HARVEST OF HEROES All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form - graphic, electronic or mechanical - including photocopying, recording, taping or by information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

Published by: Land Bank of the Philippines 1598 M.H. Del Pilar cor. Dr. Quintos Sts. Malate, Manila Philippines

Design by: OP Communications, Inc.

Authored by: Jose Dalisay

Contributing writers: Daniel Pineda Glenn Diaz Homer Novicio Om Narayan Velasco

Photographs by: Edwin Tuyay Doroteo Palines Michael Mariano HARVEST of HEROES by Jose Dalisay Contents

6 Message from the President of the Philippines

8 Foreword From Countryside to Countrywide: The Landbank Story

12 Some Called It Hope A Creation Fable

14 The Bounty of Earth and Water Farmers and Fishers

52 Small Steps to Big Dreams Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

98 Coming Home to New Hopes Overseas Filipinos 112 All Together Now Cooperatives

174 Fertilizing the Grassroots Rural Banks

196 Partners in Wealth Creation Corporations

214 Hands Across Borders Multilateral/Bilateral Partners

220 LANDBANK Vision/Mission

MESSAGE

A nation’s progress is borne of interwoven tales of industry, determination, and solidarity. It relates to a broader platform the triumphs of a people whose individual successes created tides of empowerment, cleared the path for development, and collectively attained milestones of greater magnitude. The Harvest of Heroes introduces us to some of these personages and provides us with narratives to emulate as we propel the growth of our regions. May this compilation be a source of inspiration for our citizens, as we maximize the opportunities afforded to us by our resurgence. Let this book galvanize us all to follow the footsteps of the stakeholders and partners of LANDBANK, whose diligence and business acumen contributed to our shared task of nation-building. Filipinos continue to lengthen their strides towards equitable progress and affirm the promise of our people. As our government enables our countrymen to retool for our rapidly-evolving milieu, we rely on every Filipino to help transform our communities from the grassroots and make tangible the more inclusive and prosperous tomorrow we envision. Together, let us demonstrate the prowess of a united citizenry and sustain today’s positive momentum.

President Benigno S. Aquino III Republic of the Philippines

FOREWORD

From Countryside to Countrywide the Landbank Story

This book features the inspiring stories of unsung Filipino heroes—a representative crop of clients, beneficiaries, and partners who have worked with the Land Bank of the Philippines over the past half century to realize their dreams and to make a difference in the lives of the people around them: their families, their communities, their industries, and ultimately the nation itself. This is just the first of a series of books through which LANDBANK hopes to chronicle some of the best and brightest success stories in its history. This is our way of paying tribute to the heroes in our midst with whom we envision, lay down, and work towards the fulfillment of our development plans and programs. We continue to draw inspiration from all of them and from every Filipino who has been part of our journey and continue to inspire us to dream bigger, aim higher and work harder. Above all other Philippine banks, LANDBANK has most keenly felt the pulse of the countryside. Created in 1963 by RA 3844 or the Agricultural Land Reform Code of the Philippines, LANDBANK has always had its feet on the ground—on the farm and on the shoreline, with a hand prepared to reach out to ordinary Filipinos in need of assistance. These are Filipinos who were imbued with fervent dreams to improve their lives and the future of their families by starting a business or making more out of farming and fishing, but who may have been considered unworthy credit risks by most traditional banks. But where these other banks saw potential failure, LANDBANK saw hope and likely success. HARVEST OF HEROES

That’s the hope that LANDBANK brought and encouraged across the vast Philippine landscape, particularly in corners and areas unreached or neglected by urban-based and urban-oriented banks. Where few dared to tread, LANDBANK was there, with an open heart and an open mind, ready to listen and to help people who, at that point, were also ready to assume bigger challenges and to change their lives. It is today the single largest lender to small farmers and fishers, and the leading provider of financial assistance to micro, small and medium enterprises among GOCCs and government financial institutions. It is also the biggest credit provider to the LGU sector, financing projects in agri-infrastructure, schools and hospitals, farm-to-market roads, housing and livelihood, and other development projects. Because of the faith it has placed on the vision and the capability of ordinary Filipinos, LANDBANK has become a leader in the banking industry, with consistent growth in net income, assets, capital, deposits, and loans. It maintains its rank among the top five banks in the industry and remains the biggest government bank in the country, with total assets reaching P1.051 trillion and net income of P12.1 billion as of December 31, 2014. These resources have been significantly plowed back into the projects and efforts of the bank’s core constituencies. As of end-2014, LANDBANK’s loans to priority sectors reached P331.3 billion, representing more than 85 percent of the Bank’s regular loans of P385.8 billion. LANDBANK also plays a key role in major government programs including the Conditional Cash Transfer program where it is the disbursing bank. It also supports other government programs such as the Food Supply Chain Program which it implements in partnership with the Department of Finance and the Department of Agriculture; the Agrarian Production Credit Program implemented with the Department of Agriculture and Department of Agrarian Reform; and the Department of Agriculture’s Sikat Saka Program and Agriculture and Fisheries Financing Program; the Overseas Filipino Workers Reintegration Program of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

10 THE LANDBANK STORY

To better serve these sectors and growing depositors, LANDBANK has continuously expanded its physical network nationwide to make banking services more accessible to those who may otherwise have limited access to financial services. LANDBANK is the first universal bank to cover all Philippines provinces with 351 branches and 1,338 ATMs as of December 31, 2014. While we take pride in what LANDBANK has accomplished so far, we acknowledge that we are barely halfway through realizing our vision to promote inclusive growth and improve the quality of life especially in the countryside. Ultimately, we want people to treat LANDBANK as their partner in growth. Generating profits is, of course, important, but foremost in our agenda is to empower farmers and fishers, micro, small and medium entrepreneurs, and our other clients, partners, and stakeholders to improve their lives and be productive participants in the economy. The national leadership clearly shares our vision. In March 2014, President Benigno S. Aquino III signed into law RA 10374 which extends the legal existence of LANDBANK for another 50 years. As it completes its first half century of service, LANDBANK pledges anew to be at the forefront of helping its clients, stakeholders, and the entire country grow. As we give thanks to those who toiled the land and planted the seeds before us, we take stock of the lessons and gains harvested from the past and gear up for a new growing season. Part of that harvest is in this book, captured in stories of ambition and achievement, of endurance and perseverance, of industry and innovation, of community and cooperation. Together, they are the story of LANDBANK itself, and of how and why it has become what it is today. To enable heroes is in itself a noble and heroic task, and the Land Bank of the Philippines claims this distinction proudly as it stands on the threshold of its next half-century.

Gilda E. Pico Sec. Cesar V. Purisima President and CEO Chairman

11 HARVEST OF HEROES

Some Called It “Hope” A Creation Fable by Jose Dalisay

The Almighty made the earth and sky, The seas and rivers And all the creatures in them; The trees bore fruit, And the fish fed the beasts, And the Universe seemed complete. But the Almighty could not sleep Because he had forgotten To make man, who would master earth And sky, and all else within Man’s sight and reach. And man made what he could Of the Almighty’s gifts Making a home of cave, tree, and shadow. Man speared, man fished, man learned To seed and water, to wait and harvest. Man made more men. And the Almighty awoke in his fitful sleep Surprised to find the earth That he had so kindly left to man Now stripped and short of space As man pushed man And many had little or nothing Left to catch or grow. And the Almighty said, I should not have slept too soon! And he looked through the clouds For the worthiest of his subjects— Their feet caked in mud, or wet in water— And put a coin in each roughened palm. The coin was nameless. Some called it “Capital,” some called it “Opportunity,” some called it “Enterprise.” Some simply called it “Hope,” and felt its godly magic: Spent well and wisely, It kept returning to its spender’s palm, And at last the Almighty Smiled in his slumber. The Bounty of Earth and Water Farmers and fisherS—tillers of the soil, harvesters of the sea—are Landbank’s fundamental reason for being, the Bank’s direct connection to the land that its very name bears. Farmers and fishers work with Nature herself, drawing on Nature’s bounty, sustaining themselves, their families, and their countrymen with food and other vital resources. But to get the best and the most out of Nature, these workers need more than plows and nets; they need capital with which to raise their yields and broaden their horizons. Landbank provides that seed, which in time will bear rich fruit. HARVEST OF HEROES

ARNULFO AND JANET ABAÑO Red Fire, Blue Water

In 1969, a great fire hit Caubian Island in Cebu. Upon seeing flames lick one house after another, the people rushed out to sea and from a safe distance, they witnessed how the 2.7-hectare island was burned to the ground in a red tempest. Today, even the young among the island’s 3,200 residents know about the great fire. They speak of it like a secret history. Once in a while, local fishers remember it over gin after a hard day’s work out at sea. The fire is a sad footnote to a practice that, even today, is still being done by some island fishers. Everyone in Caubian knows that the fire was caused by chemicals used to make dynamite. Walking around the island, it is a common sight to see limbless men. It’s the same story for each one and 40-year-old Arnulfo Abaño did not want to add himself to the islanders’ tragic tale. “I stopped using dynamite because I didn’t want to lose my hands,” Arnulfo says after admitting that he also used dynamite for three years to earn a living. He admits that the lack of fishing implements forced the islanders to engage in the illegal practice. The people from the island’s 500 households have longed for a better life. They just have to look out from their shore. Progress is literally visible as exemplified by Mandaue City which is just an hour away by pump boat.

16 THE BOUNTY OF EARTH AND WATER

In 2011, Pagtambayayong, a non-government organization (NGO) which used to focus on the urban poor of Cebu, extended its operations to the rural areas. Translated as “the act of helping one another,” Pagtambayayong did not just provide medical services. Some NGO members stayed to study the locals’ needs. It was through the NGO that Landbank was able to provide financial assistance to the small fishers. Arnulfo and his wife, Janet, were among the first batch of six beneficiaries in Caubian. A beneficiary who had lost an arm from dynamite fishing decided to put up a sari-sari store. The five other beneficiaries bought fishing tools. “At first, we were nervous because there might be collateral required,” Janet says. Except for a small house and an old boat, she could not think of other things she could use to back up a loan. What the Abaños knew for sure was that they needed extra income. Their eldest son wanted to go to college, and Janet and Arnulfo were bent on providing funds for him. But with meager earnings of P150 a day, they knew that this dream was near impossible. They were ecstatic when they learned they would get a P70,000 loan from Landbank. Arnulfo bought new fishnets and in order to go farther out to sea, he got a new 10-horsepower boat engine. Neighbors were also given jobs as Arnulfo alone could not handle hauling a daily average catch of up to 200 kilos of fish. His eldest son is now in college taking up Information Technology. In a couple of years, he hopes his second son would follow. “I hope they get to finish college so they don’t have to fish anymore,” Arnulfo says as he looks out at the ocean. Janet adds that she realized their lives were getting better when they were able to build their own bathroom, buy furniture and get large water tanks for collecting rainwater. In Caubian, fresh water comes from Bohol which is only 15 minutes away by boat. Islanders drink rainwater which they collect and store in large clay pots outside their houses. The island fishermen talk about a time they callaya-ay (calmness) when the quarter moon is reflected above still waters. They say it’s the most rewarding time for fishing. They wait for it and hope the moon will stay longer until dawn and they would haul in a larger catch than usual from the rich, blue deep.

17 Sps. Janet & Arnulfo Abaño

HARVEST OF HEROES

German dela Paz AND EDGARDO SAMINISTRADO Under the Volcano

On clear days, picturesque Mount Kanlaon— an active volcano—looms unobstructed by clouds to the west of the De la Rama- Rodriguez sugarcane plantation. It sits in Barangay Mabigo, in the middle of this city named after Negros Island’s highest peak. For farmer and retired security guard German de la Paz, Canlaon has been home for 30 years, since he and his family moved here from the nearby town of Guihulngan. Before the advent of agrarian reform, he used to till the fields of the hacienda daily while working as a security guard at Saint Joseph College. “It was a hard life,” he says, “but we were used to it and we didn’t know what else to do.” The arduous work was made worse by the grossly inequitable way in which profits are divided at the hacienda, said the father of eight, with 70% going to the owners and the remaining 30% divided among the plantation workers. Moreover, the alili system—whereby owners advance payment to farmers who agree to deliver produce come harvest time—had mired them in debt. In 1997, the 65 hectares of the estate were placed under land reform. Three years later, Mang German and five others founded the Ramrod Agricultural Multi-Purpose Cooperative (RAMPUCO) under the guidance of the Department of Agrarian Reform. That same year, they availed of financial assistance from Landbank to finance sugarcane production.

20 German dela Paz Chairman RAMPUCO Edgardo Saministrado Former Chairman RAMPUCO THE BOUNTY OF EARTH AND WATER

Edgardo Saministrado, who worked at the City Engineer’s Office, came onboard as farm manager in 2003, propelling RAMPUCO from a fledgling organization to one of the most successful groups of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries in the country. The long-time chairman attributes the success of the co-op mainly to the discipline and ethics of officers and members. “The members work hard and are united in their goal. If there’s a problem, we nip it in the bud,” Edgardo says. As a result, from the original five, membership is already at 274 and the co-op’s assets have steadily grown to P5.3 million as of December 2014. It still cultivates a total of 65 hectares for sugarcane production and an additional 10 for rice. They also offer feed mixing and hammer mill projects and lending services.

Of course we continue to face problems. That can’t be avoided. But our lives have improved, and that’s important. They can’t take that away from us.”

For Mang German, who became chairman in 2014—three decades after he began working at the De la Rama estate—it was also the dedication of its members that enabled RAMPUCO to grow. That they have now begun to see the fruits of their hard work only encourages them to strive even harder. “Of course we continue to face problems,” he says. “That can’t be avoided. But our lives have improved, and that’s important. They can’t take that away from us.” Of his eight kids, five have found work in Manila, while one helps him out in the farm. The years he had spent juggling jobs had also paid off. He had used his SSS retirement benefit to build a more comfortable house, one where he says he could see himself spending the rest of his life with his wife. Today, Mount Kanlaon no longer just provides a stunning background to the backbreaking but thankless labor that Mang German knew too well. It now bears witness to how diligence, coupled with concerted efforts and institutional support, can be rewarded. Edgardo Saministrado Former Chairman RAMPUCO 23 HARVEST OF HEROES

REGINO BERDON A Passion for Farming

Everyone calls him “Neneck.” At 66 years, his is a physique tempered by wild geography and the need to earn his share of life’s necessities at a young age. There was indeed no choice for the 13-year-old Regino Berdon but to walk the four- hour, 14-kilometer stretch from Lamac to the main town of Pinamungajan in Cebu. But he would only reach second year high school. Forced by the need to help with family finances, he began selling chicken eggs to neighbors and helping his father plant various crops. From these early experiences, he learned the value of hard work and patience. Pressed by very limited finances, he vowed to give a better life to his own children. When he was starting a family, he realized that the first lesson he had to give his seven children was how to tame the land around them. “I taught my children not to go hungry,” he says. So he taught them what plant would grow for each season. For Neneck, he had realized early on that he had to look beyond the harvest season for additional income. He ventured into hog farming. Starting with two pigs, his hog farm grew to 70 heads. Frequent trips to the city led to business partnerships. This was how he met with an owner of a cannery specializing in meat products.

24 THE BOUNTY OF EARTH AND WATER

Neneck soon had his hands full delivering up to 50 sow heads per week. He had to contact growers from as far as Mindanao to provide a steady supply to his partner. From his income, he was able to establish a sari-sari store for his family, and buy a motorcycle and a truck loader. He was also able to purchase three hectares of land which provides more than a hundred cavans of rice per harvest season. Looking back, he cites his involvement as a pioneer member of the Lamac Multi- Purpose Cooperative (LMPC) as a pivotal point in his journey not only as an entrepreneur but as a community leader as well. All it took for him was an initial investment of P50 for LMPC’s start-up fund back in 1973. When the time came for him to increase farm output, he was faced with the problem of capital. Through LMPC, he was able to secure a credit line with the help of Landbank. From a minimal amount of P2,000, Neneck’s credit line was extended up to P250,000. Aside from the money, a much-needed boost came in the form of Landbank’s financial and technical assistance to LMPC. Neneck saw how lives, including his, were transformed. He acknowledges that without LandBank’s extended help, “It would still be a hard life for people here.” Fulfilling his vow not to let his children undergo the hardships he himself went through, he sent his seven children to college. Among his treasures are their diplomas in engineering and education. He also takes pride in two grandchildren who have just passed the engineering board exams. In a small mountain community, these merits would never go unnoticed. The respect and admiration of other townsfolk led Neneck to receive LMPC’s Co-op Officer of the Year Award in 1998. He also became barangay captain in 2007. Though the task called for more time to address community issues, it did not deter him from engaging in his lifelong passion of farming. In 2011, he was given LMPC’s Kooperatibanhong Ugmad Ganti Ihatag or KUGI Award, given to hard-working individuals who have shown exemplary achievements in the field of entrepreneurship. His journey as farmer and entrepreneur is far from over. He continues to extend help to his neighbors and aims for better farming practices to harness what the land can offer. Asked as to what he attributes his success, he quickly answers, “Pray to God always. Never fight fire with fire.” He smiles and adds, “God is my strength.”

25

Regino Berdon HARVEST OF HEROES

JENNYMAR EDOMBINGO Living Up to Its Name

Tulunan, the North Cotabato town where farmer Jennymar Edombingo settled after leaving his native Kidapawan, is said to come from the Maguindanaon word tulun, which literally means “a place of abundance” or “where grace falls.” The place that he found in 1998, however, was more benighted than blessed. The soil was fertile but difficult to cultivate since there were no access roads. There was plenty of water but no system to manage it so it frequently flooded. The level of pest infestation was high because the town borders the Liguasan Marsh to the west. But Jennymar was not the type to be frazzled. After all, he was the ninth in ten children, in a childhood that, in his words, was “difficult and chaotic.” Early on, he had learned the value of hard work, selling eggs and vegetables in the market. Upon arriving at Tulunan, he rented half a hectare of land for P8,000 and started planting right away. The plant pathology graduate of University of Southern Mindanao-Kabacan said he trusted his farming know-how after eight years of working in a rubber plantation of his parents. In many ways, this experience would push Jennymar in leading the Amyon Irrigators’ Association to the top. The group was formed by the National Irrigation Administration in 2003 but was inactive for the first two years. “The organization was stagnant. It was abandoned. There was no collection activity or updates on our irrigation facility. There were no meetings and collection

28 Jennymar Edombingo HARVEST OF HEROES

The project proved Edombingo’s leadership. Impressed by their efforts, some government agencies pitched in to help, and the group was able to build a total of 8.5 kilometers of all weather roads. By this time, the group was operating like a well-oiled machine.

30 THE BOUNTY OF EARTH AND WATER

was at less than 20%,” he says. It was then that Jennymar stepped in, originally keen on just sharing his ideas. “Unfortunately, I won as president,” he adds. The challenge appeared insurmountable. They had just P3,000 in cash because of the stalled collections and absolutely no sense of organization. He asked himself what his first project should be and thought of a farm-to-market road to lower transportation costs. “I told my members, some of you have been farming here for 50, 60 years. If we are going to wait for the government to move, we might have to wait forever.” He pooled money from members, some giving as much as P1,500 per hectare, and was able to raise P56,000. They used this to build a one-kilometer road, laying dozens upon dozens of palm fronds to lay in the path of the backhoe so it wouldn’t sink into the marshy soil. The project proved Edombingo’s leadership. Impressed by their efforts, some government agencies pitched in to help, and the group was able to build a total of 8.5 kilometers of all weather roads. By this time, the group was operating like a well-oiled machine. Collection was up to 75% and attendance during meetings was near perfect. It was this initiative and audacity that shone through when Amyon was approached by the Department of Agriculture in 2012 for the Sikat Saka program. “I told the Board of Trustees, “Let’s try it. We don’t want to be dependent on this organization forever, do we? We want to be self-sufficient entrepreneurs.” With the help of an account officer from LANDBANK, a Sikat Saka partner institution, all eight farmers who applied for loans qualified. Little did he know that they were the only Irrigators’ Association that did so in the whole province of North Cotabato. The results were unprecedented. Using inputs acquired through the additional capital, their harvest yield increased significantly to an average of 147 cavans per hectare during the wet season and 119 cavans per hectare during the dry season— up from the old standard of 70 to 80 cavans. To have a sense of the change in Tulunan, Jennymar says that one just has to look around. “Before, all you would see were cows with no motor vehicles in the entire barangay. Now, many farmers have motorcycles and even multicabs and their children have gone to college.” Tulunan has begun to live up to its name.

31 HARVEST OF HEROES

EDUARDO POLICARPIO Rooted and Resilient

A quick survey of Eduardo Policarpio’s farm in Palagay, Cabanatuan City, does not reveal anything extraordinary: a modest parcel of land where rice is grown, a small shack where his tools are kept, and a variety of vegetables growing around the house which his family can cook and eat. However, you soon notice the huge trunks of mango trees lying close to the ground all over his backyard—their branches heavy with heart-shaped fruits waiting to be picked. Deeply rooted, the trees have survived countless typhoons. Like the mango trees on his farm, Eduardo’s story and that of his family is one of perseverance and resiliency. They were working in Saudi Arabia in 1990 when a miscarried pregnancy made Eduardo and his wife Rosela decide to come home so they could start a family. Back in Nueva Ecija, Eduardo became a full-time farmer, tilling the same one-hectare plot which his father had worked on before him. Aside from planting rice and vegetables, he also raised pigs and goats. From these, he earned a little from the extra produce and livestock he sold at the market. A few years later, with his family growing, he saw that what he was producing in the farm soon wouldn’t be enough. A BS Agriculture graduate, Eduardo knew he had to update his knowledge to improve his yield. And so in 1996, he attended his first seminar on scientific farming sponsored by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD).

32 Eduardo Policarpio HARVEST OF HEROES

Back in his house, Eduardo points to the wall of medals obtained by his children, all of whom are scholars in the provincial university. Asked if he wants them to be farmers like him, “Why not? The gold is in the earth, you just have to till the land to get it.”

34 THE BOUNTY OF EARTH AND WATER

“After each training, I was always excited to practice what I had learned,” Eduardo says. He hasn’t looked back since. Now into hybrid rice farming, he has increased his harvest from an average of 80 to 100 cavans per hectare to an impressive 190 to 210 cavans per hectare, at one point hitting 318 cavans. This exponential growth in production made him the top yielder for Region 3 in 2003, 2008, and 2010. Since 2003, he also has been distinguished as Magsasaka- Siyentista of Cabanatuan City, highlighting his vital role in the agricultural development of his community. He was also recognized as a Gawad Saka Outstanding Hybrid Farmer in 2011. His latest recognition is the 2013 Gawad sa Pinakatanging Kooperatiba (Pitak) Ulirang Magsasaka, a national award given to exemplary farmers by Landbank. “I bought a small piece of land with the prize money,” he relates. With three hectares of land which he now cultivates, Eduardo continues to motivate other farmers in neighboring towns to adopt technology-based agriculture. Within their own co-op, the Magsasaka ng Palagay Multi-Purpose Cooperative (MMPMPC), farmer-members have already integrated modern methods like reduced tillage and palay checks to boost production. Initially established as an association in 2002 by farmers who met at a seminar on hybrid rice farming, Eduardo was its chairman until 2011 and its manager since 2012. The co-op provides primary financial and technical assistance to its members. Through a credit line from Landbank, MMPMPC members like Eduardo can focus and plan ahead for the season—from planting to harvesting—since they don’t have to worry about running out of resources in buying farm inputs like seeds and fertilizers. Back in his house, Eduardo points to the wall of medals obtained by his children, all of whom are scholars in the provincial university. Asked if he wants them to be farmers like him, “Why not? The gold is in the earth, you just have to till the land to get it,” Eduardo answers, beaming.

35 HARVEST OF HEROES

EDDIE DE GUZMAN A Farm on the Frontier

When Eddie De Guzman’s parents arrived in Palawan from Pangasinan in the 1960s, what they found was the pristine, picturesque landscape the country’s “last frontier” is famed for, as the new, uncharted land was sandwiched between sea and mountain. It also teemed with wildlife, particularly mosquitoes. “This was all forest,” the father of three says. “Life was hard. Malaria and cholera were rampant, and they killed a lot of people, sometimes from one family.” The area would be called Narra, after the National Resettlement Rehabilitation Administration, a program of the Magsaysay government to resettle landless people from Luzon to Palawan. It officially became a municipality in 1969. Invigorated by the thought of cultivating their own land, both Eddie and his younger brother learned how to farm their nine hectares at such a young age. Growing up, he said, there was nothing else to do. And so even if he would find work with government agencies—first with the Palawan Integrated Area Development Project Office then with the provincial veterinary office—he still looked after that first farmland. In 1987, Eddie met Lita, a chemical engineer working at a nearby mining firm. They got married two years later, at about the same time their eldest, Charisse, was born. Two more girls followed in the succeeding years. Suddenly having to support a young family, he realized he and his wife couldn’t just rely on their salaries. That was when the idea of starting a cooperative came to him.

36 THE BOUNTY OF EARTH AND WATER

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” he said. “People didn’t have a high opinion of cooperatives at that time. Every barangay here had a cooperative and almost all of them failed because of mismanagement.” Determined to buck the trend, he organized 16 other farmers and became the founding chairman of the Lapu-Lapu Poblacion Multi-Purpose Cooperative in 1991. After a slow start, the group received a much-needed boost with a P300,000 loan from Landbank. The infusion allowed the coop to provide funding to its members, including production and micro-business loans. A combination of sound management, effective training, and assuring equal opportunities for every member transformed the coop from a fledgling organization to an award-winning regional powerhouse. With 465 members today, it has gone beyond lending and into other businesses, including a coop-mart and a meat processing shop. Mang Eddie, who still sits on the cooperative’s board of directors, chairs the 15,000-strong Palawan Agrarian Reform Community Federation. Best of all, the piggery that he and his wife started in 2001 successfully sent all three kids to college. “At one point all three of them were in college,” shares Lita. “Without the piggery, we couldn’t have done it. They are good kids. Smart kids. Their education is the only thing we could leave them.” Charisse, the eldest, now works as a nurse in Riyadh, while Cherry Anne and Charry both have pharmacy degrees. The latter is in medical school with help from her two older sisters. As for the farm that started it all, Eddie has bigger plans for it. “Maybe more fruit- bearing trees. We’re also thinking of expanding the fishpond. We also want to make it more presentable and maybe turn it into a resort someday.” Every morning, as the sun peeks from the mountains in the horizon, Mang Eddie rides his motorcycle to his farm and basks in the soft light. He always takes in the view, he said, but reminds himself that he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the beautiful scenery if he didn’t work hard.

37

Eddie de Guzman HARVEST OF HEROES

EMERLITO FELICIANO Learning from the Land

Emerlito Feliciano’s day starts before the dawn breaks. He wakes up as the roosters start to crow, brings his cattle to the feeding grounds, feeds the chickens, and rouses his own children from sleep to get ready for school. As early as six in the morning, he walks in the sun’s direction, downhill to Teresa, Rizal to tend their two-hectare ricefield. At 47, it takes him only half an hour to get to Angono’s neighboring town, roughly five kilometers away. There, he is welcomed by his companions and his two trusty carabaos and together, they till the soil. Sometimes, it takes them all day to finish; when the harvest is plentiful, they work till midnight. “I remember, once, we started harvesting at Christmas Eve,” Emerlito says, “and when we finished, it was the Lord’s birthday.” But that was the time, he says, when they did everything by hand. Much has changed since then. “Back when we didn’t have that many machines, we used to crouch deep to cut the rice shoots, use a blower to collect everything in a tall stack, and divide them in sacks right after. Now, the harvest goes straight to sacks.” From there, letting the rice grains dry outside has become a much simpler task. “Ever since we asked Landbank to help us through our cooperative (Rizal Rice Seed Growers Multi-Purpose Cooperative), life for us has become much easier. From acquiring the preliminary ingredients for the farm to making payment terms agreeable for us, they always make sure that we have plenty left for our families.” He points out that it used to cost them P1,000 to purchase three sacks of rice starters from private millers. This left them with very little profit after three and a half months.

40 Emerlito Feliciano with father Rosendo Feliciano

THE BOUNTY OF EARTH AND WATER

However, when they started to receive financial support fromL andbank, they were able to plan ahead and align their finances with their family’s goals. Now, Emerlito prides himself in having his eldest son, John Eric, pass the recent board exams for electrical engineers. He hopes that his three other children would likewise find their niche and succeed. “One of my sons seems to be taking an interest in veterinary medicine,” he says, “It makes me happy that my own children have taken an interest in farming. I’m glad that our family’s pride is carried on.” Whenever he gets the chance, Emerlito trains his children in handling the farm’s animals. He says that it teaches his children discipline. Also, he believes that this enables his children to trust in themselves in handling the farm.

I realize that I’ll continue farming because I find it most fulfilling when I see things grow. I find it fulfilling that I am able to help out in feeding the country.

Emerlito himself had to forgo college to devote himself to farming. But, he says, “It didn’t really feel like I stopped schooling when I turned to farming. I have continued attending seminars set up by the Department of Agriculture. I don’t think I’ll ever stop learning from the land.” Due to his continuing thirst to improve his land’s output, Emerlito has placed as 1st runner-up in the Ulirang Magsasaka category of Landbank’s Gawad Pitak in 2013 . In ten years’ time, he hopes to own a bigger piece of land so he can contribute more from his produce. “I might no longer be cultivating rice by then, but maybe I’ll be raising cattle, chickens, or even quails. I realize that I’ll continue farming because I find it most fulfilling when I see things grow. I find it fulfilling that I am able to help out in feeding the country.”

43 HARVEST OF HEROES

ROSALINA MAPOY God’s Favorite Duck Farm

For Rosalina Mapoy, being a hands-on agribusiness owner remains the most important aspect of the job. Each morning, she continues to do what has already been her routine for the past seven years: make her rounds in her poultry farm and harvest the duck eggs. “As an entrepreneur, you should know everything that happens in your business,” Rosalina explains. “You have to be on top of every situation so you can address the problems that come along.” Sticking by that philosophy has made God’s Favorite Duck Farm one of the most successful poultry farms in Candaba, Pampanga—a place now considered the new balut capital of the Philippines. Rosalina and her partner, Rudy, were able to build an agribusiness enterprise which produces 26,000 duck eggs a day, supplying balut to various provinces in the country. “Our balut reaches as far as General Santos and Zamboanga. Ask any distributor in those areas where they get their balut, and they will tell you it’s from God’s Favorite,” Rudy quips. Their success, however, wasn’t merely a case of having a goose that laid golden eggs. Their initial business of buying and selling duck feeds didn’t work out as planned when they loaned most of their products to duck growers who couldn’t pay their dues on time. Still, the setback became a turning point which opened an opportunity for them to engage in duck farming, says Rosalina. “In 2007, we built our first duck house in the small lot which I inherited from my family. That was the beginning of our farm.”

44 Rosalina Mapoy & Rudy Viniegas God’s Favorite Duck Farm

THE BOUNTY OF EARTH AND WATER

It was at that point when the couple started to build a relationship with Landbank. Through a cooperative that had the bank as its partner, they took out their first loan of P5,000 which they used to buy chicks for their farm. “Even from the beginning, we only borrowed what we could pay. And we made sure we only spent the money for what it was intended for,” Rosalina says. Eventually, with their hard work and the help of dedicated personnel, their profits steadily increased. This allowed them to expand and diversify into other fields which fitted well into their existing business. For Rosalina, it was only a matter of utilizing their resources to maximize their production. “We thought of buying more land and building a fishpond,” she says. “We pastured our ducks in the field and we needed a pond where they could take a bath. This ensured that they were in the best condition.”

As an entrepreneur, you should know everything that happens in your business. You have to be on top of every situation so you can address the problems that come along.

And so while duck farming and balut production remained the centerpiece of their operations, they began to invest in rice cultivation, purchasing nearby lots and machineries to boost their harvest. So far, the yield has been bountiful, with their rice fields producing an average of 150 cavans per hectare in a single planting season. In addition, they keep 32,000 ducks in 7 duck houses, store their eggs in warehouse- sized incubators, and transport their products using their own trucks. Each new step in their growth was made possible with Landbank, says Rosalina. “It was very easy for us to get a loan from them. Whenever we needed money to pay for additional running expenses or for construction of new buildings, Landbank helped us.” And now with a credit line of P10 million as of December 2014, Rosalina still sees their farm growing further. For her successful integration of various agribusiness components, Rosalina was awarded the 2nd place in the 2013 Gawad PITAK Ulirang Magsasaka by LANDBANK.

47 HARVEST OF HEROES

RUBEN RAGAS The Careful Planner

Ruben Ragas’ 3.5-hectare farm in Cabadbaran City, Agusan del Norte is clearly a product of careful and meticulous planning. All sections—from the quarter-hectare fish pond and livestock shed to the various vegetable plots—are strategically laid out for specific reasons. “It has to be,” Ruben says. “For example, since the wind from the sea blows from the west, if we put the livestock shed west of the house, the stench is going to go straight to our living room. Everything has to be thought out.” It was a far cry from what he found in the property in 1997. The two hectares in Barangay Sanghan that he received under land reform were overrun with tall grass. It was so infertile that only root crops and corn could grow on it. “Clearing the land alone took several months,” he said. “Pushing it beyond sustenance farming took three to five years.” He was used to grueling work. His father himself was an agrarian reform beneficiary in their native Maitum, Sarangani, and Mang Ruben started managing their one hectare farm when he was just 12 years old. He supported himself through high school, before the family moved to Cabadbaran to avoid the frequent clashes between Muslim rebels and government troops. He tried to work his way through college, but it proved too hard and he quit after two years.

48 Ruben Ragas HARVEST OF HEROES

A farmer has to be a scientist, he stresses. “You have to do a lot of observing. For insects. Pests. Soil quality. You can’t just plant and plant. When I learn of a new variety, I put it on an adaptability trial for six months and see how it fares.”

50 THE BOUNTY OF EARTH AND WATER

In 1999, when his eldest Rendale was born, he realized that things would have to change if he was to provide a better life for his young family. Determined to improve his farming skills, Mang Ruben started to attend seminars offered by the Department of Agriculture, which he found very enlightening. “What really struck me,” he says, “were the advances in technology and farming system development. When I was growing up, we only used one variety of seeds and no fertilizer. It was a very backward way to farm.” He recalled a field tour in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon that he took with more than 100 other farmers. The way they did things was impressive, he says, but he still took the time to study if their methods were applicable in a place like Cabadbaran. “Technology will always be there but the situation on the ground might be different. For example, the so-called ‘chopsuey’ vegetables that they plant in Bukidnon may only be suitable for upland areas. Here, what we grow best are ‘pinakbet’ vegetables, like okra, squash, bitter gourd, and string beans.” A farmer has to be a scientist, he stresses. “You have to do a lot of observing. For insects. Pests. Soil quality. You can’t just plant and plant. When I learn of new varieties, I put them on an adaptability trial for six months and see how it fares.” Mang Ruben had since diversified into raising tilapia and various livestock. After hitting his stride, he joined the Baug CARP Beneficiaries Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BCBMPC), based in nearby Magallanes town, in 2008. His first loan from the co-op was for P15,000, which he used to buy seedlings and farm inputs. Over the next few years, he went to Baug for more capital, including the latest— a P50,000 loan to help him buy another half-hectare of land. This brings to P100,000, the total loan granted to him by the co-op. BCBMPC was itself originally composed of 110 agrarian reform beneficiaries. With assets of P319.6 million as of December 2014, it has more than 9,000 members, 80% of whom are small farmers. Their P200-million credit line with Landbank is fully utilized, a testament to the organization’s robust financial standing and good reputation—and to the industry and careful planning of members like Mang Ruben.

51 SMALL STEPS to BIG DREAMS In many a Filipino beats the heart of an entrepreneur—a man or woman for whom needs mean opportunities, and opportunities mean new battles to be fought, new frontiers to be explored. They may go into business initially for themselves, but inevitably their efforts benefit a much larger community. As the business succeeds and grows, its horizons also expand, and the entrepreneur eagerly assumes a new set of challenges. Micro, small, and medium enterprises or MSMEs are themselves the beating heart of the Philippine economy, accounting for over 99 percent of all enterprises. They may be operating on a modest scale, but they all dream of making it big, and Landbank has been there to help with every step of the way. HARVEST OF HEROES

CRISTINA AND MARIO NICOLAS Bouncing Back from Rock Bottom

“My checks were like balls,” quips businessman Mario Nicolas. “They bounced and bounced!” Mario, a licensed electrical engineer, had started MN Electro in Carmen, Pangasinan, on the back of his 15-year stint at the National Electrification Administration (NEA). From trading electric materials and equipment in the early years, the company expanded to building sub-stations for power utilities, as well as transmission lines and telecommunication facilities. It was a capital-intensive field, and the company suffered all the birth pains associated with start-ups. “It was a very competitive field. Sometimes we lowered our prices just to win projects, and in the end we got little or no profit at all,” recalls Mario. With little assets to offer as collateral and poor earnings, taking out loans from commercial banks was out of the question. Back against the wall, Mario and his wife Cristina, an accountant, were forced to go to loan sharks. But they pressed on; Mario had faith in the business and in his knowledge of it. His checks bounced and his reputation took a hit, but he persisted. It was Mario’s reliable network of friends and partners, built over his 15 years at the NEA, plus a much-needed capital boost from Landbank, that eventually orchestrated the turnaround.

54 SMALL STEPS TO BIG DREAMS

In 2005, he was granted a P3-million credit line that he used to expand his business. At that point, he was already dealing with the National Power Corporation and a host of electric cooperatives in northern Luzon as a contractor for various rural electrification projects. With the capital boost, MN Electro trained its sights south. From Cagayan to Misamis Oriental, from Kalinga to South Cotabato, MN Electro helped electrify the farthest, most remote barangays in the country. Several barangays in the Pacific-facing towns of Palanan and Maconacon in Isabela, reachable only by air or after days-long trek across the forested Sierra Madre, now benefit from a power plant constructed with help from MN Electro. Beyond doing business, MN Electro has been able to help Filipinos in their darkest hour. “When Yolanda hit the Visayas in late 2013, we were doing a project in Antique. We were asked to help out in the restoration of power in some affected areas,” says Mario. Soon they paid off all their high-interest loans and the checks stopped bouncing, Cristina adds. They were able to invest in a number of assets, including a 5,000-sqm property in Pandi, Bulacan. From here, goods and equipment are now hauled for the company’s projects in Luzon. Every Friday, a coaster takes the stay-in employees from Bulacan back to Pangasinan. “We treat them like our own children,” Mario says proudly of their employees. Lea Torio, who was 21 when she joined the company as a bookkeeper in 1997, says she didn’t quit amid all the uncertainties because she saw how dedicated the Nicolas couple was. “They never let us down,” she says. At the outset, MN Electro had the ingredients of successful venture. Mario had the network and technical expertise. Cristina had the necessary financial management and people skills. The employees were loyal and properly trained, thanks to Mario’s hands-on approach. All it needed was a little trust, which Landbank offered. With the couple’s eldest son Michael, himself a licensed electrical engineer, now helping out in the business as engineering manager, the company is in safe hands. With a slew of projects in its portfolio, including solar and wind farms, the trust that Landbank gave MN Electro has proven to be more than justified.

55

Sps. Cristina & Mario Nicolas MN Electro Industrial Supply and Services HARVEST OF HEROES

RAMIR BONGHANOY From Engineering to Art

Ramir Bonghanoy, 54, is a mechanical engineer by profession. He can discuss steel and copper with passion then shift to buttons and necklaces with the same intensity. As founder and President/Chairman of Bon Ace Fashion Tools, Inc. in Minglanilla, Cebu, Ramir has tempered the coldness of machines and used them to make graceful objects of art. The “Ace” in the company’s name stands for “art cum engineering” and “Bon” comes from the letters of his surname. “As a kid, I drew a lot,” explains Ramir. Though, as a student, he sold drawings at P5 a piece, he considers himself a “frustrated artist.” Years of hard work have taught him that confidence and humility must always go together. His father was a bus driver while his mother worked as a part-time manicurist. Living in dire circumstances, his parents made sure he got the best education possible. A turning point in his life came when he attended Don Bosco Technical High School. It was there that he learned and honed his skill as a machinist. Up until now, he proudly shares his Bosconian experience: “We were trained to do ordinary things extraordinarily well.” Being a co-owner of a machine shop at 27, he became a staunch advocate of strengthening the national capacity for machine building. However, he was met with strong resistance especially among local lawmakers. “Had we continued our advocacy, we would be building helicopters by now,” he declares with optimism. Along with his wife Gina, Ramir looked for other business opportunities. Cebu, being an island, provided the raw material for their first product as well as their succeeding product lines. Shells were the material of choice. The Bon-Ace touch would breathe new life into the sea’s lustrous flotsam.

58 Engr. Ramir Bonghanoy Bon-Ace Fashion Tools, Inc. HARVEST OF HEROES

Exclusive artistry borne out of Filipino ingenuity led Bon-Ace to frequent participation in international trade fairs. Ramir remembers the first exhibit he went to in Paris and the positive and warm remarks of other designers. He knew he had something, and all he needed was to have Bon-Ace products better known in the international market.

60 SMALL STEPS TO BIG DREAMS

They began in a small nipa hut in 1993 with eight employees and an initial capital of P15,000. An export market was identified and in time, they were shipping buttons carved with shells to Italy. But some buttons never made it through quality control. Instead of the garbage bin, they went back to the design table and were transformed into button necklaces. From these small products, Bon Ace grew to produce more fashion accessories and went into home and office furniture as well. The artist in Ramir never left him as proven by his breakthrough creation known as the “Radica” inlay design. An engineering and artistic accomplishment, it has been protected by the Intellectual Property Office for two decades. Exclusive artistry borne out of Filipino ingenuity led Bon-Ace to frequent participation in international trade fairs. Ramir remembers the first exhibit he went to in Paris and the positive and warm remarks of other designers. He knew he had something, and all he needed was to have Bon-Ace products better known in the international market. “My problem was, no bank would believe in me,” he says of those days of self-marketing. In 2010, he approached Landbank, which approved a loan of P20 million. With additional funds, Bon Ace was able to join more trade exhibits, resulting in more partnerships and tie-ups abroad. Currently, they have a steady market in Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Saudi Arabia. Less than 5% of their production goes to the local market. From a small hut to its present 6,500-sqm compound, Bon Ace has grown to more than 300 employees. As a Landbank partner, Bon Ace’s current loan is being used for infrastructure construction and additional capital. Even if a rundown of their clients sounds like a “Who’s who?” in the fashion industry, Bon Ace is aware that nature, which provides adequate supply of raw materials, must be treated with due respect hence, the company is a strong advocate of sound environmental practices. For the starting entrepreneur, Ramir advises them to be “more aggressive.” He adds, “Follow your heart. Love what you do. These things need preparation. You should build your own character.”

61 HARVEST OF HEROES

RENATO AND TERESITA ALCERA A Return to Wonderland

It is impossible to enter Takara’s showroom without feeling like a child again. The room is populated with tiny elves and tall tinsel soldiers from the North Pole, and figurines of Santa Claus arrested in different stances and expressions of Christmas merriment; Halloween skeletons, posed as if dancing with smiles pasted on their faces, and pumpkin heads laughing joyfully; Easter eggs and ornaments hanging from the shelves, each one colored with bright pastel colors; and stout leprechaun figurines with their cheeks blushing, red with excitement over the pot of glittering gold they stand beside. Takara’s showroom welcomes clients from all over the world and turns their long and weary trip to Taytay, Rizal into a brief return to their inner child’s wonderland. Renato and Teresita Alcera believe that this is one of their secrets to success. “There are no sad days in this company,” Teresita says. “We make sure that our workers are happy because if they’re not happy, how can they make their works look happy, too?” Takara creates decorations for the year’s different calendar holidays. The company has a backbone of nearly 70 suppliers that reach as far south as Quezon Province and as far north as Bulacan, totaling a workforce of over one thousand people. The word takara is Japanese for “treasure.” Admittedly, they were not the ones who thought of the name but it immediately appealed to them when one of their merchandisers suggested it to them. The name, however, was a self-fulfilling

62 SMALL STEPS TO BIG DREAMS

prophecy for them, for the company meant nothing less than that for the husband and wife tandem, their children, staff, laborers, and crew. Takara, like many businesses, is the confluence of chance and the hard work of Teresita and Renato. The two of them met in a thread factory in Pasig, late in the ‘70s, and married soon after. Renato then left the factory to work as a cabinet salesman in Arranque. There, he got in touch with a Chinese businessman by the name of William Sy and worked part-time as their carpenter, fixing their house’s workings. William recognized his talents and one day asked him to make a basket out of wire. Soon enough, an exporter got hold of his products and Renato was getting orders from abroad.

It was seeing everyone, from the delivery people to the staff, improve their lives while working for Takara where we found most fulfillment.

“But it wasn’t a smooth rise to where we are now,” says Teresita. In 2001, right after the 9/11 bombings in the United States, their products lost ground due to slowed spending in the international market. “They began to shift to China for their decor because they were cheaper. Until 2007, we incurred losses. It was so tough that we had to work in the United States just to pay off our debts.” The Alceras thought of closing shop at that time. The company had to downsize drastically in order to keep their workers’ wages at a just level. “It was really a blessing when Landbank set up a meeting with bulk exporters. They were the first to trust us,” Renato said. “And we wanted to pay them back by meeting our targets and their deadline.” Slowly but surely, from 2008 onward, they rediscovered what made their business fulfilling for them. “It was seeing everyone, from the delivery people to the staff, improve their lives while working for Takara where we found most fulfillment,” Teresita says. “It became a year-round celebration for us when we knew we were helping improve other people’s lives.”

63 Sps. Teresita & Renato Alcera Takara International Exports Corp.

HARVEST OF HEROES

NORA LIWANAG A Promise Redeemed

When she was in high school, businesswoman Nora Liwanag was walking to their house in Roxas, Oriental Mindoro one afternoon when she saw something that stirred a fresh powerful sense of ambition. “This area was all forest at that time,” Nora says. “On my way home I saw a rice mill and I told myself that someday I’m going to be richer than the owner of that rice mill.” As early as then, young Nora was convinced that entrepreneurship was going to be a big part of her life. At an early age, her father would take her to the slaughterhouse in town to look after the pigs under his care. She was also taught to sell products like meat and dried fish. “I didn’t want to do household chores,” she admitted. “I wanted to hold money in my hands. It felt exciting to me. I found household chores boring.” She was just two years old when her family moved to Roxas from Calapan. Her mother had P50 in her wallet and a sewing machine, and it was through the miracle of business that they were able to send all eight kids to college, including Nora, who finished Pharmacy and eventually became a licensed pharmacist. “After graduating from college in Manila, I found a job and worked for six months,” she said, “but my salary wasn’t even enough to pay for my stockings and lipstick so I came back to Roxas to try my hand at business.”

66 Nora Liwanag R.E. Liwanag Rice Mill HARVEST OF HEROES

Over the years, as the economy of Roxas grew, R.E. Liwanag Rice Mill also grew. A three- hectare property today houses a total of 10 mechanical dryers that could mill a total of 90 bags of rice per hour. Ten trucks are on standby to make deliveries, and the overall storage area is one of the biggest in the region. Ten full-time employees work in the mill, in addition to a lot of seasonal help.

68 SMALL STEPS TO BIG DREAMS

That first drug store is still operational today, but it was in the rice mill and trading business where Nora would really make her mark. In 1983, when she was already married with three kids, she laid the foundation of what would be R.E. Liwanag Rice Mill, one of the biggest in the entire province of Oriental Mindoro today. “We started with one small machine that we bought in Batangas,” she said. “Its capacity was about 12 bags per hour. My mother-in-law had a small rice mill in Bongabon so maybe that was part of the appeal as well.” In 1995 Nora began her relationship with Landbank with a P3-million loan, which she used to expand the rice mill as well as venture into other businesses like retail and real estate. “What I appreciated most about Landbank was its flexibility,” she said. “Whenever the area would be affected by typhoons, for example, they understood that the farmers would have a difficult time meeting their obligations.” And so over the years, as the economy of Roxas grew, R.E. Liwanag Rice Mill also grew. A three-hectare property today houses a total of 10 mechanical dryers that could mill a total of 90 bags of rice per hour. Ten trucks are on standby to make deliveries, and the overall storage area is one of the biggest in the region. Ten full-time employees work in the mill, in addition to a lot of seasonal help. The range of businesses also brought the family closer. Her third-born Ronald now helps her manage the rice mill, while Brandon, the eldest, looks after the supermarket. Francis, the second, acts as a dealer for their two gas stations, while the youngest Noreen Grace is a businesswoman managing a developmental disabled facility business in the US. As for Nora, who began everything with a wide-eyed vision in her head, she was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Landbank in 2013. Winning the award, she says she found herself transported back to that moment when she saw that rice mill and made a promise to herself. “I’m always thankful, especially when I remember what we’ve been through,” she said. “The memories always push me to do more.”

69 HARVEST OF HEROES

RAMON OÑATE Leading the Land and the People

Ramon Oñate first came to LANDBANK in 1998 for assistance in building his house and business. While small—on a lot no more than 200 square meters—the house was a matter of pride as much as of necessity for Ramon and his wife Lourdes. They had been married 16 years before they could start building this house, and it would take 11 more years to complete the project. Finally, in 2009, the house was done. He could have shortened that process considerably had he applied for a loan sooner, but like most Filipinos, Ramon was wary of getting a loan from a bank. “I was afraid of getting into any kind of debt, and then there were the guarantees that the bank required, but as time passed, I realized that talking to LANDBANK was the right thing to do, both for our house and our business.” Even with the financial help, progress did not come easy for the Oñates. They had three children studying far away in Cebu. At the same time, they had six businesses to manage in Palompon: growing chickens under contract, a trucking line, a boutique, an agri-vet feeds store, a meat shop, and a water refilling station. “It was important that we didn’t forget about the important things—like this house. But we also made sure that the money for business was for business, and the money for the house was for the house,” Ramon explains.

70 SMALL STEPS TO BIG DREAMS

He adds that new entrepreneurs these days sometimes forget to apply discipline in handling money. Some lose it to gambling; some lose it when they divert the money to other less important things; some lose it just because they don’t have the foresight required to anticipate business trends, problems, and opportunities. Also, sometimes, they miss out when big opportunities arise and they don’t have the working capital they need. “That’s when LANDBANK came in,” says Ramon. “I overcame my fear of borrowing money and my uneasiness with bank guarantees. I came to see that carrying a loan made me handle money more responsibly.” The loans also helped the Oñates diversify their businesses, so that one became a buffer for the other. “As with any business, there are good times and bad times. Sometimes, the chickens get sick. Sometimes, the pigs don’t grow fat. That’s the advantage of having other businesses. You won’t really have nothing to do or nothing to compensate for your losses,” says Ramon. Ramon had also entered politics, and had become Palompon’s mayor—a very popular one at that, constantly being asked to run for another term. When Typhoon Yolanda struck the Visayas in 2013, cutting a wide swath of brutal destruction, Ramon says that it was his background in business management that kept him levelheaded and hopeful through it all. Yolanda ripped metal roofs from the town and dropped them into the sea. It stole three months’ worth of harvest overnight. Water supplies ran low and all local communications went down. But thankfully, the typhoon brought no casualties to Palompon. And in less than a day, electricity was restored. Thanks, in part, to Mayor Ramon Oñate’s immediate response in mobilizing the town. In a dilapidated speedboat, he rode out to Cebu as soon as the seas settled to report on their condition and to call for help. Less than four months after Yolanda, Palompon turned itself around. “We saw the destruction as an opportunity to get up. We didn’t depend on relief goods. We built up our cash crops. Now the people here have money they can call their own.” The entrepreneur-turned-politician knows that business, in a sense, is managed risk, a lesson that his experience with LANDBANK has taught him well.

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Mayor Ramon Oñate DBSN Farm & Retailers HARVEST OF HEROES

SEVERINA and benJAMIN VELOS A Fresh Start in Bukidnon

Severina “Bebie” Velos had little ambition when she started to sell deodorants as a way to augment her meager government salary. The youngest of nine kids from Bukidnon was sent to study chemical engineering in Cebu. However, after failing to find a job after graduation, she came back to Bukidnon and vowed to work doubly hard. She was not alone when she returned. Cebu native Ben Velos also faced a challenging job market as a fresh marine engineering graduate. After getting married in 1980, the two decided to try their luck in her hometown three years later. “We thought that in Bukidnon, life would be simple,” says Ben. And so from deodorants, Bebie went on to sell a range of products—from dried fish and RTW to sneakers and insurance—as the couple finally landed jobs with the provincial engineer’s office. They rented a small room; but even as they began earning, they knew they needed to do more. It was when she started to sell insurance that Bebie realized her uncommon ability in persuasion. In 1986, at about the same time their first child was born, she bagged her first commission and used it to buy a guitar for her husband to use in music ministry for a religious organization. Her second commission went to a foam bed. The next, a radio. But the success was drawing them apart. Bebie was often away on the job, and Ben didn’t like it, so they looked for ways to be financially secure without compromising their growing family.

74 Sps. Severina & Benjamin Velos Velomer Poultry & Hog Breeder Farms HARVEST OF HEROES

Their 10-hectare poultry farm has gained citations locally and abroad for outstanding livability and production performance. Its capacity is up to 60,000 birds. Their 25-hectare piggery, meanwhile, is one of Monterey’s largest suppliers in Mindanao at 1,100 sows level. It is also one of the few hog breeder farms that cover the complete cycle of pork production, from breeding to farrowing to nursery to grow-finishing.

76 SMALL STEPS TO BIG DREAMS

Ben soon joined his wife in the insurance business and using the windfall from her insurance commissions, they started buying parcels of land, mostly in the foothills of Mount Kitanglad in the provincial capital of Malaybalay. In 2001, they heard that San Miguel Foods, Inc. was accepting new poultry breeders/growers in Mindanao. They immediately cleared a 10-hectare sugarcane lot and converted it to a poultry farm. They came to Landbank for an initial P6-million loan to help finance the poultry buildings and other farm structures, emboldened by Bebie’s experience in sales and Ben’s farming and technical- know-how. Little did they know then that they were only beginning. A few years later, they obtained another P3-million loan from Landbank for the expansion of another poultry house. Another door opened in 2007, when they were approached by Monterey Foods, now San Miguel Foods, Inc., for a hog-breeding contract. Once again they came to Landbank for a much-needed P14-million credit facility, more confident this time but no less diligent. Today, their 10-hectare poultry farm has gained citations locally and abroad for outstanding livability and production performace. Its capacity is up to 60,000 birds. Their 25-hectare piggery, meanwhile, is one of San Miguel Foods, Inc.’s largest suppliers in Mindanao at 1,100 sows level. It is also one of the few hog breeder farms that cover the complete cycle of pork production, from breeding to farrowing to nursery to grow-finishing. Now retired from government service and the insurance business, the two devote all their time in their hog and poultry farms. Their four kids with their eldest, 28-year-old Sherry Mae, an attorney by profession, now helping out in the business— are all familiar with their parents’ arduous journey to where they are now. Bebie and Ben themselves are not taking it easy, despite the bigger house and the more comfortable lifestyle. They still look after their business with the same eye for detail and persistence they showed at the start.

77 HARVEST OF HEROES

PEDRO AND CATHERINE DELANTAR NATURE’S LEGACY

Pedro and Catherine Delantar started out in the furniture business dealing with rattan and other indigenous products as raw materials. One day, while cleaning their work area, they noticed how materials such as stone, dead shrubs, twigs and branches just went into waste. Driven by a creative spirit and guided by a vision of “greening” the furniture industry, the couple decided to turn natural objects into utilitarian works of art. It was 1996 and the fusion of business and ecological awareness in the local market seemed far out. Someone had to take the gamble and Nature’s Legacy, Inc. went for the challenge. Based in Compostela, Cebu, Pete and Cathy knew the odds in a place renowned for being the furniture capital of the Philippines. It was this tough competition that made the Delantar couple invest P5 million as start-up capital, much of which went to research. “We knew that the Europeans were already practicing environment-friendly furniture production since 1996,” Pete relates. With a keen eye on the foreign market, they started focusing on research and development for a more diversified product line. The company now has more than 4,000 mixed media designs and 23 Philippine patents, including their most popular product, the stonecast, which is composed of natural crushed limestone mixed with resin. The company’s customers are mostly based in Europe, the USA, the Middle East, the UK, and a number of Asian countries. Nature’s Legacy has also passed the green technology and design standards of Costco, USA and Target, renowned international store chains. Among local clients, Manila remains its main market.

78 Pedro Delantar Nature’s Legacy Eximport, Inc. HARVEST OF HEROES

The partnership of Pete and Cathy has been key to the success of the company. Theirs is a synergy of balance as Cathy’s vision and audacious ideas complement Pete’s more conservative approach to handling business.

80 SMALL STEPS TO BIG DREAMS

The partnership of Pete and Cathy has been key to the success of the company. Theirs is a synergy of balance as Cathy’s vision and audacious ideas complement Pete’s more conservative approach to handling business. Their pioneering spirit has been widely recognized as they continue to bag prime industry awards in and out of the country, which include the Gold Award under the Building Materials and Material Innovation and Architectural categories during the 43rd International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, Switzerland and the Excellent Innovation Award from the Malaysian Association of Research Scientists. They were also recognized for their Green Supply Leadership at the DENR’s 2015 Award for Climate- Resilient & Eco-friendly Companies and received the Most Outstanding Achievement in Export at the 34th Agora Awards, the 2012 KATHA Award for Best Eco Design and the 2008 Garbo sa Sugbo (Pride of Cebu) Award, among many others for manufacturing modern eco-friendly furniture and home accessories. Bent on promoting a greener production philosophy, Nature’s Legacy is currently implementing environmental initiatives and practices such as daylight-saving time, compressed work-week systems, and the use of bio-fuels. It also aims to reduce its carbon footprint by procuring supplies and raw materials from sources within a 50-mile radius. To help its 200-plus employees, a shuttle service is provided as well as a housing system with very minimal fees for permanent employees. In part, these partners in production inspired Pete and Cathy to establish the Nature’s Legacy Foundation in 2002 with the primary goal of developing families and communities through an integrated family life enhancement program. Its success has prompted the company to seek a wider market share in the organic furniture and design industry in the United States, particularly in New York and California, and other places overseas. This expansion, however, requires fresh capital for joining trade fairs and exhibits in other countries. This prompted Nature’s Legacy, Inc. to secure a P25-million loan from Landbank in 2011. Pete relates how invigorating his experience with the bank was: “Landbank is different because it’s growth-focused and concerned with how you diversify and conquer new markets. We didn’t get this from other banks.” He adds, “Landbank is not afraid to take risks. They take the same risks as their clients do.” Greening the home and work environment is certainly one risk well worth taking, as Nature’s Legacy can attest to.

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NIÑO PAULO MARTINEZ A Bountiful Bread basket

Growing up, it was almost predestined for Niño Paulo Martinez to eventually take over Laura’s Food Products, his family’s biscuits and bread business that started as a small bakery in the early 1980s. In 2001, Niño officially joined the company after years of tagging along in business meetings and learning the ropes. He was just 20 years old. “I’m the eldest,” he says, “so I continued and helped run the business by default.” The management information systems graduate from Ateneo says he would spend summers in the bakery helping out in any way he could. After getting his feet wet, he finally took the inevitable plunge in 2001. “When I first took over, the company wasn’t in the best shape,” he says. “There were a lot of problems with the workforce, and our sales weren’t so good.” He knew that he needed to make it work somehow. Laura’s Food Products wasn’t just a way to make money. It was a testament to his family’s hard work as it was Niño’s parents who started Laura’s. Like all startups, the birth pains were tough. From selling bread—mostly pan de sal from their bakery in Sampaloc, Manila they transferred to Quezon City and eventually started to manufacture traditional biscuits that they would sell to supermarkets. As a new player with absolutely no presence in the market, breaching that first hurdle was everything. Today, they are located in Angono, Rizal where their products are made to be distributed throughout the Philippines as well as to overseas markets, like USA, Saudi Arabia, and UAE.

82 Niño Paulo Martinez Laura’s Food Products Corporation

SMALL STEPS TO BIG DREAMS

In 2003, Laura’s began a partnership with Landbank, which would become key in turning the business around, says Niño. “Because of the low interest rates that we got, we were able to get the financing we needed to acquire machines that helped increase our volume of production and lower our costs,” he explains. Laura’s started to steadily grow three years later in 2006, and it has never looked back since. “Right now we’re in the process of acquiring more machines,” he says. “We want to expand our factory in Angono.” They are now making Laura’s not only a manufacturing company but also a distribution company. “We’re distributing local and foreign brands like Julie’s Biscuits from Malaysia and Healthy Chef Soya Oil from Thailand,” he says. “We’re only on our fourth year doing this, and we want to take on and import more product lines, just continuously grow and strengthen our presence in the market.”

Relationships are key in the success of any business. I also treat my employees with importance. If you give them what is due them and treat them kindly, they will give back. You will never regret it.

As their elders perhaps envisioned, the family still plays a big role in the venture. Niño’s father, who began everything, is now retired at 75, while his mother, at 60, has set up a catering business with Niño’s younger sister. He himself is married with two kids, who are 7 and 2. “I welcome the idea of them continuing the business someday if they want to,” he says. “But it’s also OK if they want to do something else. There are other family members who can take over if necessary.” “Family” is also a keyword in the way he deals with customers and employees alike, Niño says, following a leadership style that has evolved over the years. “I personally talk to distributors and treat them as family,” he explains. “Relationships are key in the success of any business. I also treat my employees with importance. If you give them what is due them and treat them kindly, they will give back. You will never regret it.”

85 HARVEST OF HEROES

SALVADOR AND NOVA VELUZ Good Food, Good Vibes

In Lucban, Quezon, near the arch welcoming motorists coming from Laguna, rows of sunflowers beckon visitors into Buddy’s Commissary—the main facility which prepares and delivers the food to its outlets. The flower is a staple image in the town’s annualPahiyas Festival, but has also now become synonymous with the restaurant chain known for its delectable Lucban delicacies and festive ambiance. “We wanted to bring the festival to our customers,” says entrepreneur Salvador Veluz, or “Buddy” to his family and friends. A former Electrolux man, Salvador started in the food business in 1983 as a farmer who grew vegetables at the foot of Mt. Banahaw which he sold in Divisoria, Manila. He made fresh lumpia from his extra produce and delivered it to schools and various establishments in Lucban. When his patrons started looking for other products, Salvador opened his first store, Buddy’s Burger, on the ground floor of their family residence near the town plaza in 1986. The food joint became very popular with the locals, but it was in 1991 when Buddy’s began to evolve into what it is now. That year, Salvador married Nova, a nurse who practiced in the United States, but who, along with her husband, now worked full time for their business. Two months later, they opened their second store in Lucena City. It was also the first time they offeredpancit Lucban, a signature dish of their town. “We thought of bringing the flavor of Lucban to the city,” Nova explained. “Fortunately, people responded to it very well and business was brisk.”

86 Sps. Nova & Salvador Veluz Buddy’s Restaurant

HARVEST OF HEROES

Despite their success, Salvador and Nova continue to be modest and kind to the people around them, especially to their employees whose contributions to their business they never forget. In turn, their employees—such as Dulce Villalon, an area manager who started working at Buddy’s as a cashier 26 years ago—remain dedicated to them and happy with their work. Good food and good vibes do go together.

88 SMALL STEPS TO BIG DREAMS

Their union became fruitful, as they opened additional branches in Tayabas and a second store in Lucena—now Buddy’s Pizza—inside the city’s first mall in 1994. Aside from Pancit Lucban, other Lucban specialties were added to their menu, including longganisang Lucban, hardinera, and cassava cake. At the same time, their stores have also taken on the garb of the Pahiyas Festival, bringing its colorful kiping (rice wafers) and ubiquitous sunflowers into their premises. Yet, it was at this branch that the couple faced one of their biggest challenges. “In the mall, our stall was surrounded by already established fast food brands. We had doubts whether we could stand up to the competition,” Nova admits. The first three months were the hardest. “We saw customers going instead to these more popular fast foods outlets. Our sales really went down,” Nova said. “But after that period, people slowly came back to our store.” Due to the success of all their branches in Quezon, they decided to put up a new store near their house in Kakarong, Makati in 1998, and another branch just five blocks away, after a year. From then on, the couple expanded their venture even further, setting up more branches in Quezon and Metro Manila. In 2000, they took out a loan from Landbank to help them achieve their goals. “That year, we were planning to open our sixth branch at SM Lucena which needed a bigger capital than our previous stores. At the same time, we were also having our house renovated,” Nova said. Now with 12 stores in strategic locations, the Veluzes are continuing their partnership with Landbank in developing the future of their family and their business. “They are easy to deal with. They are always ready to help when we need financial assistance for our business,” Nova says. So far, the partnership has been rewarding. In 2007 and 2013, Salvador and Nova were recognized as Outstanding Non Agri-based Entrepreneur by the Bank. Despite their success, Salvador and Nova continue to be modest and kind to the people around them, especially to their employees whose contributions to their business they never forget. In turn, their employees—such as Dulce Villalon, an area manager who started working at Buddy’s as a cashier 26 years ago—remain dedicated to them and happy with their work. Good food and good vibes do go together.

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JONATHAN SUY From Waste to Wealth

On a normal day, Jomaray Pulp Packaging Industries (JPPI) produces up to 500 bundles of egg trays. The 24-hour operation, which involves 100 employees in three shifts, takes place in a 27,000-square- meter industrial lot in Dumoy, a 45-minute ride from the center of Davao City. A successful enterprise by any measure, JPPI began with a series of “what ifs,” says entrepreneur and Davao native Jonathan Suy. In college, Jonathan was engaged in a part-time business selling surplus newspapers to agricultural companies. Eventually, he found himself with an oversupply, and his warehouse was filled to the rafters with paper. That was when he thought about his options as an entrepreneur.“That was in 1996. At that time, my parents were in the egg business,” he says. “They were using paper egg trays. That’s when I started thinking, “What if?” With help from his father, Jonathan bought an egg tray machine from Iceland. They began manufacturing egg trays out of paper, solving the problem of excess paper inventory. But soon another problem arose. “The paper supply could no longer sustain our production requirements. At that time I began noticing that there was a lot of waste paper and cartons scattered all over the city. Again, I started to think, “What if?”

90 SMALL STEPS TO BIG DREAMS

Jonathan and his father reconfigured the design of the machine to allow the use of carton and paper as raw materials. That unique product—pulp packaging akin to molded styros but using biodegradable waste—would go on to become JPPI’s trademark. Looking back, the journey was not without trials, Jonathan says. “My biggest challenge was in setting up the manufacturing plant with very little capital. I had to find ways to set up the machines with what little we had.” That was when Landbank came in. The Bank provided the credit facility that JPPI required. “They understand the needs of my business and their support has been unwavering. Their working culture is reliable. They are there when you need them,” says Jonathan. Today the company supplies industrial, agricultural, and commercial packaging to various companies, including pulp pineapple trays to multinational Dole Philippines, Inc. Aside from industrial suppliers, JPPI also accepts raw materials from small suppliers around Toril, contributing to the economic activity in the area. “We provide employment opportunities not only within Toril but up Northern Davao,” he says. “In one way or another, we are helping people around here. We like to grow together with our employees.” At the same time, environmental stewardship continues to be at the core of JPPI’s operations, a value that is ingrained in Jonathan’s DNA as a person and entrepreneur, even after marrying Aileen, who became JPPI’s finance officer. Today, 18 years after acquiring that first molding machine that started it all, Jonathan remains hands-on with JPPI, whose monthly capacity reached more than 8.6 million pieces in 2013. He talks directly to clients in order to save time in ironing out details of certain deals. “For example, we customize some packaging products and both me and the clients have to be on the same page as to the designing process. This way, we not only give our clients exactly what they want. We give them a little extra, like savings.”

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An employee of JPPI lines up paper egg trays for drying HARVEST OF HEROES

BENJAMIN CASTA, SR. From Recession to Recovery

Somewhere on the outskirts of Lupao, Nueva Ecija, the landscape of endless rice fields is suddenly interrupted by an imposing structure of concrete and steel. From the outside, it looks like a fortress surrounded by high walls, its two massive iron gates always open to ten-wheeler trucks that continuously come and go. “We sell around 750,000 kilograms of grains a week,” Benjamin Casta, Sr. says. Within the walls is a complex—a refinery, a warehouse, a gasoline station, a convenience store, a truck depot, and a house—which he and his wife Myrna had built from buying and selling grains. Benjamin admits that at first, he didn’t imagine their business, 3M Grains Dealer, would be as big as it is now. It all began in 1985, when he was looking for a way to cope with his family’s increasing financial needs. Back then, his salary as a sales representative for an American drug company and that of Myrna who worked as a midwife could no longer support them and their five children. With their savings, they bought a second-hand, small four-wheeler truck which they used to transport the grains they traded. They also converted their small garage into a makeshift storehouse where they could stock their grains. By 1993, they were already supplying grains to the big feed mills of Luzon. But the big break for their business came in 1996, as they started to supply on a regular basis to a multinational corporation large amounts of darak (rice bran) and binlid (brewer’s rice), which are key ingredients in making a variety of animal feeds.

94 Benjamin Casta, Sr. 3M Grains Dealer HARVEST OF HEROES

“We almost got bankrupt and nearly lost everything we had. But we persevered despite the great obstacles because we saw light at the end of the tunnel.”

96 SMALL STEPS TO BIG DREAMS

“I gave them a sample of the grains I had. I already had a mechanical separator then, a machine I designed on my own. It removed the impurities from the grains with high efficiency, so the quality was good and it passed their standards,” Benjamin says. From that point, their profits rapidly increased, enough for Benjamin and Myrna to buy land where they could build a new house and a much larger warehouse for their goods. Despite their initial success, greater challenges also surfaced from the expansion of their enterprise. One of the most difficult periods came in the early 2000s when a recession hit the US economy and affected large industries from all parts of the world. This caused delays in payment for the grains sold by Benjamin, effectively paralyzing their operations. Without additional funds, they could not buy any more grains to sell. “Suddenly, I was buried in debt. I approached everyone I could ask for help— friends, banks, and even loan sharks—just to keep my business going,” recalls Benjamin. “We almost got bankrupt and nearly lost everything we had,” Myrna adds. “But we persevered despite the great obstacles because we saw light at the end of the tunnel.” Fortunately for the Castas, hope was not far off. Recognizing the actual soundness and value of their enterprise, Landbank offered them an initial loan of P8 million in 2005. “They paid all of my existing debts and even gave me some change,” Benjamin says. This restored the couple’s confidence in running their business. It was an opportune time, with all of their children graduating from college. And with the Bank’s continued assistance, they were able to expand their trade even further. “Landbank provided stability and helped us realize our goals,” Benjamin says. With a current credit line of P80 million, 3M Grains Dealer continues to develop its potential to the fullest. At present, they sell more than P300 million worth of grains a year. For their endeavors, Myrna and Benjamin received the Outstanding Agri-based Entrepreneur Award from Landbank in 2010. More significantly, their enterprise has given employment to locals in their community and has spurred economic activity in Lupao.

97 HARVEST OF HEROES

Coming Home to New Hopes With one out of every ten Filipinos now working or living abroad, the Overseas Filipino Worker or OFW has become the hero of the hour, laboring to sustain his or her family back home, and contributing vitally to the economies of both their home and host countries. But the typical OFW leaves only so he or she can eventually return, bringing back not only his or her earnings but also experience and expertise, and the burning desire to start a new life for one’s family and community. Landbank welcomes OFWs back with programs designed to make the best of their hard- earned capital, easing their transition to the better future they helped to build. HARVEST OF HEROES

EDWIN AND JESUSA MANUBAG No Place Like Home

The couple would walk around the public market of Liloan, Cebu selling everything from seasonal fruits to jewelry cleaner. They carried their makeshift stall along with a transistor radio as they went on constant lookout for policemen. As illegal vendors, they could be arrested or fined; at worst, their wares would be confiscated. It was a daily grind for Edwin and Jesusa Manubag; a good day’s earnings could buy three daily meals for their three children. Usually, it was reheated porridge which they shared the whole day. Suddenly, like a much-awaited sign, a voice from the transistor radio surfaced above the mixed noise of the public market: “Factory workers needed for Taiwan!” They wasted no time. Jesusa was the first to work abroad. Edwin would soon follow. In between was a blur of narrative familiar to overseas Filipino workers: the sacrifice of being estranged from family; miscommunication among family members; and the intense desire to go back home. Jesusa went back twice before deciding to stay permanently while Edwin stayed abroad for a year. In 2000, a stall from the public market was offered to them for P80,000. They bought it even if it meant draining their savings. Edwin agreed to look after the store. However, insufficient capital drove Jesusa back to Taiwan. Although the market stall sold a variety of dry goods, the couple decided to focus on rice trading. Starting with 20 sacks of rice, Edwin recalls how his fellow market vendors saw them: “They just laughed at us because we did not know about retail pricing.”

100 COMING HOME TO NEW HOPES

Rice trading in Liloan was a tough business to penetrate until the Manubags came up with a scheme—sell at a profit of P20-P30 per sack as compared to their competitors’ P100 per sack profit. It was a wild gamble for the couple. They had nothing to lose and at most, P30 per sack to gain. Everything went out of hand when the demand became so high that they needed to open a second branch, and a third until they had to juggle among five market stalls all over Liloan. In 2011, with business expansion in mind, Edwin went to a seminar under Landbank’s OFW Reintegration Program. The program was in collaboration with the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Association (OWWA) with the aim of providing active or ex-OFWs with loans ranging from P300,000 to P2 million. They applied for a loan and within a month, they were given P2 million to use as additional capital. The loan challenged the couple to work doubly hard. They were able to get a second loan of P4 million; by December 2014, their credit line was increased to P8.5 million. The second loan went to the building of a three-storey structure with the ground floor serving as a warehouse and the remaining upper floors serving as their residence. Jesusa fondly remembers how, once, while hauling goods they bought from faraway Carbon Market in Cebu City, a delivery truck passed by. She looked at Edwin and asked, “Do you think we can afford one of those?” Edwin was startled and the couple ended up laughing together. Nowadays, they have three delivery trucks, three vehicles for family use and six motorcycles for business errands. They have 43 employees, some of whom live with them in their Liloan compound. They have put their eldest child, Jade Melody, through nursing school; their youngest, Kim Dave, is slated to graduate with a Hotel and Restaurant Management Degree, while their middle child, James Marvin, is in his first year as novitiate in the Franciscan Order. It was a long journey for Edwin and Jesusa and they remain thankful that Landbank was there to push their capacity as entrepreneurs and provide technical assistance along the way. Working abroad may have briefly lifted them up, but for Filipinos like the Manubags, there’s still no place like home. Edwin adds, “Landbank’s service is incomparable. Thank you, Landbank. I hope you can help more people like us!”

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Sps. Jesusa & Edwin Manubag Manubag’s Merchandise HARVEST OF HEROES

JOSEPHINE DE LA VEGA A Dream Takes Flight

When her husband Jose broached the idea of working abroad, Josephine de la Vega didn’t know what to think. “Our eldest was just in her sophomore year in college then,” she says. “Our twins were only in third year high school. I wasn’t sure if I could survive with the idea of him being so far away.” But at the same time she knew that as parents with big dreams for their children, they had little choice. “When we thought about it really hard, we realized that, yes, it would be difficult, but if he’d stay here, we wouldn’t be able to provide the kind of preparation for life that we wanted for our kids.” That preparation was going to be costly. Jofred, one of the twins, wanted to be an electrical engineer while Jomerr had set his sights on being a pilot, a dream that began with an RC simulator kit that his father sent from Dubai, where he eventually did go to work as a project engineer. “For college, we sent him to Cebu. The school that offers aerospace maintenance technology is there. After that, it’s flying school. The one that we visited Manila will set us back by a total of P3.2 million for a two-year course.” Josephine and Jose met in college. She was a Commerce major with humble roots in Samal Island; he was an Electrical Engineering student from nearby Asuncion in Davao del Norte, the son of a former mayor. They had a civil wedding in 1987 and a church ceremony two years later, at around the same time their eldest Breechel Jane was born. The identical twins

104 Josephine de la Vega HARVEST OF HEROES

They started their real estate business with a three-door commercial building at the Asuncion public market in 2010. Two years later, they heard about the OFW Reintegration Program, a partnership with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and Landbank which encourages OFWs to put up their own businesses as a viable investment option for their hard-earned dollars.

106 COMING HOME TO NEW HOPES

Jofred and Jomerr were born three years later. As their children grew and with it the expenses around the house, the couple began to look at their options. That’s when Jose flew off to Dubai. Thanks to technology, it wasn’t as hard as they had imagined. “We make it a point to communicate regularly. We Skype every night with the kids. When I’m at work, sometimes my tablet is on my desk and we just talk. It’s like he’s right beside me.” As life became a bit more comfortable, the couple soon started to consider investing. “We both knew he couldn’t stay in Dubai forever,” Josephine explains. “Eventually he would have to come home. When that time comes, we have to be ready.”

We both knew he couldn’t stay in Dubai forever. Eventually he would have to come home. When that time comes, we have to be ready.

They started their real estate business with a three-door commercial building at the Asuncion public market in 2010. Two years later, they heard about the OFW Reintegration Program, a partnership with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and Landbank which encourages OFWs to put up their own businesses as a viable investment option for their hard-earned dollars. During his annual vacation to the Philippines in 2011, the engineer began arranging for the construction of a two-storey, four-door apartment complex near their Tagum residence. “He took care of everything,” says Josephine. “From the feasibility study to planning and purchasing. When he left, I would supervise the construction after work hours. He would even Skype with the project engineer.” The complex was completed in July of 2012 and began earning soon after. It probably won’t be their last investment in real property. Tagum is developing rapidly, and land values will shoot up soon. Jomerr might yet become a pilot after all.

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BERNARDO CALILUNG A Better Way to Farm

In a field not far from where the expressway ends in Barangay Amucao, Tarlac City, a combine harvester plows its way through the Calilung’s farm. Through several movements, the machine combines three operations— cutting, threshing and cleaning—in a single process, reducing harvest time from four days to only a number of hours. The machine is a rare sight in the Philippines, where farming remains labor-intensive and inefficient. This condition was what Bernardo and his wife Amelia recognized and tried to address when they began to plant a small parcel of land with palay in 1998. “When we first started, we really didn’t know much about farming. All I knew was that I wanted to make it more productive,” Bernardo says. Both of them were OFWs who led a comfortable life in Saudi Arabia with frequent trips to the US and Europe. But Bernardo could not ignore a compulsion that urged him to come home. “My two children were still small. I told myself, I can provide for my family in my home country.” The couple made a huge leap by returning to the country in 1997 to take up farming in Tarlac City. It was a difficult and daunting decision, says Bernardo, especially because he witnessed how his father struggled his entire life as a farmer. Soon after they bought farming lots in Tarlac City with their savings, they brought their entire family back to the Philippines and started farming a year after. Aside from managing their household, Amelia took care of the bookkeeping aspect of their business.

108 Bernardo Calilung Calilung Seeds Center HARVEST OF HEROES

Today, they are now among the country’s most successful organic rice farmers. They manage a 25-hectare farm that uses organic fertilizer and modern machinery. For his innovative practices, Bernardo has also been named a Magsasaka Siyentista by the Farmers’ Information and Technology Services Center of Tarlac City.

110 COMING HOME TO NEW HOPES

To improve their yields, Bernardo applied existing technologies into their fields by collaborating with the Tarlac College of Agriculture and various agricultural institutions. He replaced conventional synthetic fertilizers with vermicompost and vermitea, organic fertilizers which he himself prepared. But improving crop production was only half of Bernardo’s goals. “When I was a child, I would often see farmers in the rice fields with their carabaos. It was hard and laborious. I knew that it had to be changed,” he explains. “I wanted to mechanize the farm.” However, upgrading was costly, and at that time, the couple could not afford to purchase machinery. They were also reluctant to take out a loan from a bank, as it would oblige them to use their house as collateral. But seeing how the benefits outweighed the risks, they finally decided to seek assistance from Landbank. With the money, Bernardo was able to till his farm every cropping and modify his farm machineries for better efficiency. Today, they are now among the country’s most successful organic rice farmers. They manage a 25-hectare farm that uses organic fertilizer and modern machinery. For his innovative practices, Bernardo has also been named a Magsasaka Siyentista by the Farmers’ Information and Technology Services Center of Tarlac City. His rice fields have been used as a demonstration plot, drawing researchers and other farmers in the province to learn and see for themselves the benefits of organic and science and technology-based farming. At the Amucao Seed Growers Agro-Industrial Cooperative, where Bernardo is a founding member, other rice growers have also been practicing modern farming methods in their own fields. In partnership withL andbank and other agricultural institutions, the cooperative was able to acquire additional machinery and put up facilities for their members. Aside from a combine harvester, farmer-members like Bernardo utilize a tractor and a rice transplanter to plow the land and plant rice seedlings. With Landbank’s help, the cooperative plans to construct an additional warehouse adjacent to the rice processing complex granted by the Department of Agriculture which will serve other farmers in nearby barangays. With these efforts, the cooperative has made Barangay Amucao the palay seed capital of Tarlac. For the Calilungs, the sustained growth of their crops has meant extending their porch to accommodate more sacks of palay from each harvest. “Before, all this was just a dream,” Bernardo says. Today, that dream lies at his feet.

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All together now ALL TOGETHER NOW

Before long, farmers, fisherS, teachers, and other workers in the countryside realize that they can do and achieve more together than if they continue working alone. This is how and why cooperatives have transformed millions of lives and thousands of communities— by pooling dreams and resources together, establishing common goals and harmonizing everyone’s efforts to achieve them. Landbank has worked closely with rural cooperatives nationwide, providing them with credit facilities that they can use for their needs, such as relending to members, upgrading technology with new equipment, expanding operations, and acquiring better expertise. Cooperatives lie at the core of agricultural reform and modernization in the Philippines— and Landbank has stood with them all these years. HARVEST OF HEROES

LIGAS KOOPERATIBA NG BAYAN SA PAGPAPAUNLAD Going for Bigger Fruits

Farmer-entrepreneur Ernesto Garcia said he could still remember waking up at 5 in the morning as a child and climbing the guava trees near their house in San Miguel, Bulacan, to pick fruits his mother sold in the market. Then he would go from house to house around the neighborhood to collect carabao’s milk, which his carpenter father would use to make pastillas. He walked to school four kilometers for 45 minutes everyday. When his father found work in Guam, the family found a little reprieve. They were able to buy a tricycle and switch from a nipa house to concrete. Most importantly, they were able to send Ernesto to Manila for college. Back then, he already knew that he carried the hopes of his parents and four siblings on his shoulder. After graduating with a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, he taught at a technical college in Sta. Cruz and repaired electronic appliances on the side. It was an exhausting time in his life; he and his young wife rented a small shanty above a pigpen and the place was often flooded. “I kept asking the Lord when our life would change,” he says. It was a hectare’s worth of calamansi trees that finally marked the turnaround in his and his family’s life. In 2000, he and his wife became members of Ligas Kooperatiba ng Bayan sa Pagpapaunlad (LKBP), and each took out loans of P50,000. They had a bountiful harvest, and with prices of calamansi reaching record highs, Ernesto never looked back.

114 THE BOUNTY OF EARTH AND WATER

Ernesto Garcia Member Ligas Kooperatiba ng Bayan sa Pagpapaunlad Loida C. Hilario Chairperson Ligas Kooperatiba ng Bayan sa Pagpapaunlad ALL TOGETHER NOW

With 15 branches, it has set its sights on being a billionaire cooperative by 2015.

The father of four then used his expertise to start a lucrative security camera business, but he never gave up farming, often recalling the many trees and plants of his difficult but colorful childhood. Today, aside from looking after his own farm, he often invests in neighboring farmlands. He also rents out farming equipment, like threshers, tractors, and watering systems. LKBP also began as a daring venture of 30 young farmers and small business owners in Barangay Ligas in Malolos in March 1986. The founders collected a starting capital of P15,800, which was lent to members for their livelihood and providential needs at very low interest rates. Even so, most people in the community had their doubts, explains Loida C. Hilario, LKBP Chairperson. “We had to earn the farmers’ trust. What really hastened the growth of the cooperative was the credit line given by Landbank in 2005.” With access to more resources, the co-op was able to adequately meet its growing membership’s increasing capital requirements. Beyond being a mere loan facility, LKBP promotes entrepreneurship to spur job creation in poor and remote areas, runs a school to invest on the future of the young children, and regularly conducts skills training and manpower placement services. Its more than 10,000-strong membership, with some coming from as far as Bataan and Nueva Ecija, benefits from an array of services that has allowed the co-op to grow its assets to P821.4-million, a far cry from the P15,800 that started it all. With 15 branches, it has set its sights on being a billionaire cooperative by 2015.

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LAMAC MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE An Uphill Climb

Fifty-five-year-old Ma. Elena Limocon remembers the first time she set foot on Lamac, 50 kilometers south of Cebu City in the municipality of Pinamungajan. The rough uphill road from the main highway took her more than two hours to trek. Dust and pebbles settled in her shoes. An occasional farmer would throw a look that would turn into an uneasy smile. She knew the hanging question in their eyes because even she, barely out of her teens and with a newly-acquired diploma in midwifery, had initial doubts. But it was her first official assignment as a licensed comadrona and she was bent on providing help despite mountain barriers. “I was shocked when I arrived,” she relates upon seeing a barangay comprised of small, scattered huts. Within a few days, she found herself in a community coping amidst its isolation. She discovered that local farmers had established a group called Lamac Samahang Nayon (Lamac SN). The group’s 70 original members had contributed P50 each in 1973 to an initial fund which they used for consumer and marketing needs. But Lamac SN’s growth was beset by problems commonly encountered by organizations for their insufficient educational and organizational skills. The group’s decline led to the organization of the Barangay Lamac Organization and Management Effectiveness Systems Inc. (BLOMES Inc.). Limocon, along with four other members from BLOMES, Inc. were tapped to spearhead the transition between 1986-1992 of Lamac SN to Lamac Multi-Purpose Cooperative (LMPC).

118 Delfin Tuquib Elena Limocon Chairman General Manager Lamac MPC Lamac MPC HARVEST OF HEROES

The full transition to LMPC by 1992 opened the floodgates to real progress. Delfin Tuquib, now chairman of LMPC’s Board of Directors, recalls how they heard about Landbank’s credit extension program for agricultural cooperatives. Landbank gave them a P1-million credit line along with technical assistance. The local problem was transportation, so they bought a hauling truck worth P440,000 from their loan fund. It was used to transport local construction workers from Lamac to Cebu. With each haul, not a square inch was spared as extra space meant they could now sell farm produce to nearby markets.

Like a mountain spring, Lamac’s progress flowed to other areas including big cities like Cebu and Lapu-Lapu. To date, they have a total of 19 branches all over the Visayas.

By 1994, LMPC won LandbanK’s much-coveted Gawad Pitak prize, placing first in the province and third in the region. The P12,000 prize was used to purchase a typewriter and a steel cabinet which are still in use. As progress arrived, people from surrounding areas heard of the new path the people of Lamac were taking. They started coming in, heralding a trend of in-migration in the ‘90s. More people meant more members for the co-op. The co-op started branching out. Like a mountain spring, Lamac’s progress flowed to other areas including big cities like Cebu and Lapu-Lapu. To date, they have a total of 22 branches all over the Visayas.

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Their achievements were given rightful acknowledgment as they became a regular winner in Landbank’s Gawad Pitak until they got the Hall of Fame Award in 1999 and the prestigious Ginintuang Gawad PITAK in 2003. By 2001, LMPC services were acknowledged internationally as they established tie-up with the Canadian Cooperative Association (CCA). This partnership enabled them to get a soft loan from the CCA. The money was used to construct a training ground in a lot owned by LMPC. This training ground would soon evolve into the Hidden Valley Mountain Resort located in the heart of Lamac. The resort is slowly making its name as one of the province’s top ecotourism spots. The sprawling 12-hectare lot, which includes a demo farm, is nestled on top of a mountain and provides a spectacular view of unending green, broken only by the blue skies and sea and a majestic sight of water gushing down from a giant falls jutting out from a mountainside. LMPC has also purchased a beach resort in Pinamungajan town proper. It had been a steep yet rewarding ascent from a small group of farmers with a capital of P3,500 to its present membership nearing 54,000 with total assets of P945.5 million as of December 2014. LMPC hopes to deliver better services through Landbank’s extended credit line of P300 million. Part of its future project is the construction of a housing village in a one-hectare land situated in Pinamungajan. Once, there was a young midwife who went to Lamac for her first assignment. She tried countless times to settle elsewhere but she ended up going back to the mountain community. Today, she serves as the general manager of LMPC, no longer delivering babies, but whole communities into hopeful futures.

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CEBU CFI COMMUNITY COOPERATIVE A Window of Hope

Retired Judge Esperanza F. Garcia’s mind is clearer than most 82-year-olds’. She insists on reporting to work daily like any regular employee—in a wheelchair, from 8 to 5 except when she needs to attend out-of-town events. Still, her eyes brighten as she recalls how it was more than four decades ago. “Only two people would come,” she says in her soft voice, “to pick up the wages of nearly all the employees.” She was referring to the loan sharks who were sought by the government employees in Cebu’s capitol for financial needs. She had seen this first-hand as she herself was employed as a clerk of court in Cebu’s Court of First Instance. Driven to fight the usurers by providing financial empowerment to the helpless, Garcia knew something had to be done. She was already aware of cooperatives and was eventually able to get 100 people to attend a crash course on cooperatives slated for seven consecutive Fridays. Of these, 29 finished the course and chipped in for an initial fund of P200. It was 1970 and no one knew that this seed money would become the foundation for what was to be one of the largest cooperatives in the country—the Cebu Court of First Instance (CFI) Community Cooperative. The newly-formed cooperative was given a bodega as its first office room at the capitol, a “room with no windows”, Garcia remembers. It was in that dark room that she was able to lay down plans to uplift the lives of the government workers of Cebu. “It was a wild dream for me,” she adds.

122 Judge Esperanza Garcia Chairman Cebu CFI Community Cooperative HARVEST OF HEROES

Driven to fight the usurers by providing financial empowerment to the helpless, Garcia knew something had to be done. She was already aware of cooperatives and was eventually able to get 100 people to attend a crash course on cooperatives slated for seven consecutive Fridays. Of these, 29 finished the course and chipped in for an initial fund of P200.

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The dream was turned loose and there was no stopping Cebu CFI. By the end of 2013, there were more than 89,000 cooperative members. Services in the form of loans, deposits, health care, pharmacy and grocery needs, education and mortuary services were given through the 15 branches and 30 satellite offices all over the Visayas and Mindanao. A new office in Quezon City and satellite offices in Pagadian and Dipolog City were also opened in 2014. Cebu CFI now has P1.63 billion in paid-up capital and P8.8 billion in assets. Garcia knows that it was not always like this. “It took us 15 years to grow the P200 to a million pesos,” she says. Even so, the cooperative had doubts about bank loans. In 1998, someone from LANDBANK approached them and offered a P2-million loan. It took Garcia and the officers of Cebu CFI some time before they grabbed the opportunity. From that initial loan, Cebu CFI’s credit line with LANDBANK has grown to P4.2 billion. Their main office beside Cebu’s capitol has ten floors and is visited by cooperative members everyday for their needs. And with open arms, CFI employees welcome them with the group’s battle cry, “Salbar kita (I will save you).” “Salbar kita,” Alberta Plenos, 69, and Aproniano Plenos, 76, jointly answer when asked why they chose to be part of the cooperative since 1997. Alberta had a mild stroke in December 2013. Prior to that, Aproniano was hospitalized in 2006 for diabetes. During both instances, Cebu CFI shouldered all the expenses. As a married couple for 44 years, they are thankful that such healthcare for elders is made available by the cooperative for the affordable amount of P7,000 yearly. Alberta cheerfully says: “I tell family members and friends how CFI benefited me. I tell them to attend the regular workshop meetings every Saturday.” From a small room with no view, a big window of hope opened for such people as the Plenoses, thanks to Cebu CFI.

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MATLING MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE Dual Citizens of Company and Co-op

“It was like no man’s land here,” says Paterno Gonzales, founding chairman of the Matling Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Malabang, Lanao del Sur. “Inside, it was peaceful, but outside company premises, there were altercations on a weekly basis. Encounters. Killings.” It was 1984. Nineteen-year-old Paterno was barely out of the agriculture program at Xavier University when he joined the Matling Industrial and Commercial Corporation (MICC) as an agriculturist, the youngest in the batch of new hires. There was fear, he says, but he just had to recall his difficult childhood in Siargao, Surigao del Sur to persuade himself to stay put. The brutal landscape belied the thriving enterprise within MICC walls. Founded by retired American teachers Ralph and Pearl Spencer, the company manufactured high quality cassava starch. Thousands of farmers in the vicinity, mostly Muslims, supplied them with cassava tubers, providing the farmers with a source of income and helping stabilize the communities in Malabang. In 1992, when MICC voluntarily offered 1,715.45 hectares of its land for agrarian reform coverage, starting a cooperative became necessary. However, this proved to be easier said than done. “Co-ops here used to have a bad reputation,” says Paterno. “In the early 1970s, the company had a credit union and at one point the officers just disappeared with everyone’s hard-earned money.” In Lanao alone, there must have been as many as 3,000 cooperatives at one point, he says. Convincing the farmer

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beneficiaries and company employees that the new co-op would be different was really a challenge. As a result, after being registered in 1992, the cooperative didn’t begin operating until 2002, thanks to Paterno Gonzales’ almost solitary efforts. “The risk was still there, MATLING MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE but I told myself that I shouldn’t let that bother me. I needed to prove to them that this could work. People were impatient to see results.” The revived co-op secured a P2-million loan from Landbank to start a fertilizer lending program. Paterno had to wear many hats, from chairman to accountant and even purchaser. “The company prepared the area for planting then we raffled the lots to co-op members. Some of the MICC employees resisted the idea. They went to Matling to work in the office, they said, not to plant cassava.” Of the 667 agrarian reform beneficiaries, less than 100 joined the co-op, alongside less than 20 company employees. Members were given an average of three hectares. Fortunately, the first crop season produced a good harvest, and those who decided to take on some land earned around P20,000 to P40,000 per hectare. “To see is to believe,” he says. “And many started to believe.” The co-op has gone a long way. With capitalization pegged at P61 million as of December 2014, it now owns 10 tractors, among other equipment. Its 920 members have a steady stream of extra income as farmers aside from what they earn as employees. Most have been able to invest in vehicles and appliances and send their kids to college. As for Paterno Gonzales Jr., he has called the expansive, verdant grounds of MICC home for some 30 years. His wife was a former external auditor, and their three kids all studied in the free kinder, grade school, and high school that are available for children of employees. Now the assistant vice president for agricultural operations, local sales, and security at MICC, Paterno also serves as senior adviser to the Matling MPC. The relationship between the company and the cooperative is “symbiotic,” he says. Aside from their longstanding cassava supply contract, the two institutions have entered into joint ventures in producing virgin coconut oil, abaca, and rubber. “We have this understanding here that we have to help each other because it can be chaotic outside,” he said. “Our people here have ‘dual citizenship.’ They’re members of the company and at the same time, of the co-op. There doesn’t have to be conflict. It’s good for everyone.”

127 Paterno Gonzales Chairman Matling MPC

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SOROSORO IBABA DEVELOPMENT COOPERATIVE From Co-op to Congress

As a child, Rico Geron would be habitually sent by his parents to run errands. He remembers being instructed to only buy from “the store in the middle,” a small general merchandise shop in between two bigger shops, a few steps from their house in Sorosoro Ibaba in Batangas City. “They would tell me, ‘That store is ours.’ I didn’t get it because I didn’t see my father or anyone from our family manning the store,” he says. Looking back, that was young Rico’s introduction to the concept of a cooperative. His father, a farmer, was one of the 59 pioneers who each voluntarily contributed P200 to raise P11,800 and form the precursor to the Sorosoro Ibaba Development Cooperative (SIDC) in 1969. By the time Rico joined SIDC in 1982 as a 17-year-old customs administration student, membership had gone up to some 500, and the predominantly farming barangay was slowly transitioning to what would become Sorosoro’s renowned and indelible mark in the agricultural landscape. “Contract-growing activities started during the late 1970s,” he says. In 1978, the surge in membership enabled the organization to qualify as a full-fledged cooperative. By then, more and more residents were giving up their farmlands to raise pigs, enticed by the promise of bigger returns. Known locally as the paiwi system, the setup allowed people to raise livestock for around four months then share profits equally with the cooperative, which took care of all expenses.

130 Cong. Rico Geron Alberto Burog CEO Member, Board of Directors SIDC SIDC

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“SIDC’s main contribution to the area is really that transition from farming to livestock,” says Rico. “After that, there were visible improvements in the quality of lives of the people.” The expansion and, consequently, the increase in the cooperative’s capital requirement led to the beginning of its relationship with LANDBANK with a P2.5-million hog production loan in 1989. Three years later, Rico became general manager at 27. In a sense, it was like the passing of the baton from the pioneers to the next generation of SIDC members.

SIDC’s main contribution to the area is the transition from farming to livestock, thus resulting to visible improvements in the quality of lives of people.

Rico was himself the 10th in a brood of 11 kids. All of them would stop for three to four years after elementary school so that the one before them could finish school. They helped out in the farm as soon as they were old enough to carry things. This hardworking, close-knit quality of the barangay, its residents, and members of the cooperative became instrumental as the area grew side by side with the cooperative, now a much-awarded venture and one of the biggest in the country, with P1.8 billion in assets as of December 2014. Some 70,000 heads of cattle and hog are under its contract-growing scheme today. The co-op is likewise engaged in poultry business with 75,000 layers and 27,000 boilers. Its feed mill’s daily production is up to 9,000 sacks, enough for 18 ten-wheelers’ haul. Its membership exceeds 20,000, some from faraway Aklan and Antique. Its supermart in Rosario was the first of its kind by any cooperative in the Philippines. Its businesses range from cable TV to water, eco-tourism to savings and loans, an artificial insemination center to a gasoline station. In 2013, Rico won a seat in the House of Representatives as the second nominee of the hog-raisers’ AGAP Party List, yet another testament to the cooperative’s influence well beyond Sorosoro Ibaba, where it all began.

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GOODYEAR ARB MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE A New Bounce from Rubber

Lilia Manuel was addressing a crowd during an event of the Goodyear Agrarian Reform Beneficiary Multi-Purpose Cooperative (GARBEMCO) when she saw something that made her stop mid-sentence. “I was just appointed general manager that year [2010], and the co-op wasn’t doing so well financially,” Lilia says. “We were in the red because of issues of corruption during the last term. It was really a difficult time for the organization.” Those days, the former payroll clerk says, she couldn’t help but reminisce about the “good days” when the Goodyear Rubber Corporation still ran things around the 998-hectare rubber plantation in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay. What she saw that December morning were the children, all of whom were, like her, born in the vicinity of the plantation. “The kids were all sitting on the floor. They were looking at me. I realized I couldn’t give up. There were a lot of people who depended on me and on the co-op. We had to do better.” The rubber plantation was voluntarily put under agrarian reform in 1992, at which point Goodyear left Kabasalan, leaving only its name to the co-op and the barangay in its area of operation. With the assistance of the Department of Agrarian Reform and Landbank, GARBEMCO was formed. Of the 312 members, 305 were male and seven were female, including the now feisty general manager.

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It turned out to be a difficult transition as the rubber trees were senile, leading to lower production. Rehabilitation and livelihood-promotion efforts were GOODYEAR ARB initiated by a group of government agencies, including Landbank, stemming the potential displacement of 164 workers. It looked like all was going MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE well for GARBEMCO until management issues began haunting the co-op in 2008, a cause for concern for Lilia. “I was born here,” she says. “My father was a tapping supervisor. When I was in high school, I would help our neighbor, who was a tapper, collect rubber sap and I would earn P5 a week for my baon. When I became general manager in 2010, it was like continuing my journey.” Inspired by the children’s hopeful gazes and perhaps remembering her own childhood, she tried to turn the co-op around. Aware that prices of rubber fluctuate drastically, they tried to diversify the co-op’s business. That year, they started a lending program. Soon after they strengthened their abaca fiber production, fishpond, rice farm, and retail business. Even so, the rubber business remains the co-op’s bread and butter, with roughly 500 trees per hectare and around 700 hectares of productive land. A continuous and sustainable replanting program is also in place. After just two years with Lilia at the helm, GARBEMCO’s turnaround was all but complete. In 2012, it received the Gawad Pitak award from Landbank as the outstanding agrarian reform beneficiary cooperative for the year. Aside from the credit facility, LANDBANK was also helpful in capability building, especially in policy formulation and credit management. “From our experience, transparency has to be number one,” Lilia says. “There has to be an understanding that we are working with each other so we have to trust each other. Outside the co-op, we’re friends, but when we talk about work, we’re serious.” Despite the changes from the Goodyear days, the routine at the plantation today is still largely the same. Workers wake up at around 2 o’clock in the morning to report to their respective division supervisors, start tapping at 3 o’clock, and collect the sap six hours later. For GARBEMCO’s leader, things have changed but also remained the same. She checks the thick, milk-white contents of the shaft attached to a rubber tree and says, “Rubber is life.”

135 Lilia Manuel General Manager GARBEMCO

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DINGLE GOVERNMENT WORKERS DEVELOPMENT COOPERATIVE Bucking the Odds

At 12 years old, Bernardita Deaño had to leave their New Lucena home in central Iloilo to work as a grocery store saleslady at the provincial capital. The younger of two siblings had to help put food on the table, as her mother and older sister were both sickly while her father tended a small farmland in the fourth-class municipality. When her mother was diagnosed with heart failure, young Bernardita had just finished high school. With no one else to look after the family, she boarded a ship to Manila to work as a maid. “My salary was P700 a month,” she recalls. “I remitted everything, down to the last centavo.” But her mother didn’t get better. A year later, her condition became so bad that she was in and out of the hospital. Bernardita came back to New Lucena and found work—still as a domestic helper—in nearby Dingle, where she met her would-be husband, then a water reader for the town’s water district. Bernardita found some relief in 1997 when she and her husband became members of the Dingle Government Workers Development Cooperative (DGWDC). With an initial loan of P20,000, they started a poultry and piggery business. At its peak they had 20 hybrid sows and 25 piglets, and for a time she thought that her hardships were over. But then her husband was diagnosed with kidney trouble, and it was even tougher than before because their three children were in college. Every extra peso she made went to her husband’s medication.

138 Marlene Celo Rene Ariola Bernardita Deaño Chairperson General Manager Member DGWDC DGWDC DGWDC HARVEST OF HEROES

DGWDC got a jumpstart in 2000 when they were challenged by field validators from LANDBANK to venture into other businesses aside from lending. In response, the co-op opened its membership to non-teachers, paving the way for farmers and small entrepreneurs to gain access to much-needed capital. After 22 years of operation, DGWDC is now a P160-million business enterprise.

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What kept her afloat, she said, was DGWDC. She continuously availed of loans to keep the business going, until all three kids finished college. And then her husband died. “The last time my son, who is now a seaman, came home, he told me he wished his father had lived to see this,” she says. Her other kids have gone on to finish cooperative management, nursing, and hotel and restaurant management. All are now working and helping their mother, who has continued her piggery business. DGWDC itself was born out of a necessity to defy the odds. In 1992, founding general manager Rene Ariola was accompanying his wife, a teacher, to process another loan from a commercial lender when he shut his eyes out of frustration. “When I opened my eyes and saw the door of the bank, and it gave me the idea of starting a cooperative,” he said. “At that time, some lending institutions were charging as high as 20% interest. That needed to change, I thought.” Rene, who was then working for the local Commission of Elections, spent the next four months laying the foundation of what would be DGWDC. He wrote the bylaws, formulated the vision, and visited schools to invite teachers. Out of all that he talked to, only 40 opted to join, due to what he said was the negative perception of cooperatives back then. On the back of P1,000 contributions each, the coop started operations in 1993. DGWDC got a jumpstart in 2000 when they were challenged by field validators from LANDBANK to venture into other businesses aside from lending. In response, the coop opened its membership to non-teachers, paving the way for farmers and small entrepreneurs to gain access to much-needed capital. After 22 years of operation, DGWDC is now a P160-million business enterprise. “We found out that farmers and small businessmen had similar problems with financing, whether it’s the long processing time or the tedious requirements. We got a positive response after our first cycle with farmers and eventually adopted the same framework with hog raisers, sari-sari store owners, and other businessmen.” Aside from the credit facility—from the initial P1-million rediscounting line in 1995 to P70 million as of December 2014—it was this close supervision by LANDBANK that has allowed DGWDC to function efficiently and productively, and people like Bernardita Deaño to buck the odds.

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PAGLAUM MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE THE RECIPE FOR SWEET SUCCESS

There was no sweetness in the childhood of Dionesia “Nene” dela Peña of the famous Special Suman Tinambiran of Oroquieta City, Misamis Occidental. Her father spent almost every day at the sabungan spending money the family of seven could ill afford to gamble. “I was the eldest,” Aling Dionesia says, “so I had to do something. I was 14 when I started to work in the farm. I dropped out of school after second year high school.” At 20, she married Simplicio de la Peña and the two worked as caretakers for a small farm. With their savings, they managed to open a small store in the nearby town of Aloran. When Mang Simplicio fell ill, they returned to Oroquieta City until he recovered. He soon found work as a construction worker in General Santos while Aling Dionesia opened a stall at the gates of Stella Maris College in Oroquieta City, selling turon and hotcakes. She did fine for six years, until street vendors were banned in the vicinity of the school and she had to pack up. Once again she was without a stable source of income. She tried to start anew and made the mistake of going to a loan shark who charged 10% per month interest on loans. All the while, Aling Dionesia worked odd jobs, sometimes helping out in catering for big events. It was through one of these jobs that she met the woman who taught her the recipe of the suman that would ultimately change her life. The recipe, like its source, was from Romblon. Unlike the regular suman that was cooked in coconut milk, this one was cooked in concentrated brown sugar. It also took longer to prepare— around three hours—and so she had to enlist the help of her husband and three kids.

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Dionesia dela Peña Member, Board of Directors Paglaum MPC HARVEST OF HEROES

Gadwin Handumon Luz Moneva General Manager Chairperson Paglaum MPC Paglaum MPC ALL TOGETHER NOW

With things going smoothly, she decided to expand five years later. In 2002, she sought out a loan from Paglaum Multi-Purpose Cooperative in order to buy additional equipment. This time, the interest didn’t eat out all her profits. From 100 pieces of suman a day in 2004, they now produce up to 1,000. During peak season in time for fiesta and Christmas, there would be individual orders of up to 15,000 pieces. She and her 14 full-time employees would be up at as early as 3 o’clock in the morning and work into the night. The entire family is involved in the enterprise, which has won for Aling Dionesia the prestigious Citi Microentrepreneur of the Year award. Her daughter Nelsie, a graduate of social work, does the marketing. Her son John Paul, who finished accountancy, helps out in the finances. Her firstborn Nelly, who is disabled, is a constant source of inspiration, she said. Her latest loan from Paglaum MPC, she says, would be used to buy an SUV, something that they could use for both the business and for their personal travels. Aside from the credit facility, Paglaum provided Aling Dionesia with much-needed training, including financial management. Her latest achievement was winning the top spot at the cooperative’s Board of Directors. How apt that paglaum means “hope” in Cebuano, says Gadwin Handumon, Paglaum MPC General Manager. Nanay Dionesia’s story, he said, mirrors countless others, which in turns reflects the cooperative’s dramatic rise from its humble origins. “We started with 35 indigent beneficiary parents of the Paglaum Foundation,” says Gadwin, who was one of the pioneers. “We had P2,000 in startup capital.” From offering basic lending for palay production and trading, the co-op’s big push took place in 1998, he said, when they adopted the credit union micro-finance model. It opened up the co-op to small and medium enterprises, accelerating growth in both its capital and membership. All along, LANDBANK has been there as a major source of much-needed capital and, in the case of the coop’s partnership with the LANDBANK Countryside Development Foundation Inc., capability building. This long-standing relationship was solidified and validated when Paglaum MPC was named a regional winner of the Gawad PITAK in 2007, a feat that would be repeated when it bagged several special awards in the 2010 Gawad PITAK and in 2012, when it bagged the 4th place in the national category along with special awards as Best in Environmental Protection and Management and Best in Capital Build-up. Despite the great strides, Paglaum had not lost sight of its vision, Mr. Handumon said. “We’re still focused on the grassroots of the economy, on the entrepreneurial poor, the indigenous people, persons with disabilities. We still operate in fifth- and sixth-class towns.” “But we’d like to think that our greatest achievement is beyond any measurable figures,” he says, citing the case of Nanay Dionesia. “Our name says it all.”

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MASISIT-DACAL LIVELIHOOD COOPERATIVE Assuring Markets, Securing Futures

In Sanchez Mira, two hours or so north of Tuguegarao, Cagayan, the Sierra Madre mountains form an impressive backdrop. The historical Pata River runs through some of the interior barangays before flowing into the Pacific Ocean. It is not uncommon to see squadrons of birds swooping across the sky, framed by lush forest covers and thick clouds. This natural beauty, however, belies the often difficult life for the residents of this second-class municipality, where most still survive through subsistence farming and fishing. Raymund and Jennifer Asuncion, who have been married for 14 years, say the weather used to spell the difference between a nice enough meal and having just rice, with either salt, sugar, or coffee, to taste. The two were classmates in high school. After graduating, Raymund started working as an electrician while Jennifer went to college for one semester, before stopping due to financial difficulties. When they got married in 2000, they immediately thought of starting a business, determined to make things different for their future children. “Most people here go into the fishpond or fish cage business, so that’s what we thought of,” says Raymund. “I had helped my parents with these things since high school.” The couple combined the cash gifts they received during their wedding and an initial loan from the Masisit-Dacal Livelihood Cooperative (MASCOOP) to invest in one fish cage. It was a brave move. Fish cages required substantial start-up capital, and a typhoon could easily wipe out all of one’s efforts and get them mired in debt.

146 MASISIT-DACAL LIVELIHOOD COOPERATIVE

Raymund Asuncion Member MASCOOP Bernie Alegado Froilan Pacris Chairman CEO MASCOOP MASCOOP ALL TOGETHER NOW

Typhoon Pepeng swept away one of their cages in 2002. But they persisted, adding cage after cage, and then opened a fishpond, raising lobsters and shrimp. Three girls were also born to the couple. A big source of help to the growing family was how MASCOOP would buy their harvests, assuring them of a market. Thanks to this, plus the reliable loan facility, the couple now has four fish cages and a fishpond. They grow their own fingerlings, which adds to the security of their venture. “We used to live with our in-laws, but now we have our own house. The children go to private schools, and we’ve been able to save a bit. If you work hard, you’ll be all right,” says Jennifer. Froilan Pacris, a retired principal who now serves as MASCOOP’s CEO, has seen the success story of Raymund and Jennifer Asuncion replicated many times. The Asuncions, he says, are typical of the hardy Ilocano migrants who devote themselves to the land and its promise. MASCOOP itself was organized just after EDSA 1986 with help from the Ministry of Agriculture. Thirty-one members pooled an initial capital of P4,215. By the end of the year, this has grown almost nine-fold to P36,000, thanks to the co-op’s loaning activities. MASCOOP has long considered Landbank as its chief financier. Its application for a P2-million rediscounting facility was approved just after 15 days in 1999. “The partnership encouraged us to expand our area of coverage and membership,” Froilan says. “Aside from the facility, they also offer technical assistance for a sustainable operation and seminars and workshops for officers and management staff.” Today, they have more than 6,000 members, some from as far as Apayao province. Since 1995, the co-op has continuously availed of the rediscounting scheme. Their Landbank credit line stands at P100 million as of December 2014. MASCOOP has started to shift its focus from lending, which currently accounts for up to half of its revenues, to agriculture, specifically high-value crops such as rice, corn, sugarcane, banana, and a mahogany nursery interplanted with coconut, coffee, and cacao. They now have 15 hectares each of plantation for cacao and coffee and 42 hectares for coconut. At the mahogany nursery in Barangay Callungan, Froilan examines the growing trees with fondness. “Just three more years,” he says. Like Raymund and Jennifer’s fish cage business, the nursery had to start small. But with patience, hard work, and a little help, the future promises to be sturdy.

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CATMON MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE from one cow to a Co-Op

Farmer Virgilio Santiago of Sta. Maria, Bulacan, was 13 years old when he raised his first cow. Under the so-calledkabiyak system, he was given an infant cow to raise and, when it was ready to be sold, he split the profit with the owner. All the while, he worked a small farm with his father. Now 74, Mang Virgilio says that way of life offered little opportunity for him to improve the lot of his family. “It was so hard. You gave it your all, but even that wasn’t enough.” In 1989, he was one of the second group of 25 small farmers and backyard livestock raisers recruited by the founders who started the organization in Barangay Catmon. They pooled P12,500 around an idea that they hoped could change the direction of their lives. The Catmon Multi-Purpose Cooperative was born. “All our members were used to working with animals and to getting their hands dirty,” Mang Virgilio says with a laugh. The group sourced additional funds from different financing institutions, and in 1989, merely two years after its inception, they started a feed milling and hog-fattening project. The initiative intended to address the common problems of members, like the lack of capital, poor quality and supply of inputs, and low selling prices for products and produce, says Jose Bulanhagui, Catmon MPC’s current chairman. The co-op didn’t look back. They were able to build a warehouse, purchase feedmilling equipment, and procure ingredients for animal feeds manufacturing. Their livestock and feeds production grew steadily, reaching some 12,000 fattened hogs and 69,000 bags of feeds by 2012. To serve the needs of the increasing membership, the co-op offered savings and credit services in 1998.

150 CATMON MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE

Virgilio Santiago Member Catmon MPC Jose Bulanhagui Luisito dela Rosa Chairman General Manager Catmon MPC Catmon MPC ALL TOGETHER NOW

In the process, members like Mang Virgilio started to notice changes in their lives. While he worked just as hard and he still woke up well before 4 o’clock in the morning, he observed that his property was beginning to be congested. Around the house that his grandfather had built in the early 1900s, he had built wooden sheds where as many as 30 carabaos and cows could fit. He has mango trees in the expansive backyard. More importantly, four of his kids have finished college. The eldest graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce; the fourth is a teacher, one completed an electronic course, and the youngest a computer professional. The other two are helping out in the family business. “I don’t want to go back to my old life,” he says, “which is why as long as I’m awake, I’m not thinking of retirement.”

I don’t want to go back to my old life which is why as long as I’m awake, I’m not thinking of retirement.

Mang Virgilio is not alone. From one barangay, the co-op’s operations now cover seven in Sta. Maria. From the 26 founders, the group has more than 6,000 members, as of May 2014. These include nearly 1,000 kiddie savers, as part of an initiative to cement the co-op’s future and make its operations sustainable. This steadfast and ethical solidarity is evident in the way the co-op handles its finances. Whenever it takes out a loan, such as the P500,000 loan it secured from Landbank early in its existence, all officers affix their signatures on pertinent documents. All books are open, all transactions transparent, for everyone’s scrutiny.

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MANATAL MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE Perseverance in Pandi

Farmer and egg dealer Larry Feliciano said he remembers the time when Pandi, Bulacan was a small town where there was no livelihood except farming. Everyone was a farmer, he said, and fortunately, there had been ample land for it, hectares upon hectares of arable soil that, once planted with rice, turned golden come harvest season. He himself had been blessed to have two hectares, which he worked hard to till with his wife and two children. “We survived,” Mang Larry says, “but we never really moved forward.” In 1992, he heard about the Manatal Multi-Purpose Cooperative, then barely a year old. Born in Brgy. Manatal, Mang Larry knew the people running the co-op. From being a loyal rural bank customer, he felt confident about joining the fledgling organization. True enough, when he needed a loan to start his egg dealing business, Manatal MPC proved to be a reliable partner. With stores in Valenzuela City and Obando and Bulakan in Bulacan, there was none of the uncertainty that had come with relying on farming alone. He was able to give his elder son a sari-sari store, while the younger child helps out in the business. When Typhoon Pedring struck Central Luzon in 2009, the pen where he kept his ducks was shattered. But because he had savings, he was able to start anew and rebuild the pen, now made of concrete and therefore stronger.

154 MANATAL MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE

Larry Feliciano Member Manatal MPC Eric Dizon Estelito Cabuhat Chairman General Manager Manatal MPC Manatal MPC ALL TOGETHER NOW

In 2013, he secured a P250,000 loan from the co-op to buy two additional hectares of farmland—this, in addition to his investments in various equipment, such as a thresher and other farm inputs. While Mang Larry’s experience was life-changing, others were at first skeptical about the Manatal MPC, says Estelito Cabuhat, the co-op’s founding and current general manager. “Many co-ops came and went,” he says, “so the people found it hard to trust us. I urged the officers to invest their own money in the co-op, and that’s how the others came to see how serious we were.” The coaxing worked. Their initial capital of P21,700—pooled from the 18 farmers and businessmen who started the group—ballooned to P1 million pesos in less than a year. In 1993, they started a farm input business while giving out many tricycle and tractor loans. With the sharp growth came a new set of problems. “Many people wanted loans,” says Estelito, “but we were short of capital, and the commercial banks were reluctant to lend us money.” That’s when Landbank came in. In 1997, the Bank offered them a credit line of P2 million. Because they never missed payments, this increased to P5 million the year after, P10 million the next, and so on. By 1999, Manatal MPC had a credit line of P30 million from the Bank. Manatal MPC ended 2014 with P782 million in capital, an almost unimaginable leap in just over a decade from P21,700. Its roughly 9,000 members represent 365 barangays in 24 municipalities in Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, and Pampanga. With so much liquidity, the co-op has started to invest in securities. Pandi itself has climbed from its fifth-class status and is now a second-class municipality. The town has other Mang Larrys, many of whom began in the most unpromising ways. From one hog in 1992 to 20,000 today. From a small roadside furniture maker to a thriving export business. For Mang Larry, a sunny disposition always tends to lighten the load. “Perseverance is key,” he says.

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LA CASTELLANA 1 PERSONNEL MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE Co-ops Helping Co-ops

Sugarcane farmer Juanito Lagos knows life’s bitter taste all too well. Both his father and grandfather worked in the same Costello estate in La Castellana town all their lives, tilling the same arid land for ten hours a day under the scorching Negros sun. He himself started working when he was only 12 years old. He remembers when the farmers borrowed from loan sharks just to put food on the table, paying up to 30% interest a month on a daily salary of P7. The father of three was set to pass the same arduous life to his children. That is, until agrarian reform finally reached the hacienda in 2009 and, for a time, seemed ready to provide some long-overdue relief to him and many other farmers and their families. But the fight was far from over. Three of his fellow farmers lost their lives during a prolonged standoff with the hacienda owners and their troops. And so in 2011, Mang Juanito marched with a group of farmers in Manila to call for the speedy transfer of their land titles. The sacrifice ultimately paid off. With the titles freshly in their hands, he and 29 other sugarcane workers in the barangay formed the Hacienda Cambuktot Farmworkers Multi-Purpose Cooperative. “There was more to gain from a cooperative than if you worked alone,” says Juanito. However, suddenly in charge of a complex business enterprise, the farmers found out that they needed help. The sugarcane that they were harvesting was of low grade; the soil had to be fertilized. For help, they turned to another co-op.

158 Judith Obordo Juanito Lagos Chairperson Member La Castellana 1 PMPC La Castellana 1 PMPC

ALL TOGETHER NOW

It was La Castellana I Personnel Multi-Purpose Cooperative’s lending and quasi- banking services that proved to be a lifeline to members of the Cambuktot MPC. Under a sharing scheme, the co-op rented their land, provided them with fertilizers, and even took charge of the milling. In return, it received a percentage of the profits come harvest time. Today, just a little over three years after its inception, 10 of the original 30 members of Cambuktot MPC are already self-sufficient in terms of capital. The co-op now owns some 78 hectares. Juanito himself has been able to send all of his three kids to college; all are now professionals with steady jobs. “You just need to trust them,” says Judith Obordo, chairperson of La Castellana I Personnel MPC. Cambuktot is their third and so far most successful partner since opening up to ARBs in 2004. Like their partner, La Castellana I Personnel MPC was born out of a collective effort, this time of 65 elementary school teachers. “Teachers incur many debts,” says Judith. “But a co-op can help them manage their finances and their lives better.” Ambition was not enough, however. Largely ignored by commercial banks and their local government officials, the fledgling co-op had to turn to family and friends to raise more than the P15,700 that they were able to pool from the founders. That they were able to collect P2 million solely from the generosity of people spoke of the group’s promise early on. True enough, a year and a half later, they were able to secure a P1-million credit line from Landbank in 1998. With their members more than doubling to 200 and paid up capital up to P200,000, their line was increased to P4 million just a year later. As of December 2014, they had more than 3,400 members and paid-up capital of P82.46 million. They run a grocery, a pharmacy, and a state-of-the-art piggery with a 2,500-head capacity. They have expanded their area of operation to the entire Visayas region, with a branch in Bacolod to serve call center agents, professionals, entrepreneurs, and employees of other companies and agencies. Since opening up to ARBs in 2004, the co-op has also helped uplift the lives of farmers like Mang Juanito, unshackling them from feudal bondage.

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SAINTS PETER AND PAUL MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE The Tandem of Sts. Peter AND Paul

The islands of San Pedro and San Pablo lie in Southern Leyte, fronting the horizon of Hinunangan’s shoreline. The local government says that the town, while resting just beside the Pacific Ocean, was spared from storm surges during the recent Typhoon Yolanda because these two islands blocked the strong winds. The faithful, however, say that it was Saints Peter and Paul who protected them. That formidable tandem could be working for the people in other ways. Saints Peter and Paul Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SPPMPC) was put up by Scarborough Fathers Canadian missionaries assigned in the Pacific areas of Southern Leyte in 1968. When it was first organized, there were only 56 founding members with only P837.50 for initial capital. This money came from the collected sales of the coconuts from the founding members’ backyards. Now, SPPMC is one of the biggest cooperatives in the Philippines with a total net worth of P435 million. This is a fact that Landbank, their financial partner since 1996, has not failed to recognize. Since the mid-2000s, SPPMPC has placed consistently in Landbank’s Gawad sa Pinakatanging Kooperatiba (PITAK) ascending to the Gawad Pitak’s Hall of Fame in 2008. “I couldn’t believe it when we were handed the Gawad PITAK trophy. I never let it go until we got out of Malacañang,” says Honoroto Vacal, Jr., 72, the cooperative’s chairman for nine years. He was a government employee before martial law, working in Congress as Confidential Assistant at the Office of the Majority Floor Leader, after which he was appointed as Postmaster of the Bureau of Post, and then eventually elected as member of the Sangguniang Bayan in Hinunangan, Leyte. “I didn’t think I’d end up as the coop’s chairperson.” he says,

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“I became a Parish Council President for 15 years. It taught me how to trust and lead people. It taught me social actions. That’s what we are looking for from whoever wants to succeed me as chairperson.” Epifania Edicto, 56, has served the coop as bookkeeper and then general manager for over 25 years, and has seen life in Hinunangan change radically. “Before, all these lands were just ricefields. Life was slow. It used to be that time chased after people. Now, it’s the other way around. Everyone’s on the go!” The Saints Peter and Paul Building, named the Hinunangan Commercial Center, is currently under construction. It will serve as the town’s first mall where local businesses can apply to sell their products. The construction was made possible through the government’s private-public partnership program, whereby the government, together with Landbank and SPPMPC, raised P18 million to put up a building designed to benefit the Hinunangan community.

Our relationship with Landbank is like big-brother, small-brother—we treat each other as equals, but we’re always ready to help each other.

“Indeed, SPPMPC, with its partnership with Landbank, has contributed to changing life in Hinunangan for the better,” Epifania says. “With us being a co-op with bank-like functions, Landbank has made sure that we managed our finances well. Our relationship with the Bank is like big brother, small brother—we treat each other as equals, but we’re always ready to help each other.” Life in the co-op, however, is not as easy as SPPMPC makes it seem. Their two most valuable tenets are to educate its members and to be transparent. SPPMPC’s leadership believes that their services should mimic the perpetual motion of the waves coming from San Pedro and San Pablo islands: to move, to take, and to give. All these, they couple with prayer and unyielding faith in God. They recall that the coop’s office itself started out in the convent’s basement. “Now, it’s in the corner of San Pablo and San Isidro Labrador streets. That makes us favored by three saints, all in all!”

163 Epifania Edicto Honorato Vacal, Jr. General Manager Chairman Sts. Peter & Paul MPC Sts. Peter & Paul MPC

HARVEST OF HEROES

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF COOPERATIVES OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITY A CHANCE AT PRODUCTIVE LIVING

Romualdo Barrientos holds on to the gleaming armrests of his wheelchair, which he controlled with practiced ease. He has been using it for so long, he says, that the contraption now seems like a part of his body, his very own two feet. Romualdo’s legs were shorter than normal, their growth stunted due to a range of congenital factors. Even so, the father of four says he had never viewed his disability as a reason to feel powerless. It is this fighting spirit that became key when he began organizing his fellow persons with disabilities (PWDs) into productivity- oriented groups. In 1995, Romualdo became the founding chairman of Samahang Ikauunlad ng mga May Kapansanan Multipurpose Cooperative (SIKAP MPC). It was formed with the help of Cristoffel Blinden Mission (CBM), an international NGO that caters to PWDs in some of the world’s poorest countries. Prior to SIKAP, he and seven others were part of another foundation, until that project ended and they were moved to Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, an institution for the orthopedically handicapped. “Unfortunately, Tahanang Walang Hagdanan could only house those of us who were in wheelchairs,” he explains. “What about the blind and those with other disabilities?” To avoid leaving anyone behind, the group of eight continued working at the shelter where they were staying. They used the severance from the foundation to buy machines that they used in running a small basket-weaving business. The transition from this venture to a full-fledged cooperative seemed daunting at first.

166 Romualdo Barrientos Founding Chairman SIKAP MPC Reynaldo Merida General Manager NFCPWD ALL TOGETHER NOW

“Running a cooperative was difficult because we were composed of people with various disabilities,” he recalls. “For example, it was hard for the deaf and the blind to understand each other. What we did was train at the school for the deaf to help us communicate.” Still with help from CBM, SIKAP soon bagged a contract to produce wooden school chairs for the Department of Education. Over the years, this combination of hard work and discipline drove the cooperative to become the well-oiled machine that it is today, with 30 active members producing up to 1,000 chairs a month. But more than the livelihood and financial opportunities, it was the dramatic change in the mindset of its members that Romualdo said was SIKAP’s greatest achievement. “Self-doubt is the biggest enemy of PWDs,” he says. “We want to stop that kind of thinking, that PWDs can’t achieve anything because of their disability. And because this is a government project, we stress that we are productive members of society and not a burden.” SIKAP is just one of the 16 primary cooperatives that belong to the National Federation of Cooperatives of Persons with Disability (NFCPWD), an organization that trains its members on governance, managerial and technical skills, and health and safety practices. It is entirely owned and staffed by PWDs. Reynaldo Merida, one of the federation’s founders and incumbent general manager, said the organization’s mission had been consistent right from its founding assembly in Tiaong, Quezon in February 1998. Reynaldo was general manager of the Atlas Mining Community Handicapped Association (AMCHA) from 1998 to 2010 wherein the local group, a partner of LANDBANK since 2001, brought up the idea of a partnership between the Bank and NFCPWD. “We know how hard it is to compete against non-PWDs,” he says, “so we want to give employment opportunities to PWDs whether or not they had a chance to study. At the end of the day, it’s about improving the quality of their lives.” Reynaldo, whose left leg was amputated from the knee down due to a mining accident, also credits CBM for the original idea of setting up a federation. But even with the commitment from the PWD sector and the technical know-how from the NGO, the fledgling group still faced one major roadblock. “After we secured that deal with the Department of Education, we found out that we had no working capital. That was when we began our partnership with Landbank,” he says. “Without the financing, NFCPWD would not have survived those early years. There are numerous programs for PWDs in the Philippines but sometimes their expectations are always along the lines of dole-outs. We have to think that we can empower ourselves by taking the initiative to help ourselves. That’s the value of the cooperative. We are owners. It is ours.”

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ST. JUDE MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE From Womb to Tomb

“From womb to tomb” is how Melanie Fontarum, manager of St. Jude Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SJMPC), sums up the services their cooperative provides to its members. Unlike most other co-ops, SJMPC offers all forms of help for life’s major needs— credit, consumer, and health, including funeral services. Founded as a small credit cooperative in 1967, SJMPC has evolved since then, providing various forms of credit and financing services. “A big part of our operations still involves giving assistance and loans, but our memorial services are becoming equally recognized, so it has now become a major component of our co-op,” says Melanie. It was only in the late 1990s when members pointed out, through an annual general assembly, their wish for better memorial services within their community. “We had members who were making caskets for a living. Some baked breads, others arranged flowers. We employed their services to help us start our co-op’s own funeral home,” explains Melanie. With its new funeral home, the co-op eventually extended free mortuary services to each of its members, integrating it with already existing benefits. “We wanted each member to have no worries even after their death,” Pablito Budoy, vice-chairperson of the cooperative’s board of directors, adds. Dependents and referrals are eligible to avail themselves of these services at very minimal cost. The co-op has also partnered with the local government to provide free funeral services to indigent citizens. Using this business model, the co-op’s funeral home quickly grew and expanded. In 2002, they were able to construct a new building for their chapels and mortuary.

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Now with two buildings, St. Jude Memorial Service has its own state-of-the-art crematorium and columbarium. Throughout their expansion, Landbank has been a trusted partner of SJMPC. It has supported the co-op in the management of financial assets and provided it with a steady credit line. In 2007, the Bank awarded SJMPC with the Ginintuang Gawad PITAK under the Non-Agri Category and a cash prize of P1 million. “We used the money to expand our services ST. JUDE MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE and to buy laboratory equipment for the newly established health services,” Melanie says. Although funeral services did not start out as the specialization of SJMPC, the quality of its professional services and the ethics that imbue its handling of death have set the co-op apart from funeral parlors in the region. “The reputation of the funeral service is only as good as the appearance of the displayed casket and the person in it,” says Pedro Catibog, chairperson of memorial services committee. “We see to it that the client is satisfied from the wake to the burial.” The caring attention to the little things—ensuring that the flowers in the chapel are fresh; that there is ample supply of refreshments and snacks; that the deceased’s appearance is never pale or dull—attest to the staff’s devotion to their work. The final proof of the enduring legacy of SJMPC is the faith of its members in the co-op. Engineer Sonia Mayuga says she can still remember when her mother, Nanay Leoning, took out loans to send them to school. “All five of us were able to finish school because of the assistance provided to us by the cooperative.” Nanay Leoning, now 80 years old, has been a member for 45 years. Sonia herself became a member 18 years ago, and among the benefits she received were loans for her real estate business as well as spiritual support in the form of retreats, counseling and guidance. In return, Sonia generously provides her skills whenever it is needed by SJMPC. For instance, it was her design that was used for the construction of the co-op’s two buildings and its chapel’s motifs as well as for the renovation of the co-op’s main office in Brgy. Cotta, Lucena City. She’s also active in the co-op’s extension services like medical missions and environmental clean-ups. To her, the co-op is not just an institution which provides loans or funeral services, but also an instrument to provide assistance to those in need. “Happiness is multiplied when you help others,” she says.

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Pablito Budoy Gaudencio Ranas Melanie Fontarum Pedro Catibog Vice Chairman Head General Manager Director/Chairperson SJMPC St. Jude Memorial Services SJMPC St. Jude Memorial Services HARVEST OF HEROES

FERTILIZING the GRASSROOTS Rural banks are built on faith— faith in the future of the countryside, faith in the ability and integrity of the ordinary Filipino who, with a little help, can do great deeds. But even these enablers of growth in the country’s smallest and farthest corners need a little help from above, given the huge risks and burdens they assume. Landbank serves as big brother to these rural banks, providing them with additional resources with which they can perform their missions more effectively, touching more lives, fertilizing the grassroots. HARVEST OF HEROES

RURAL BANK OF POLA Hands-on to Banking Success

Rural Bank of Pola founder and president Leonor Hidalgo’s first foray into business wasn’t an auspicious one. After a series of foreign assignments with her husband, former ambassador Sime Hidalgo, she returned to her native Pola in Oriental Mindoro during the late 1960s and tried her hand at business. “I bought an eight-hectare property near my house and constructed a fish pen,” she says. “I remember we had 50,000 post-larvae shrimp and we were expecting quite a harvest. After six months, we harvested a total of 50 shrimps.” But Leonor was undeterred. Entrepreneurship had always been second nature to her. Coming home from foreign trips, for instance, she would end up selling items that she bought overseas. After the failure of the fishpond, she took a long, hard look at the then very backward town where she was born. At that time, the government was trying to boost development in the countryside. Starting a rural bank seemed a good idea. Her husband’s job allowed her to invest in real estate and when she sold a house in Dasmariñas Village, she used the proceeds to open the bank. The first capitalization amounted to P3 million. Remembering how their first venture failed, she managed the business hands-on from the start, all the way from the pouring of the first batch of cement and the laying of the first bricks. “I was still very slim and agile back then,” she recalls with a laugh. “I was there at the construction site from day one. I supervised all the workers, including the foreman and engineer. I made sure that the work was going to be as fast and as efficient as possible.

176 RURAL BANK OF POLA

Leonor Hidalgo President Rural Bank of Pola HARVEST OF HEROES

Her husband’s job allowed her to invest in real estate and when she sold a house in Dasmariñas Village, she used the proceeds to open the bank. Remembering how their first venture failed, she managed the business hands-on from the start, all the way from the pouring of the first batch of cement and the laying of the first bricks.

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I really wanted it to be perfect.” This is why all the branches of the Rural Bank of Pola— except the new ones in the Bicol region—boast of a uniform look and layout. As a banker, Leonor learned that it was crucial to be familiar with the nature of their clientele, which, as with most rural banks, meant farmers, fishers, and small businessmen. “My training was in education so I know how to talk to people and reason with them,” she said. “You need to be calm when dealing with them, explain everything clearly, and make sure that they understand.” The bank began its relationship with Landbank in 1993 with a P500,000 rediscounting facility. This gave the bank some financial legroom and precipitated, more than 20 years after its inception, the quick and consecutive opening of branches, first in nearby Socorro town, then Victoria, Pinamalayan, Naujan, Calapan, and Bansud, all in a span of three short years.

We take care of our employees and our clients. We try to understand everyone’s needs and be responsive to them. This is the legacy that we want to be associated with our bank.

In 1998, its rediscounting line with Landbank was increased to P18 million, which more than tripled to P70 million after just five years. A branch in Naga, where her husband grew up, was opened in 2008. Two more branches in the Bicol region were opened soon after in Pili, Camarines Sur, and Legaspi, Albay. Looking back, Leonor attributes this success to the bank’s solid reputation in the communities where it operates, something that she has always been fiercely protective of. “We take care of our employees and our clients,” she says. “We try to understand everyone’s needs and be responsive to them. This is the legacy that we want to be associated with our bank.”

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1ST VALLEY BANK A Lifeline in the Worst of Times

In 1996, when Atty. Nicolas “Sonny” Lim returned from a plush corporate job in Manila to take over his father’s rural bank in his native Lanao del Norte, he was aghast at what he found. “We had no phone line and the nearest calling station was two towns away. The roads were so bad that the seven kilometers from our house in Lala to Baroy, where the bank was located, took 30 minutes to drive,” he said. Then under the name of Rural Bank of Kapatagan Valley, the bank looked like a “typical” rural bank, Sonny says. “There were no chairs for our clients so they stood up near the counter. There was no air-conditioning.” Worse, the bank’s shabby exteriors only mirrored the fundamental problems in the way it was being run. “We had no collectors so our past due levels were high. We had no sales activity so we weren’t getting a lot of new clients. We had an existing P5-million credit line from Landbank, but it was unutilized because no one was taking out loans. We lacked clients.” It was then he realized that the fate of the bank that his father and uncle started in 1956 now lay in his hands. After opting to retire early from a big cement company, he knew that there was no turning back. It was Atty. Lim’s experience in the corporate world that proved to be his biggest asset in trying to orchestrate the drastic turnaround. “As a corporate secretary, I know how the big boys played. I picked up a lot of things.”

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Atty. Nicolas Lim CEO 1st Valley Bank Inc. HARVEST OF HEROES

The bank’s assets grew five-fold over a three-year period– from P100 million in 2000 to P500 million in 2003. They breached the billion-peso mark two years later in 2005. From four branches in 1996, they have 40 as of December 2014, including their head office in Cagayan de Oro. From 23 employees, more than 600 people today call themselves proud 1st Valley Bankers.

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In 1998, the bank became part of the pioneer batch of a USAID-funded financial inclusion initiative called the Microenterprise Access to Banking Services Program. Under the campaign, rural banks were encouraged to expand the access of small businessmen to microfinance services. Microlending was the jumpstart that the Rural Bank of Kapatagan Valley needed. But instead of focusing on microfinance, Sonny decided to use the same approach for all of the bank’s products, including deposit services and agricultural loans. “That program taught us a lot of things, like zero tolerance toward debt, credit investigation, and cash flow lending,” he says. He still remembers the four account officers who went out to the field with a renewed drive and confidence. They’re now major officers at the head office.

I know how the big boys played. I picked up a lot of things.

The results were unprecedented. The bank’s assets grew five-fold over a three- year period–from P100 million in 2000 to P500 million in 2003. They breached the billion-peso mark two years later in 2005. From four branches in 1996, they have 40 as of December 2014, including their head office in Cagayan de Oro. From 23 employees, more than 600 people today call themselves proud 1st Valley Bankers. All along the journey, Landbank provided a consistent credit facility, especially during the 1997 Asian financial crisis when other banks suddenly charged higher rates. It was a lifeline in the worst of times. In 2005, the Rural Bank of Kapatagan Valley consolidated with the Rural Bank of Sinacaban, forming the 1st Valley Bank. Even if “rural bank” is no longer in its name, it has stayed true to the spirit of rural banking, Sonny says. “Most of our clients are still farmers and rural traders. Half of our loans are still in agriculture. We still serve the underserved areas.”

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PRODUCERS SAVINGS BANK The First and the Largest

Unknown to most, Nueva Ecija is a province that deals in superlatives: largest province in Central Luzon, largest land area, largest rice producer of the country, largest population of palay farmers. These are facts which Andres Cornejo, founder and chairman of Producers Savings Bank (PSB), knows only too well— and facts which he took to heart before embarking on the biggest career change of his life. It began in 1995. By then, Cornejo was already 47 years old, secure in his career as treasurer and CFO of a major company. The decision to throw caution to the winds and start a banking business in his hometown was a bold move, but one that paid off. From its humble beginnings as the first rural bank in San Jose, Nueva Ecija, PSB boasts of 126 branches, as of December 2014, all the way up to Central Visayas, with three branches opened in Mindanao in 2014. Additionally, it holds the distinction of being the largest stand-alone thrift bank in the country in terms of branch network, and the largest lender to individual palay farmers in the Philippines today. Despite PSB’s impressive performance, however, vice-chairman and bank president Edmundo Medrano believes that their star is only just rising. “We still have plans to expand, to open 250 branches all over the country by 2017,” he says. “And ten years from now, we aim to make Producers Savings the number one bank in the countryside.” With roughly P1.29 billion as accumulated capital as of December 2014, it’s hard to believe that the bank started out with only P5 million to its name. “Even back then, P5 million was a pretty small amount,” says Cornejo. “It wasn’t easy to acquire, but eventually, LANDBANK decided to take a chance on us.”

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“With the credit support of LANDBANK, we were able to start our branch expansion program immediately on our first year of operations. We were able to avail of the branch incentives under the bank liberalization program of the BSP. Accordingly, we were then able to open 10 branches in our first two years of operations, allowing us to reach out to many small and medium-sized farmers in the province of Nueva Ecija,” Cornejo relates. “The credit backing by LANDBANK was very timely as the BSP imposed a PRODUCERS SAVINGS BANK moratorium on branch licensing on the third year after the program was introduced; thus Producers Bank was able to take full advantage of that window of opportunity,” Cornejo further added. When Cornejo first approached the government bank to apply for a loan, he was refused up front. A two-year minimum wealth equitability record was needed for the loan to push through, and Producers Savings Bank, which was only in its infancy, had no such record to show. His persistence finally convinced LANDBANK to give them the loan, and even then, he knew LANDBANK was already making a giant exception for PSB. As Cornejo relates, “Mrs. Bravo, the bank manager, told me, ‘Andy, I’m going to give you a chance. But you better not get me in trouble.’” Within one year, PSB made a spectacular debut: doubling the amount initially loaned to them, and opening other branches in their first year of operation. It was a precursor of many firsts. “We subscribe to a ‘First Always’ philosophy,” says Medrano. “It keeps us ahead of the game.” Indeed, among a number of laudable firsts, PSB is the first rural bank with head office in Metro Manila to be upgraded to a thrift bank status since the enactment of the General Banking Law of 2000. It is also the first Philippine bank to issue by way of private placement an unsecured subordinated debt facility (USDF) to improve and augment its capital requirements. LANDBANK itself has subscribed to this USDF in 2007, further solidifying the partnership which the two banks have fostered over the years. Producers Bank was also the first thrift bank to be accredited by the BSP as an accredited Rural Financial Institution under RA 10000 (The Agri-Agra Reform Credit Act of 2009) and BSP Circular 736. “We really wouldn’t be where we are today if not for LANDBANK,” Cornejo says. To be sure, for Producers Savings Bank, things can only continue to go uphill from here.

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Andres Cornejo Chairman and CEO Producers Savings Bank HARVEST OF HEROES

MARAYO BANK, INC. A New Life for the Lifesaver

Nenita Escalona, 75, wanted to become a nurse because she liked the uniform. When she finally donned it and went to work, the Bacolod-born mother of three was shocked by how hard the job was, but proved to be quite the exceptional nurse. For three years, she was stationed at the rural health unit in Antipolo, a town north of the Negros Occidental capital. “I delivered 150 babies under my watch,” she says. “All home births but all healthy.” She also worked briefly at an Oklahoma nursing home, but it was her stint at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, where she stayed for 35 years all the way to her 2004 retirement, that defined her career. In many ways, Nenita has always been fortunate. Born to a midwife mother and a government employee father, she was the sixth in a brood of eleven, but never, she says, did she feel like she had to compete for meager resources. All eleven of them finished college and became professionals. Her husband worked as a radio operator for Philippine Airlines. In the early days of the courtship, he would fly to Bacolod from Cagayan de Oro, where he was based, just to spend time with her. When their eldest was born a year later, he asked to be transferred to Bacolod. “He was a good man,” she says. His death in 2008 marked a difficult time in her life.

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Jesus Campos President* Marayo Bank, Inc.

*as of June 2014

Nenita Escalona Client Marayo Bank, Inc. HARVEST OF HEROES

The bank steadily grew at an average rate of 25% and now holds the distinction of being the biggest rural bank in the whole province. From a few thousand clients, it has expanded its reach to some 11,000.

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“When I retired in 2004, I got over P1.3 million in a windfall, but the money trickled away like water,” she said. In 2012, when she needed some money to help a son-in-law land a job abroad, she found herself having to pawn her SSS, GSIS, and Veteran’s cards—where her monthly pensions came in—but was still unable to raise the cash. That’s when she turned to Marayo Bank, Inc. formerly the Rural Bank of Marayo. Based in Pontevedra, south of Bacolod City, the bank was set up in 1969 and recently underwent an ambitious restructuring program with help from Landbank’s Small-Agri Rediscounting Program. It increased its capitalization to P100 million and opened branches in E.B. Magalona, Negros Occidental and Banate, Iloilo in addition to five satellite offices. The bank steadily grew at an average rate of 25% and now holds the distinction of being the biggest rural bank in the whole province. From a few thousand clients, it has expanded its reach to roughly 11,000 loan clients and more than 15, 000 deposit clients as of December 2014.

Marayo Bank offered me an immediate solution and gave me more than I needed.

It succeeded by providing the warm and attentive service that had long set rural banks apart from their big, commercial counterparts, according to Marayo’s president, Jesus Campos. “It has always been our advantage,” he says. “Because we know the people, our services are localized and more personal. We make decisions faster.” Nenita agrees. Unlike the unpleasant treatment she got from commercial banks, “Marayo Bank offered me an immediate solution and gave me more than I needed,” she says. With no plans to sit back and relax post-retirement, she is in the middle of renovating the four store spaces outside her home in Bacolod for rental or, if she acquires enough capital, to start a business of her own. Her dream is to be more financially secure in her twilight years and, with Marayo’s help, this health worker who had helped deliver and save countless lives is well on her way.

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FIRST CONSOLIDATED BANK Combined Resources for Better Business

Much too often, success in business is measured by how an individual or a company outsmarts and outperforms its opponents and emerges victorious over the rest of the competition. However, for some like banker Argeo Melisimo, success in business could also be attained when separate individuals or institutions band together and take action with a common resolve. Such was the philosophy behind the creation of First Consolidated Bank (FCB), explains Mr. Melisimo, president of FCB, when 14 independent rural banks in the province of Bohol merged together in 1982. “Each rural bank shared a common goal to create a stronger banking system for Bohol and to better serve the needs of their community,” he says. The consolidation of these rural banks was nothing short of historical, as it became the first of its kind in the country. With their union, the banks were better equipped to address the growing economy of Bohol during that period. Individually, the banks only had limited amount of funds to work with their clients. But together, their combined resources widened the potential of their business. Staying close to its roots, FCB’s products and services are primarily devised to help farmers and micro entrepreneurs in their area. “In designing our products, we put our ears close to the ground and try to provide the help our clients need,” Argeo says. This goes beyond offering loans to their customers, as FCB also helps farmers link up to the marketplace. “This is the essence of being a financial institution in the countryside,” he adds. With its well-defined priorities and distinct niche market, FCB quickly progressed and expanded. In 1993, FCB put up a branch in Mandaue City in Cebu, its first branch outside

192 FIRST CONSOLIDATED BANK

Argeo Melisimo President* First Consolidated Bank

*as of December 2014 HARVEST OF HEROES

Thankfully, even after the rise and fall of crises in the country that shook and threatened financial institutions, FCB’s financial indicators continued to outperform the averages of the Philippine banking system and the bank performance remained robust and continued to improve on a consistent basis.

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of Bohol. Shortly thereafter, FCB also developed to other areas throughout the country. Finally in 1996, FCB became a private development bank. This move opened the bank to the needs of small and medium enterprises, as it enabled FCB to utilize more capital in the delivery of its products and services. Despite its initial growth, FCB also had to assert itself to be successful in the highly competitive financial industry. One major challenge was projecting FCB’s strength to the community in comparison to the more popular commercial banks in the country as some associated strength to size when in fact strength should be associated with the key financial indicators of a bank. Thankfully, even after the rise and fall of crises in the country that shook and threatened financial institutions, FCB’s financial indicators continued to outperform the averages of the Philippine banking system and the bank performance remained robust and continued to improve on a consistent basis. With its assets amounting to P50 million in 1982, FCB’s total assets reached a staggering P13.12 billion in 2014. Total deposits of FCB have also significantly increased from P13 million in 1982 to P7.92 billion in 2014. It now has a total of 70 branches nationwide and plans to open more branches in Panay, Bicol Area, Mindanao, and other growth centers of the country. Throughout the growth, LANDBANK has been a steady partner of FCB, having been among the earliest investors that supported FCB’s consolidation. Today, FCB’s latest credit line with the Bank stands at P2 billion. In 2003, FCB was recognized by LANDBANK as the most outstanding countryside financial institution for the thrift bank category. For all its success, FCB remains grateful to the sectors that it has served. Right from the beginning, FCB has worked with local government units and non-government organizations in projects which aim to promote a better quality of life for the community. Through direct contributions to these institutions, FCB has provided scholarships, health assistance, environment preservation, and emergency and relief operations, among others, as a way of giving back to the people.

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Partners in Wealth Creation Corporations are efficient engines of wealth creation—providing jobs, energizing communities, supplying products and services, growing markets, and boosting the local and national economy. Landbank has worked with some of the country’s top corporations to achieve common objectives, making an impact in the lives of people in these corporations’ locales, markets, and beneficiary areas. This partnership with business and industry allows Landbank to transform not only individual lives, but also the very climate of economic growth, making synergies possible in key areas of the economy. HARVEST OF HEROES

DUROS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION Reshaping the Southern Landscape

Looking down from his 12-hectare mountain villa in San Vicente, Liloan, Cebu, Rafaelito Barino recalls how, even with a management diploma, it was hard to get a job without the right connections. Eventually he became a freelance salesman, and soon found himself as the middleman between people with products to sell and people who needed them. He saw this as an opportunity to go into business for himself. In 1977, Rafaelito went into the furniture business on a per-order basis. Raw materials were bought after the initial down payment was made. This practice lasted until 1980, when a friend partnered with him and offered P15,000 to expand the business. The business peaked with a work force of 80 employees. Marigold Furnitures did well until 1987 when a union strike nearly cost Barino his life. It was a wake-up call. He realized how difficult it was to work with other people. So he dreamed, this time, of putting up his own business with relatives as partners. He sold his car and asked help from his wife’s siblings. They were able to start San-Vic Traders, Inc. with an initial capital of P100,000. San Miguel Corporation became a regular client for painting and building repairs. Through word-of-mouth, his business clients came to include Coca-Cola and the National Power Corporation. Rafaelito made sure he knew every nut and bolt of each job he accepted. He taught himself to read schematic diagrams and building plans. He became at ease discussing everything from refrigerator wiring to the cable tension of bridges. “I earned my civil engineering degree from the job site,” he jokes.

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After San-Vic, Barino put up Duros Development Corporation in 1990. The Cebu North Road Project construction in 1995 was Duros’ baptism by fire. As a subcontractor for a P60-million project, it was also Duros’ first tie-up with Landbank. This partnership enabled Duros to acquire an asphalt batching plant from Korea. Rafaelito claims that they lost DUROS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION millions in that first big project—a small amount, he adds, in exchange for the tremendous knowledge he had gained. Looking back, he says that “I never dreamed Landbank would still look after us. Had it been other banks, we would not have grown this big.” By 2005, Duros was in number 3,569 in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s list of top 5,000 corporations in the country. It maintains an “AAA” license, with a top-of- the-line asphalt plant capable of churning out 80 tons per hour. Machines are constantly upgraded. Duros has helped reshape the landscapes of the Visayas and Mindanao through the construction of highways, bridges, ports and recently, subdivisions, condominiums, and golf courses. Recently, Duros entered into an agreement with Japanese investors to undertake the construction of a retirement village for Japanese elders by 2015. Rafaelito never runs out of plans and confesses to having sleepless nights thinking about his next construction projects. What keeps him grounded is that he never fails to look back to the time when he was a struggling businessman. “I had nothing and so my concern now is to provide for those in need,” he shares. On the average, a typical project benefits 100 families of construction workers. With Duros’ growing number of employees, the Divine Life Institute School was put up for the employees’ children. Duros is also a main benefactor of the Kaalam Foundation, Inc., a non-government organization aimed to address the social and moral concerns of less-privileged families from Liloan and Compostela, Cebu. Rafaelito’s stewardship has been constantly recognized. He received Landbank’s Outstanding Entrepreneur Award (for Region 6) and the “SME Gabay at Patnubay” Special Citation in 2006. In 2013, Duros received the first national Gawad Kaagapay award from Landbank. From his mountain home, Rafaelito’s eyes shine as he points across the mountains, “Over there is where I’d start the second phase of my subdivision.” Somewhere, machines keep on turning for a man who can’t stop dreaming.

199 Rafaelito Barino Chairman Duros Development Corp.

HARVEST OF HEROES

P.A. ALVAREZ PROPERTIES AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION From the Ground Up

EVERYONE ELSE MISSED IT, BUT ROMARICO “Bing” Alvarez saw the huge potential of a vacant 2.3-hectare farmland a kilometer away from the town proper of San Pedro, Laguna. “I was 32 years old and had been working for a pharmaceutical company for seven years,” he said. “I noticed that my brothers who had their own businesses were in control of their time. They could do the things that they wanted to do and were even earning more.” That was in 1993. Bing, who was starting to raise a family after getting married two years earlier, saw that real estate developers had begun to look beyond Metro Manila. “I went with the trend and took advantage of the favorable business climate. The timing was perfect.” The result was St. Joseph Village 1, built from the ground up with an initial authorized capital of P5 million. Already, the hallmarks of a P.A. Alvarez house were there, he said— a balance between aesthetics and affordability. All 200 units in the village were sold after just four months. The business appeared well on track until the Asian financial crisis hit in 1997. “We had the inventory. We had the buyers. But there wasn’t enough financing in the market. We spoke to banks and tried to explain to them the situation, but everybody stopped giving developmental loans. They were especially wary about real estate. That’s when we started our relationship with Landbank.” Its credit facility from the LANDBANK was crucial in helping the company develop bigger areas of land. “Real estate is very capital-intensive. Our financing needs grow year after year,” Bing explains. When P.A. Alvarez Properties and Development Corp. survived

202 Romarico Alvarez Chairman and CEO PAAPDC Jonathan Lu President and COO PAAPDC PARTNERS IN WEALTH CREATION

that critical juncture in 1998, its growth became quick and unprecedented, all thanks to the company’s intimate familiarity with its market. “We were already in the low and middle income segments before the big players came in,” he says. “We knew the housing needs and paying capacity of the average Filipino family. That has always been our niche and our advantage from the beginning.” At this point, Jonathan Lu, President and Chief Operations Officer of PAAPDC, stepped in and helped steer the company forward by spearheading operational improvements. As a result, its growth from 2004 to 2006 exceeded its first ten years, boosted by a P300-million development loan from LANDBANK.

We were already in the low and middle income segments before the big players came in. We knew the housing needs and paying capacity of the average Filipino family. That has always been our niche and our advantage from the beginning.

“It helped us develop bigger areas of land for housing,” he said. “We grew so fast that the initial loan was tripled to P900 million, just two years later.” From a P5-million company in 1994, its authorized capital rose 150-fold to P750 million by the end of 2013, the same year that the company booked a record P3 billion in sales. “We stayed true to our original vision of ‘Mabilis, Maganda, Matibay at Murang Pabahay (4Ms),’ he says. “For as a little as P400,000, a family can have a space they can call home. Our thrust has always been to find ways to make our houses more functional and affordable. To deliver quality homes. Entrepreneurs should not only be driven by profit. More importantly, they should acknowledge their social responsibilities. They should give back to the community.” This consciousness is another intersection with Landbank, Bing says. “I choose to work with Landbank not only because it is one of the biggest in the country, but because I share its vision and commitment to improve the lives of Filipinos. I’d like to be a channel for the bank to realize that vision.”

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AGUMIL PHILIPPINES, INC. Partnering for Growth in the Philippine Countryside

The Philippines is full of natural resources which, given vision and resilience, can be utilized as capital brimming with possibilities for national economic growth. Sometimes, it takes a neighbor’s eyes to see these opportunities. This is what happened with Agusan Plantations, Inc. (API). Founded in 1982, API was established by a group of Singaporeans who identified 2,000 hectares as a possible plantation site for palm oil production in Trento, Agusan del Sur. The venture proved to be a success, which led to the establishment of a palm oil factory in the area thus giving rise to API’s subsidiary—the Agumil Philippines, Inc. (Agumil). Among the pioneers of Agumil was Lim Chan Lok, a Malaysian who was invited as a technical partner in the company. Today, Chan Lok (or Charlie among his workmates) serves as the President and Chairman of the company. He is based in Cebu where the head office of API and Agumil is located. Charlie speaks of the company’s history vividly. “In 2000,” he recalls, “we set up another plantation in Matin-ao, Carmen in Bohol. Six years after, with an estimated 6,500 hectares planted to palm in Bohol, we built an oil mill.” Agumil’s reach has gone on to include a palm oil mill in Buluan in Maguindanao and Maasin in Brooke’s Point, Palawan, thus covering an estimated 30,000 hectares of plantation nationwide.

206 AGUMIL PHILIPPINES, INC. Partnering for Growth in the Philippine Countryside

Lim Chan Lok Chairman & President Agumil Philippines, Inc./ Agusan Plantations, Inc. HARVEST OF HEROES

Founded in 1982, API was established by a group of Singaporeans who identified 2,000 hectares as a possible plantation site for palm oil production in Trento, Agusan del Sur. The venture proved to be a success, which led to the establishment of a palm oil factory in the area thus giving rise to API’s subsidiary— the Agumil Philippines, Inc. (Agumil).

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A turning point in the company, Charlie relates, happened in 1998, when Agumil initiated the Outgrowers Program. Its aim was to strengthen company participation in the outgrowers’ oil palm development through financial assistance. The company explored the possibility of a loan from LANDBANK. However, the plan hit a snag: government financing institutions offered just a three-year grace period for oil palm growers. The allotted time was less than the five-year gestation period for oil palm. So, it was decided that for the first two years, Agumil would provide loans to cooperatives. On the third year, LANDBANK bought out the loan and continued with additional financing for the next three years up to the maturity of the oil palm. With the implementation of the Outgrowers Prog ram, a substantial amount of the funding for cooperatives came from LANDBANK. The financing scheme helped boost palm oil production which, in turn, made Agumil the premier local palm oil producer since 2005. “It’s been fantastic!” Charlie exclaims. “Without LANDBANK, it would not have grown this big.” He goes on to explain: “We know that agriculture is not a hot business in the Philippines. We’ve talked to other banks, but a lot of them shy away.” His enthusiasm is buoyed by his optimism over how the Philippines should develop and strengthen its agricultural sector. He believes that aside from the land, the country’s skilled and hardworking labor force have been key to the company’s development. These factors pushed Charlie to look for other areas for possible plantation sites. In the near future, he looks forward to developing a 500-hectare plantation in Leyte. If it goes well, he sees another mill construction in the area in the near future. With a credit line of P820 million from LANDBANK as of December 2014, this means more employment in the countryside and a much-needed boost for the local economy. Agumil dared to embrace and triumph in an industry overlooked by local investors. In taking the road less traveled with local producers and an equally optimistic financial institution, it has shown that fruitful partnerships can be made and can work in the Philippine countryside.

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ST. ELIZABETH HOSPITAL Humanitarian Entrepreneurship

Before Saint Elizabeth Hospital founder Jesus Veneracion became a doctor, he remembers tagging along his older brother, then the chaplain of Muntinlupa. These trips, especially to those inside Muntinlupa prison, would become life-changing experiences for the young Jesus. “When you’re a doctor and you work in a hospital, you have to remember that you are always serving people who are in pain,” says the eighth in nine kids. “You have to be compassionate. You have to be attentive. It’s love for your neighbor.” Coming from a poor family, Dr. Veneracion worked his way through medical school. From Manila, he was invited to come to General Santos by his brother, one of the pioneers of the city. There was no hospital yet and the two saw the opportunity. Even so, a “humanitarian spirit” had always guided the entrepreneurial zeal of the two brothers in setting up Saint Elizabeth Hospital in 1962. The 25-bed primary hospital was the very first medical facility in General Santos City. Now a full-service and ISO-certified institution, Saint Elizabeth’s beginnings were simple and modest, intimately linked with the city of its inception. “When you walk on Santiago Boulevard at that time, it’s very dusty,” Dr. Veneracion says. “The highway wasn’t concrete yet. It was talahib (cogon grass) all around. The environment around here was very gloomy because we were away from the main business area of General Santos.” It was definitely an “uphill journey,” Dr. Veneracion says. “Initially, our income wasn’t very good. Some patients couldn’t afford to pay us.”

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Dr. Jesus Veneracion Founder/Medical Director St. Elizabeth Hospital HARVEST OF HEROES

Despite these birth pains, the moral dimension that he had imbued the hospital eventually became its lifeline. People started coming into the hospital, unmindful of the distance. While he started to grow as a surgeon, Dr. Veneracion enlisted the help of the Dominican Sisters of Sienna to run the hospital, which earned a license to operate as a tertiary hospital more than a decade later in 1975. In 1989, his son Tony, an accountant and business management professional by training, took over as hospital administrator. Under his watch, the institution embarked on yet another journey that further changed the landscape of the medical service industry in the region. “In 2000, I convinced my father to put up a quality assurance office, which to my mind was the quickest way to uplift the quality of standard of our services,” he says. “We eventually secured an ISO certification, and by doing so we threw a challenge to the rest of the medical service industry to follow suit.” True enough, another hospital in nearby Koronadal soon after was granted accreditation with two more preparing for the process. “It’s one of our biggest achievements,” Tony says. “When we started, we know that this is not really for our benefit. We were really targeting to help the community by uplifting the standards of health service providers.” Dr. Veneracion himself said he didn’t envision the hospital to be a family business. “It was really intended for the community,” he explains. “Our intention has always been to serve.” With his son taking over the reins of the hospital, he busied himself with the kind of activities that further defined his servant leadership. As governor of the local rotary, he was able to tour Visayas and Mindanao and saw a lot of children with disfigured faces. When he came back to General Santos, he dreamed of establishing a foundation for the kids. That dream was realized in 1999 with the Saint Elizabeth Craniofacial Foundation. To date, it has served more than 1,000 children suffering from cleft lip and

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cleft palate, occasionally sending some kids to Taiwan for special operations. It has a staff dedicated to the care of the patients, including the monitoring of each child to maturity, as well as on-going medical treatments, speech therapy, psychological help, and even medical support. “That’s his brand of service,” Tony says. “Whenever we have meetings to discuss cost-benefit ratios, he’d always tell us to prioritize service. He’s not the type of businessman to whom the most important thing is the bottom line.” It is this same commitment to a bigger purpose that, Tony says, he saw in LANDBANK. Since he stepped in in 1989, the bank had long been a partner of Saint Elizabeth. And just like his father, the partnership has always been beyond “transactional.” “Our relationship with LANDBANK had always been very good,” Dr. Veneracion says. “Whenever we need financial assistance, LANDBANK is always there to help us. We are very much at ease with LANDBANK.” Tony agrees. “Relationships are important to us. What makes the Bank special is the people. No matter who is there, they always make it a point to come and visit us, establish a working relationship with us. They are also very interested in our commitments to the community.” In this manner, Saint Elizabeth and LANDBANK share a common service-oriented vision. “Our dream has always been to expand our services to more members of the community,” Dr. Veneracion stresses. “We want to put up several centers so that everything will be here in General Santos. That way, patients will not have to go to Davao or Cebu or Manila.” “At Saint Elizabeth, we always try to be exceptional and one of a kind,” Tony says. “This is the legacy that we can leave and we can be proud of when we’re no longer here. And because of that, the hospital will be here. It will withstand the challenges of the changing times.”

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Hands across Borders In this age of globalization, national boundaries matter increasingly less, especially given the tremendous flows of goods and services between countries and peoples determined to make the best of their opportunities. International cooperation has also become essential in harmonizing this community of interests, as neighbors realize that they have a stake in each other’s progress. Landbank has reached across the seas and skies to invite bilateral and multilateral partners to join in the grand enterprise of Philippine countryside development. And these partners have responded positively, keen to play a role in this unfolding success story. HARVEST OF HEROES

CEBU SOUTH RECLAMATION PROJECT A New Jewel for the Queen City

Along the eastern coast of Cebu City, a small island rising from nearby Mactan Channel is changing the landscape of Metro Cebu in a significant way. The 300-hectare Cebu South Reclamation Project (CSRP) is the centerpiece and the third phase of the Metro Cebu Development Project—a grand plan that would make the City of Cebu competitive with the other urban centers of the country, and even with the rest of the world. Also known as Cebu South Road Properties, the project boasts of world-class infrastructure, including its own desalination plant for its own water supply and a sewage treatment plant to ensure environmental sustainability. Initially, the project was designed to provide additional land for industries and manufacturing firms, similar to the Mactan Export Processing Zone. But because of changes in the economic climate and the desire to capitalize on the current real-estate boom, this plan was modified to accommodate commercial and residential use. Like all daunting endeavors, the CSRP was initially met with skepticism and opposition. Some sectors criticized it for the dangers it posed to the environment. Others disapproved of the large amount of money the city had to borrow to fund the project. Some 3,700 families, who were residing near the shoreline and working as fishermen and shell gatherers, were also about to lose their livelihood. Despite these challenges, the city council—with the future of Cebu City at stake— was determined to push through with its bid. Environmental certificates were secured and existing quarries were identified which would fill in the huge volume of soil needed for

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the reclamation. Assistance in the form of comprehensive social services was extended to the families whose livelihood was affected. Finally, with the national government acting as the sovereign guarantor, the local CEBU SOUTH RECLAMATION PROJECT government was able to acquire a ¥12.315-billion loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with LANDBANK serving as a conduit between the Cebu City government and JICA. That determination and foresight have begun to bear fruit. The prime property has already attracted an international film production company and several reputable real estate firms to either lease or develop the land. Several establishments are also being constructed within the CSRP, including office buildings, a hotel, a convention center, a hospital, and an upscale shopping mall. With their completion in the next two to three years, businesses located in the CSRP will bring job opportunities to about 80,000 people. The lease and sale of lots, along with expected taxes from commerce generated within the CSRP, will also give Cebu City much-needed revenues. But even with its high commercial value, the CSRP is more than just a moneymaking scheme. Through several lots donated by the Cebu City Government, the property has become the new home of a few government agencies and institutions. For instance, the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Court of Appeals have established their regional offices in the area. The Graduate School for Business Administration of the University of the Philippines and a facility of the UP Innovation Center has also been put up. The Chapel of San Pedro Calungsod, the very first Visayan beato, resides within the CSRP. Yet, for most Cebuanos, the biggest blessing the CSRP provides is not found in any of its modern establishments or prime lots. The wide, smooth, and long highway of CSRP’s South Coastal Road, which links Cebu City with Talisay City and the southern part of Cebu province, has proven to be one of the most easily recognized benefits that CSRP brings. With this new jewel in its crown, Cebu—which has always been as important as Manila in terms of its history, culture, and economy—will maintain its crucial role in the development of the country, and continue to shine as the Queen City of the South.

217 HARVEST OF HEROES The Cebu South Reclamation Project’s South Coastal Road links Cebu City with Talisay City and the southern part of Cebu. HARVEST OF HEROES

VISION

By 2018, LANDBANK will be the top universal bank that promotes inclusive growth and improves the quality of life especially in the countryside through the delivery of innovative financial and other services in all provinces, cities and municipalities. MISSION

To Our Clients and Publics: We will use the best technology solutions to deliver responsive financial and support services to our clients, while promoting sustainable development, and environmental protection.

To Our Employees: We will develop and nurture talents that will exemplify the highest standards of ethics and excellence consistent with the best in the world. WE HELP YOU GROW

It’s not just our new tagline, it’s our promise.

To our clients, partners, stakeholders.

To the Filipino people and our country.

We’re not just a bank concerned with merely profits.

We’re about growing a nation and its people from the ground up.

We’re about sustainable development and preserving the environment.

We’re about empowering the countryside, helping farmers, fishers and small entrepreneurs.

Because we believe that the only way we can truly succeed is by GROWING TOGETHER.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JOSE DALISAY, PhD, has published nearly 30 books of fiction and nonfiction, and teaches English and Creative Writing at the University of the Philippines. He has been a Fulbright and Rockefeller fellow, among others, and his second novel, Soledad’s Sister, was shortlisted for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize. He is in the Palanca Hall of Fame and on the CCP Centennial Honors List, and has won TOYM and CCP awards for his writing.