COOPERATIVES around the country are reaffirming their resilience in advancing the cooperative movement as an alternative to the corporate business paradigm.

This year’s celebration of cooperative month banners the theme: “One Coop Movement, One Vision, One Nation: Bagong Batas, Bagong Sigla sa Kooperatiba.”

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In a phone interview, Cooperative Development Authority (CDA 10) Regional Director Orland Ravanera said with global recession still bludgeoning local economies around the world, the cooperative paradigm is fast becoming a logical business venture alternative.

“The recent corporate business-driven financial crisis has—indirectly—proven that the capitalist paradigm is not sustainable,” said Ravanera.

“Cooperative movement has indeed come a long way as it has weathered even the global recession,” he added.

In its second quarter economic report, the Regional Development Council (RDC 10) monitored a stark increase in the number of cooperatives in the region.

“The number of cooperative increased by 85 percent from 3,789 in the second quarter of 2008 to 3,874 in the same period of 2009 adding 3,211 new members and generating P1.15 billion worth of additional capital,” RDC 10’s second quarter economic review states.

“These figures debunk the notion that dominant development paradigms such as capitalism would still flourish beyond the concentration of surplus capital. As a cooperative, a business venture could surpass corporate gains anytime because it is founded on socialized capital precepts and equity based on social justice,” explained Ravanera.

The cooperative month celebrations will official start on Sunday with Holy Mass, opening program, inter-coop games and the launching of the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) massive campaign to cooperativize the facility at the Capitol Grounds.

With a culmination night dubbed “Dinner for a cause for COWD advocacy,” the cooperative month will official close on October 30 at the Grand Caprice.

However, RDC 10’s second quarter economic review reported that based on paid-up capital, the quarter-on-quarter comparison showed a lower performance this year.

“There were only 10 cooperatives generating P239, 000 in paid-up capital compared to the 23 new cooperatives formed in the second quarter last year with a paid-up capital of P1.797 million,” RDC 10’s second quarter economic review states.

Ravanera, for his part, is confident that this figure will improve in the next quarter as more people—feeling the brunt of the international financial crunch—are seriously considering cooperativism as an effective alternative to corporate business-driven investments.