Taiwan Cooperative Bank, Nantou Branch | Photo by Shxpeng via Wikimedia Commons
Part XV of the “Back-to-Basics Governance” Series
In his farewell speech on Jan. 10, 2017, President Obama said that he still believes that “change only happens when ordinary people get involved, get engaged, and come together to demand it.”
To make “Project 541” and its main component, the “Medical Moonshot,” happen, Sorsoganons (and Filipinos) must remember President Obama’s back-to-basics words on “CHANGE.”
This columnist has been writing about changing Capitalism, especially “Crony Capitalism.” And replace it with “Cooperative (Co-op) Capitalism.” Why? Because ordinary people lack the capital to engage in business enterprises such as agriculture, trade or commerce, or any industry.
Therefore, the first step is to organize barrio co-ops in all the 541 villages (or barrios or barangays) in Sorsogon. It is the proposed pilot province of socioeconomic development in the Philippines. “Project 541” will be capped by launching a viable “Medical Moonshot,” as described in Part 13 of this series.
The idea is not to beg for dole-outs but to offer joint ventures for local-and-foreign partners.
Yes, investment begins with Sorsoganons in the province and from Overseas Sorsoganons. There are more than 1,000 Sorsoganon clans in North America that can invest modest amounts per month on an installment plan for 5-to-10 years. The different co-ops can be organized by a mother cooperative federation that can coordinate all the chapters. The ventures should be of the people, by the people, and for the people and their stakeholders.
Of course, other investors (read, stakeholders) will be welcome to bring in investments, technology, and other needed expertise. Foundations can be attracted to provide grants and also investments. Many projects can also qualify for funding through loans from the U.S. Export and Import Bank and its equivalent entities in other countries.
Some of the ventures are ideally designed as Public-Private Partnerships (PPP).
For a better name for “Project 541,” once it starts forming co-ops in the villages, perhaps they must think of the Latin word “Semper.” The Latin word is an adverb that means “always.” this columnist learned it while taking up Latin as a subject in the Divine Word High School in what is now Sorsogon City in the early 1960s.
SEMPER can be an acronym for “Sorsogon Economic and Medical People’s Enterprises for the Region.” If it meets its Phase-one goals in 2030, it can change “Region” to “Republic.” And it expands further its operations, “S” can stand for “Southern,” as Sorsogon is the southern end of the big island of Luzon.
In the United States, approximately 5 million Americans of Filipino descent, Filipino immigrants, and Overseas-Filipino workers (OFW). The Filipino-American communities collectively earn per year more than $ 92 billion (as of 2019, pre-pandemic).
What enterprises and businesses can Sorsogon cooperatives engage in? This journalist wrote a summary of the economic potential of Sorsogon. He published this Facebook Note in several Facebook Groups from 2012-to-2014 and updated it in 2015, 2017, and 2018. Its Executive Summary is entitled: “Ten-to-20 Priority Projects to ‘Reinvent’ the Quality of Life in Sorsogon & its ‘Isles of the Future’ AND Create 300,000+ Jobs.” Those interested in investing in the pilot province of Sorsogon can read the description of the priority projects at this link.
“The ventures can attract many North American and Asian investors provided Sorsoganons and other Filipino workers (needed for the unfilled positions in the province, which has less than a million in population). But they should passionately want to make real and concrete changes.
By the way, many of the 300,000 proposed jobs will have an entry-level salary of PHpesos 1,000 per day. The minimum wage now in Sorsogon is PHpesos 350 per day. And in his talks with prospective Taiwanese-American stakeholders (and Taiwanese investors), it was agreed that factory workers for the proposed manufacturing facilities would be paid the equivalent of US$3 per hour, which is just a dollar less than the minimum wage in Taiwan, of course, plus the usual employee perks, similar to what workers receive in Taiwan, which reportedly has the best healthcare system in the Far East.
The ventures can attract many North American and Asian investors provided Sorsoganons and other Filipino workers (needed for the unfilled positions in the province, which has less than a million in population). But they should passionately want to make real and concrete changes. Not just receive loose change from politicians but go for “change to happen when ordinary people get involved, get engaged, and come together to demand it.” Yes, to borrow the words of former President Obama.
This early, this columnist has secured the tentative commitment of two influential Filipino-American community leaders to look at the proposed socioeconomic ventures in Sorsogon Province. They are Numeriano Bouffard and Wilmar Ramos Suan.
Mr. Bouffard is the prime mover of the Pueblo Filipino (Retirement and Cultural Center) of Manzanillo City, Colima State of Mexico. He is also the president of the Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida, and the FPACC Foundation, Inc. FPACC stands for the Federation of Filipino-American Chambers of Commerce. He can bring his Mexican and Spanish associates to join him in the Sorsogon ventures.
Mr. Suan is a CPA in the State of Michigan and is a financial expert. He is also an executive and director of the Philippine-American Medical Mission Foundation of Michigan, Inc. He originally hails from Allen, Northern Samar. Therefore, he knows the province of Sorsogon, which faces Northern Samar across the San Bernardino Strait.
By Sunday, this column will discuss more projects in which Mr. Bouffard and Mr. Suan (and other foreign investors) are interested in participating as stakeholders and what they can do to attract foreign investments. Other sources of income will also be discussed. The gross income may come from selling naming rights (for the crop terraces, memorial-tree parks, and other infrastructures) to export products and services — after a gestation period of less than one year from January 2024.
