CARRASCAL, Surigao del Sur — From its humble beginnings, the employee-owned cooperative of Marcventures Mining and Development Corporation (MMDC) is stronger, with plans for expansion in the comings months.
Established in 2016 with only a handful members, the Responsableng Manggagawa ng Marcventures Mining and Development Corporation Consumers Cooperative (RMMMDCCC) has already grown into 100 members as of November this year.
RMMMDCCC President and MMDC Waste Management Supervisor Katrina Plaza, said the worker coop now maintains a store in Cantilan selling various products, from food items to basic necessities.
Plaza, who works at the company’s Environment department, credited the coop’s success to MMDC, which granted RMMMDCCC a loan of PHP200,000 as startup capital.
“The company really sees to it that we can survive on our own, and we did,” Plaza said, adding that the expansion plan includes growing their membership and offering more products for their customers.
“Foremost, we are a values-driven worker cooperative that puts worker and community benefit at the center of our purpose,” she said, referring to the coop’s mission.
At PHP2,000 paid-up capital, Plaza said any MMDC employee can be a member, with benefits ranging to short-term loan and annual dividends.
On October 20, 2018 RMMMDCCC joined the Cooperative Month celebration organized by the Cantilan local government unit, where 10 local coops gathered to form an aggrupation of cooperatives.
Plaza was elected secretary of the new LGU-backed cooperative.
In his speech during the event, Mayor Philip A. Pichay lauded RMMMDCCC and other local cooperatives for bonding together to create economic opportunities for their members.
Mayor Pichay pointed out that Cantilan has the most number of cooperatives among the municipalities in Surigao del Sur, helping the town generate more income to fund local projects.