I ATTENDED the recent press conference of the Philippine Chamber of Cooperatives. My curiosity was shaped by years of working with cooperatives through leadership and digitalization training, which has exposed me to some of the operational, governance and policy concerns they face.
What I heard went beyond the usual discussions about regulation, taxation or cooperative development. The Chamber is exploring whether the economic strength of the cooperative movement can be translated into a stronger political voice.
According to the Cooperative Development Authority, there are 20,962 registered cooperatives representing 13.6 million members, employing more than 335,100 workers and collectively managing P814 billion in assets. In my earlier talks and engagement with various cooperatives, I have been thinking about what those numbers mean for digital transformation and resilience. At a Mindanao cooperative summit last year, I also shared my thoughts on what that would mean politically, such as having 16 cooperative party-list representatives enter Congress, representing the various regions and interests.
The Coop Chamber leaders shared their action plan of forming a political party and fielding three Senate candidates in 2028, potentially selected from within the movement. There was also discussion of members contributing P5 each to signify campaign support. Of course, this is more than P5, as it will also require attending meetings and rallies, and going out of your way to get others to support your candidate.
Multiply P5 by 13 million and the theoretical amount reaches P65 million. But the more interesting number would be how many members actually participate. That could provide an early indication of the movement’s ability to convert membership into engagement.
I find the initiative worth exploring, particularly because cooperative leaders believe many of their concerns do not sufficiently reach the Senate or become part of the broader national policy conversation. But 13 million members should not automatically be counted as 13 million votes.
How many cooperative members would be willing to include one, two or all three cooperative-backed candidates among their Senate choices?
From a research perspective, this is worth measuring before 2028. Membership establishes a potential constituency, but it does not tell us whether cooperative concerns influence voting decisions or what would persuade members to include a cooperative candidate on their ballot.
There is also a governance question. Cooperatives have always balanced democratic member control with the need for competent leadership, accountability and independent judgment. We see versions of this in regulated financial institutions operating under cooperative structures, where governance safeguards can introduce independent oversight without necessarily removing member ownership and control.
Political participation will require a similar balance. If a political organization emerges from the cooperative movement, how will its leaders and candidates be selected? How will contributions be accounted for? How will conflicts of interest be handled? And how will the political choices of individual cooperative members remain protected?
A person can strongly support a cooperative while choosing candidates from different political groups. The movement’s political strength will be more credible if its candidates earn members’ votes rather than treating membership as guaranteed electoral support.
Candidate selection will therefore matter enormously. There is understandable appeal in finding candidates from within because they already understand cooperative concerns. But cooperative experience alone will not be enough. A senator must legislate, communicate, build coalitions and understand issues beyond one constituency.
Last year, I got the chance to catch up with former Catanduanes representative Leandro Verceles Jr., whose legislative experience included involvement in the passage of the E-Commerce Act. He also ran as an independent senator in the last election as an experiment without necessarily carrying out any campaign. It made me think about the machinery and support needed to win in a Senate race. There are several who have run in the past who were well credentialed but did not make it.
One principle I often return to in leadership is that leaders must touch the heart before they can reach the mind and their wallets. A candidate can understand cooperative legislation, taxation and governance exceptionally well. But voters first have to know the person, trust the person and understand why that person’s agenda connects and matters to them. You can say all the right words, but you will not necessarily be able to touch the voters’ hearts, minds and wallets.
Finding three capable cooperative leaders may therefore be easier than turning them into nationally competitive candidates. They will compete not only for votes but also for share of voice and mindshare online and offline.
Having three candidates from different generations and experiences could broaden their reach. An experienced public servant may connect with one constituency, a business or cooperative leader with another, and a younger candidate with Filipinos concerned about jobs, technology and emerging forms of livelihood.
They do not need every cooperative member to vote identically. Some members may support all three, others only one or two. Each candidate has to earn a place among the voter’s Senate choices. Eventually, they also have to reach beyond cooperatives.
Food security, access to financing, entrepreneurship, transport, employment, rural development and livelihoods are not exclusively cooperative concerns. Candidates who can translate cooperative experience into solutions for these broader problems may also give nonmembers a reason to vote for them.
This is why I would not judge the initiative solely by whether one of their candidates wins in 2028. The election can establish a baseline. How many votes can each candidate attract? Which messages resonate? Where is support strongest? Can cooperative candidates attract voters outside the movement?
If none wins, those answers can inform the next attempt. Senate elections provide another opportunity every three years. Candidates can become better known and strategies can improve. But persistence alone is not enough. Repetition without adaptation does not create electability.
This has to be a long game.
Cooperatives should understand that better than most. They are built by people pooling resources, participating in decisions and developing trust over time. Political influence may require the same patience.
Thirteen million members tell us the potential scale. Participation will tell us about engagement. The 2028 elections can begin measuring political reach.
But the real test is whether they can develop credible leaders whom members freely choose to include among their Senate choices, and whom Filipinos outside the movement eventually find worth voting for too.
Furthermore, they have to continue and keep persisting in elections thereafter. Otherwise, it will just appear as a whim of the current leadership, and when they don’t get what they want, they will no longer persist.
Political influence, like cooperative trust, has to be earned.