental problems.

Where the mode of production and marketing are not within their control or when the economic playing field is not level at all, it was, it is and it will be an uphill climb all the way for our agricultural cooperatives, for our workers and for our micro and small entrepreneurs.

It is the new Chairman's analysis that while our Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), for example, employ 99.6% of the total labor force, yet, the only control 32% of the total value chain in this country while the 0.4% controls 68% of our economy. While these MSMEs (mostly cooperatives) are considered the backbone of the nation, 70% of their credit needs is not met.

He is also cognizant of the truism that a country that is consuming what it is not producing will always be poor. Indeed, out country has been just a dumping ground of finished products from foreign lands and is just consigned as cheap source of raw materials, following an extractive economic system that has destroyed our ecosystems. These raw materials are processed abroad then sold back to us at a much higher price.

It is in this context that the new CDA leadership has encouraged the establishment of Cooperative Markets. His contention is that when you buy, you are as if casting a vote, choosing between local vs. foreign, essential vs. junks, etc. So, when you buy foreign products, you support the labor force and the economy of that country where the product comes from. He believes that when you buy the products of the cooperatives, you are voting for their livelihood and for their development.

On Policy Direction No. 4. Cooperativism as the vehicle for social transformation for the 4Ps (People. Planet, Prosperity and Peace)

This is the new Policy Direction that zeroes-in on the present leadership firm belief that cooperativism is an idea that has indeed come of age. As the saying goes, "A strong army can conquer a kingdom but the strongest army in the world cannot stop a idea whose time has come!" And that Idea is COOPERATIVISM. And Why Not?

Admittedly, we live in a highly stratified society, described by no less than the former Kennedy's Secretary of the State, Mr. Robert McXamarra as a "semi-colonial, semi-feudal State." The Philippines, according to recent study of the Asian Development Bank, is now the poorest country in East Asia. It has been described by the World Bank as a "sinking ship" and many (about 10,000 Filipinos) every month are jumping in droves just to find jobs in other country. We have decimated our forest from 17 million hectares a hundred years ago, now just down to less than one million hectares of dipterocarp forest. Because we have lost our ecological integrity, we have lost our environmental security as the country is every now and then experiencing ecological disasters.

How do you now reverse poverty trend? How do you stop our accelerating drive towards ecological crisis?

It is only when the people put the future into their own hands, only when they craft their own destiny, will genuine social change can truly be had. This is based on the truism that sovereignty lies with the people and all powers emanate from them.

The new Chair firmly believes that the only peaceful path towards a sustainable future is when the people themselves craft their destiny by binding themselves together, by pooling their collective energies and potentials, only then can they effect social transformation "tungo sa matuwid na daan." Truly, social transformation is in the offing, not through the firepower of guns but by the strength of the human spirit, in harmony with one another thru the principles of democratic control and participation.

Such is the rationale why in advancing his 3-Point Agenda, Dr. Manny Santiaguel calls for meaningful participation of all sectors everytime he has the chance to interact with them in the many programs and activities he attended during his first 100 days.

This is based on his belief that the cooperatives participation is the best guarantee of justice and sustainability. He said that without coops' participation, all the outpourings of development assistance will just be palliatives and cannot be the real solution.

Policy Direction No. 5. Massive Expansion of Cooperative Membership

When the prior four policy directions are met, the logical consequence is to expand cooperative membership, thus, making cooperativism as a way of life. But such will not be easy as the Chair sees gargantuan problems and great challenges ahead.

The roadmap ahead should be concrete and systematized. Thus, after crafting and modifying the PCMTDP. the Chairman has called for a two-day CDA Strategic Planning-Workshop in Quezon City (March 15-16, 2011) followed by a two-day Management Conference (March 17-18, 2011).

The Strategic Planning-Workshop saw the top CDA Officials drafting the roadmap following the Logical Framework Analysis. Target have been set by regions on how to increase membership from 7 million to 20 million cooperative members in the next 3 years. Activities have been laid down with time frame and writing down objectively verifiable indicators and the means of verification.

It is the directive of the Chair to intensify advocacy for the conversion of so-called Electric Cooperatives into genuine ones that are practicing the time-honored and universally-accepted cooperative principles. For so many years, the existence of the ECs has perpetuated a social wrong and a legal flaw, thus, such must be corrected which is for the best interest of the millions of member-consumers whose ownership is until now being denied them.

The present CDA leadership has given the marching order for all regions to campaign without let-up, the consequences of which will be the significant increase in cooperative membership.

To further scale the heights in cooperative membership, the Chair has paved the way for convergences of CDA with the kindred (national government-line agencies, DOTC, federations and unions and other stakeholders).

It is the intension of the Chair to mobilize all sectors and partners, thus, Memorandum of Understanding are scheduled to be forged to strengthen partnership.

All told, the First 100 Days of Chair Emmanuel M. Santiaguel, has already created breakthroughs. In due time, headways will be gained in all fronts through the pursuance of the five Policy Directions with all of the stakeholders coming together to give credence to the President Aquino's pronouncement "NA ANG MGA KOOPERATIBA PO ANG KATUWANG NG PAMAHALAAAN SA PAGTATAGUYOD NG SISTEMANG PATAS AT MAUNLAD!"

Under the leadership of Dr. Emmanuel M. Santiaguel, cooperatives in the Philippines will scale the heights. The journey has just begun..

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