Cooperative members and leaders all over the country, together with concerned government agencies will be celebrating the Cooperative Month in October, starting with opening ceremonies entitled “One Co-op, One Vision, One Nation” to be held at the Performing Arts Theater, Amoranto Complex, Scout Chuatoco, Quezon City on October 1.

The affair begins with a motorcade that will start from various points in Metro Manila and converge in the inner-lane of the Quezon Circle and end at the venue. “The motorcade will show to everybody the solidarity of the cooperative sector in the Philippines,” says Lionel Abril, General Manager of the Philippine Cooperative Center (PCC), one of the key organizers of the event.

Rose Cañadido of the PFCCO will introduce the participants at the opening ceremonies scheduled for 10 a.m., followed by prayers and declaration of the Co-operative Pledge, led by National Market Vendors Cooperative chair, Francisco Lopez.

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. will give the welcoming remarks, followed by an inspirational talk from Romulo Villamin, erstwhile Chief Executive Officer of the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) and currently head of the Institute for Co-op Excellence.

Villamin says: “Today, cooperatives have become established institutions. When we talk of cooperatives now, we no longer talk of organizations with a few millions and confined to a social grouping or institution. We are now talking of enterprises with multi-million and even billion-peso resources.

“But we still struggle to understand how to cooperate among ourselves. So there have been lost opportunities, wasted resources, spent energies and social capital,” he adds.