LINGAYEN – Representatives from each of the OFW Family Associations of the province attended a pre-membership and organization seminar in preparation for the formation of the first-ever cooperative for the overseas workers and their families.
Spearheaded by the Pangasinan Provincial Employment Services Office (PESO), the seminar was held at the Pangasinan PESO building here last January 12 in coordination with the Cooperative Development Authority.
PESO Manager Alex Ferrer said the participants consisted of officers and ordinary members of the association willing to become incorporators who will pioneer the establishment of a cooperative among themselves.
The participants are expected to vote their interim officers after undergoing the pre-membership and organization seminar.
Ferrer said the project seeks to provide livelihood assistance to the association members to help them uplift their economic condition and quality of life so that they can already go home and live with their families instead of sacrificing too much away from their loved ones to provide their needs.
Ferrer said the cooperative will benefit initially the families of the overseas workers and their families. It will initially start as a credit cooperative which is later projected to expand to other projects that will benefit not only its members but also other people in the community.
Last year, OFW Family Associations were formed in all 47 cities and municipalities of the province with the Federation of OFW Family Associations as the umbrella organization.
Meanwhile, another project set to be implemented is the Bigasang –Bayani project where Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. approved the accreditation of the federation as co-partner in applying grant with the Department of Labor and Employment where DOLE will shoulder 80 percent of the grant and the province shoulders the remaining 20%.
A memorandum of agreement will be signed with the OF/W associations and they will be given a rice-retail store called the Bigasang-Bayani.
If the cooperative becomes successful, it will be linked sooner to the Bigasang-Bayani project where the produce of the cooperative will be supplied to the rice retail stores which will later put up extension outlets to the barangays that will create a chain reaction because as the project expands, more and more people will be benefitted as the project is seen to create livelihood employment and generate income for the families.