Alleba Politics

The following is a revised version of the speech I made for Davao City Second District Councilor Louie John Bonguyan, Chairman on the Committee on Cooperatives’ Development and People’s Organizations. He delivered this last October 1, 2007 during the launch of the celebration of Cooperatives’ Month.

The government recognizes the vital role of cooperatives as venues for citizens’ participation and people empowerment. Cooperatives are accredited and supported by the government because we recognize that although we are here to serve and represent your interests and needs, we have limited capabilities and resources. Cooperatives, on the other hand, answer our community’s specific needs and interests at the grassroots level.

Cooperatives have the unique and important capacity to move our people of common interests towards a certain goal. It is a wonderful demonstration of how we can all work together to benefit each other and the community as a whole. It is a movement away from crab mentality. Rather, it is an illustration of bayanihan in the modern times. A positive path towards a Filipino people united working towards progress, development, peace, and prosperity. This month, we again call upon all cooperatives to demonstrate the Filipino virtue of bayanihan as we heed the call of this year’s Cooperatives Month Celebration. This year, we are guided by the theme “ Preserve the Environment, Sustain the Economy… Yes, Cooperatives Can!” The theme presents two very important challenges to our cooperatives.

The first is a challenge is to preserve the environment. Some of the urgent problems that our city and our community is facing today are problems concerning the environment: flooding, shortage of food and other natural resources, health and sanitation, destruction of habitats, the list goes on. Although the city government is working hard towards a more environment-friendly city, we need the help of our cooperatives. Our city is known for our landmark environmental-friendly legislations and policies such as the Anti-Smoking Ordinance, the Fireworks and Firecrackers Ban, the Watershed Code, and the Aerial Spraying Ban. Davaoeños are also known for our discipline. However, there is still much more that we can do to preserve our environment. Let us not limit ourselves to planting trees and cleaning up our surroundings. Let us always be aware that all our decisions and actions have repercussions, negative or positive, for the environment. The environment can be preserved not just with grand actions, but more so with the small positive changes in our lifestyle. Simple choices such as riding a bicycle instead of a car, recycling papers instead of throwing them away, segragating wastes properly, and turning off appliances while not being used can translate into a big difference for our environment if done regularly by a big number of people. Cooperatives can serve as good examples in their communities of how to be more environmentally-friendly.

This year, we also challenge cooperatives to sustain the economy. The strength of our economy does not lie on the big companies and businesses alone. It also depends on the simple ideas and small ventures that have the potential to make it big time. Businesses, no matter how small, have the potential to grow, to contribute to the economy. Many big companies today began with small and simple ideas that were nurtured, encouraged, and supported by their communities. We encourage cooperatives and its members to work towards capability-building, to promote entrepreneurship, and to encourage and patronize small businesses.

The combined preservation of the environment and economic progress is what we call sustainable development. Sustainable development is not an entirely new concept. It has been around for quite a while, but it is something that is hard to achieve. Simply put, sustainable development is the development of the economy without the exploitation of the environment. Some people equate progress with the destruction of the environment. This is not necessarily true. In the long run, the environment’s destruction could spell disaster for the economy. The excessive use of our natural resources could lead to the shortage of food, water, energy, and other resources. The exploitation of habitats such as the oceans, forests, and even the lands we live in, could lead to its degradation, and animal and plant extinction. Remember that we do not own the earth and our environment. Rather, we are only taking care of it for the future generations. Economic success at the expense of the environment will only make our future Davaoeños suffer. Thus, it is important that we all work together, as a community demonstrating the Filipino virtue of bayanihan towards a better Davao, not just for us, but for our children as well.

This month, let us work together, the government, the cooperatives, and all Davaoeños towards a stronger economy and a healthy environment, towards sustainable development because Cooperatives can!

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