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BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THERE IS NO SINGLE AGENCY DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR POVERTY REDUCTION

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THERE IS NO SINGLE AGENCY DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR POVERTY REDUCTION Here’s a provocative truth: despite decades of lip-service, in the Philippines there is no single agency that holds direct, exclusive responsibility for reducing poverty . It sounds absurd — yet look closely and the institutional maze confirms it. One of the clearest root causes of this confusion is the sloppy interchange of two very different concepts: poverty alleviation and poverty reduction . They are not the same. Alleviation is about cushioning the blow. Think emergency food packs after a typhoon, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) conditional cash transfers or disaster relief operations. Reduction, on the other hand, means reducing the poverty rate , physically lifting people above the poverty line in a structural, sustained way. When agencies treat the two as if they were interchangeable, we end up measuring success in the wrong units. In this country, many government officials...
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COOPERATIVE OWNED GROCERY STORES

COOPERATIVE OWNED GROCERY STORES Cooperative-owned grocery stores are not new in the Philippines. In fact, reports say there are already hundreds operating under various cooperatives. But that makes me wonder—if we already have more than 16,000 registered cooperatives nationwide, why are there not thousands of grocery stores by now? I’ve been involved with two cooperative stores in the past, so I’ve seen both the promise and the pitfalls firsthand. Lack of capital is often mentioned as the main problem. But I don’t think that’s entirely true. Cooperatives, by their very nature, can pool resources from their members. What I see as the real challenge is a lack of interest —or perhaps a lack of management and procurement skills to keep such stores competitive and sustainable. Some co-op managers struggle to source high-quality goods at reasonable prices. Without strong supplier networks or credit lines, many are forced to rely on consignment arrangements that limit their options and prof...
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COOPERATIVE OWNED COMMUNITY PHARMACIES

COOPERATIVE OWNED COMMUNITY PHARMACIES Can a small cooperative-owned community pharmacy compete with a giant drugstore chain? My answer is a resounding yes —and not just as a matter of optimism, but of economic logic and social vision. For one, cooperatives already have a built-in customer base: their members. That’s an advantage no big corporation can simply buy. A cooperative pharmacy starts with trust—an asset that’s priceless in a sector where people’s health and lives are on the line. Members already have a reason to support their own cooperative, and in return, the cooperative has a duty to provide affordable, safe, and ethical access to medicines. But here’s another reason: a cooperative can do everything a corporation can do. It can buy, sell, hire, manage, and expand. The only limits are compliance and capital. Yet, if we think collectively, the combined financial strength of over 16,000 registered cooperatives in the Philippines could easily surpass that of the biggest drugst...
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A CAMPAIGN FOR CHEMICAL FREE FOOD WINS IN NEW ZEALAND

A CAMPAIGN FOR CHEMICAL FREE FOOD WINS IN NEW ZEALAND Just when the fight for clean food and healthy soil seemed like a losing battle — now comes this victory. The win in New Zealand for food sovereignty is real, and it has lessons for us here in the Philippines. The New Zealand Moment In New Zealand, the government agency New Zealand Food Safety (operating under Ministry for Primary Industries, MPI) had proposed to dramatically raise the maximum residue level (MRL) of the herbicide Glyphosate in staple cereals – from the default of 0.1 mg/kg up to 10 mg/kg for wheat, barley and oats, and 6 mg/kg for peas. Many consumer-environment-farm advocates said NO WAY. Over 3,100 public submissions poured in. The result: the glyphosate entry in the MRL notice remained unchanged.   This is a powerful moment for grassroots advocacy and food sovereignty. The decision to maintain low glyphosate residue limits (and at least to keep the entry unchanged while consultation is ongoing) reflects ...
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