THE STORY BEHIND HOLY SPIRIT MARKETING COOPERATIVE ( HOSMARCO)

The Holy Spirit Marketing Cooperative (HOSMARCO) was conceived in the latter part of
December 2011, primarily as a marketing cooperative of rice that plans to enter into bidding at the
National Food Authority (NFA). It started with 25 incorporators with fifty thousand (P50, 000) initial
capital. However, while waiting for the approval of the application for registration from the
Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), Sikap Buhay staff's lead by Jun Jumadiao, Head of Business
Development Support, approached Brgy. Captain Chito Valmocina saying that they are looking for a
cooperative who are willing to enter into a contract with MRT (Manila Railway Transit) for the project
of supplying specific type of basahan (3 ply) that the railway maintenance personnel are using.

After the meeting with Sikapbuhay personnel, Brgy. Captain Chito Valmocina relayed the
concern to his wife Estrella , who is in turn the current Chairman of the Board of HOSMARCO. The
next thing happened is that the original idea of doing wholesale rice retailing is transformed into the
idea of venturing into the 3-ply basahan project. Preparations were undertaken to find the needed
equipments and supplies like white cloth as well as sewers who can make this type of basahan. On
May 2012, the Certificate of Registration of HOSMARCO as a full pledged cooperative was granted by
CDA. The Sikap Buhay Team led by Ms. Marlyn Siapno conducted meetings, trainings and site
inspections just to make sure that other aspects of the preparation are covered such as the capacity
building and product development. This is one way of facilitating the clients' need of support services
provided by the LGU and on the other hand ensuring that the quality are met as specified by the
market. In short, HOSMARCO is gearing towards the preparation once the full operation is signalled
thru the approval of the contract and the eventual Purchase Order by MRT.

In June of 2012, the first Purchase Order from MRT was received and immediately, HOSMARCO
got engaged and started the production of the first batch of the PO. Sikap Buhay Team Members lend
their support and even stayed on the site teaching, monitoring and even helping the sewers on the
area. Initially, around 25 people were handpicked to do the job: 10 designated for the taytay or
assembly, 7 as in-house sewers and another 5 as home based sewers and 3 management personnel to
do the purchasing, segregation, monitoring and quality control.

Producing the first Order of basahan is not an easy one. There were hitches in the supply of
raw materials, constant turn-over of assemblers, revisions in sewing, machine breakdowns, and
difficulty in terms of collection of finished product from home based producers plus the skills of the
sewers which took them a long time to make it right according to specifications. The first drawback
was the delayed schedule of the first delivery, plus HOSMARCO incurred a loss of almost P20, 000 due
to wastage of raw materials in the production process.

However, the management and Sikap Buhay team did not lose heart. Hand in hand, solutions
to the problems are grasped making efficiency steadily improving. Strict monitoring was done to make
sure that the operation will continue and surpass the odds of the start-ups. One and a half year later,
not only did HOSMARCO proved that it could stand now on its own, it developed production efficiency
that only takes 2 weeks to finished the whole 500 kilos purchase order compared a year before that
took us 2 months to deliver the first batch of the PO. Also now, purchases of raw materials achieved its
almost 100 percent maximization of its production use. On the other factors of production, labor
component now with available skilled workers was given piece rate increased from P2 to P3, hence,
their take home pay also increased from an average of P400 to almost P800 to P1,200 a week making
them more productive than ever. To top it all, HOSMARCO is now posting a profit of 20% and is
already a going concern. All of this, thanks to the support of Sikap Buhay and to the commitment of
now Councilor- Elect Estrella Valmocina and Barangay Captain Chito Valmocina. Let me close this
discussion by telling the story of Mary.

Mary is a simple housewife that was laid off from a garments factory, before she joined
HOSMARCO. She and her husband had to support their 10 children. Last year, they could only send
one child to school. Now five (5) of her children is enrolled in elementary and high school including
their youngest, which is seven years old. She started from earnings of P300 a week as take home pay
but eventually became one of our best sewers earning at least P1,000 to P1,200 weekly that even
when her husband was unable to work for some time, she was able to sustain the family through her
hard work and dedication. This is the story that keeps Holy Spirit Marketing Cooperative going and
the people behind it.

THANK YOU SIKAP BUHAY.