The impact of co-operatives and the power of women: 13 women, 13 provinces, 13 stories – CARD MBA, a success story!

As I waited for Kuya Mameng to pick me up at 6:30 a.m. on May 5th at the hotel lobby, my mind was full of energy and excitement. This was my very first day at RIMANSI… and already, I’m going to be travelling to the province of Laguna to sit through and observe a training that Jun Jay Perez, RIMANSI’s executive director, will be delivering to a group of women who make up the board of trustees of CARD MBA.

It would be my very first orientation to the business of microinsurance. I would be travelling with Jun Jay Perez, RIMANSI’s executive director, Hedz Paredes, one of RIMANSI’s project officers, Allan Legaspi, RMSI’s business development officer, and Simplicio Clemente or, simply (apparently, with pun intended), “Kuya Mameng”, RIMANSI’s driver.

As the company van navigated through the traffic-filled streets of Pasig City in Metro Manila to the narrow (or what seemed like single lane, tw0-way streets of the town of Bay in Laguna, we listened to the love ballads of the 80s and 90s… another sweet reminder of the Filipinos’ love for love songs. As I softly hummed along the songs, “Where Are You Now” by Jimmy Harnen & Synch and “I’m All Out of Love” by Air Supply, I noticed the prices of fuel at several gas stations we passed along the way:
– P47/liter for diesel fuel (that’s CDN$1.175/liter);
– P47/liter for regular gas, known as “bronze” in Canadian Shell stations (that’s CDN$1.175/liter); and
– P57/liter of premium gas, known as “silver” in Canadian Shell stations (that’s CDN$1.425/liter).

Watermelon stands abound on the roadside as we left the city and progressed through the rural areas. Oh… and before you judge me, audibly humming and singing along with the radio or just singing out loud, in public, is completely, absolutely normal in the Philippines! It’s a form of stress relief and it’s free. You should try it.

Stands along the roadside selling freshly harvested watermelons to travellers

As we neared our destination, I saw from a distance a view of Mount Makiling, a mountain supposedly resembling a woman’s profile. Mariang Makiling (Maria of Makiling) is a famous Philippine mythic fairy or forest nymph. Growing up in the Philippines, I heard of Mariang Makiling legends in grade two—one was about Maria turning ginger into gold to help poor villagers passing by the mountain, and another one was about the fairy falling in love with a mortal who promised to love her forever, but later fell in love with another mortal, turning Maria into a scorned lover. Mount Makiling’s various peaks are said to resemble Maria’s face, two breasts and her hair cascading downwards a gentle slope away from her body.

Mount Makiling from afar

13 women, 13 provinces, 13 stories – CARD MBA, a success story!

In less than 2 hours, we arrived at the offices of CARD MRI Development Institute, Inc. (“CMDI“) in Bay, Laguna, where I would be meeting 13 nanays (“mothers”) who sit in the board of trustees, leading one of the highest-earning and largest mutual benefit associations in the Philippines: the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutual Benefit Association Inc. (“CARD MBA“). With an annual revenue of P6 billion (that’s CDN$150 million), a membership of 1,914,510 households and a total number of individual insured persons at 9,572,550, CARD MBA is hailed as a great success story in the world of insurance generally. Its members, mostly made up of women, and board of trustees, consisting of only women, work hard to put CARD MBA at the top of its game!

Meet the CARD MBA board of trustees: 13 women in 13 provinces with 13 real stories of hope, resilience and impactful co-operative existence. In the hands of these women lie the business health and sustainability of CARD MBA, the insurance provider of CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institutions, the umbrella corporation of several CARD entities that offer various microfinance and microinsurance products and services. CARD MBA is the pioneer of the MBA microinsurance model.

The 13 women you’ll meet below are mothers, grandmothers, sisters and aunts to many people in their communities. Each one is engaged in a variety of small-to-medium enterprise in order to earn money and be able to meet their familial obligations. What they have in common is a great desire to lead CARD MBA as a strong, sustainable microinsurance provider, while being able to meet the specific demands of client-members for insurance in cases of death (i.e. funeral insurance for coverage of burial expenses, and creditor insurance for loan repayment upon the death of a member-borrower) and old age (i.e. provident funds or retirement savings funds). For more information on CARD MBA, please visit www.cardmba.com.

Nanay Virgie (Virginia Baldo), from the province of Laguna, owns and operates a sari-sari store (i.e. a local variety store as pictured below) and is engaged in the business of hog-fattening and direct sales. She is a mother of two. Because of her membership at CARD MBA, she was able to send her kids to school: her son graduated with an engineering degree; and her daughter has attained a degree in psychology. She has been a CARD MBA member for 12 years, and is currently serving as the president.

A sari-sari store across the CMDI office in Bay, Laguna. © Gadhi Cruz 2014. All rights reserved.
Nanay Mae (Remia Vasquez), from the province of Oriental Mindoro, runs a business of hog-raising, hog-fattening and plumbing. She also operates a local transportation business, driving a tricycle to transport passengers within her town. It is rare to find women driving tricycles in the Philippines. She has been a CARD member for 12 years, and is currently serving as the vice president.
Remia, intently listening to a fellow trustee’s perspective on the challenges facing the CARD MBA board of trustees when performing its activities. © Gadhi Cruz 2014. All rights reserved.
Nanay Gina (Genalyn Rivadeniera), from the province of Marinduque, is in the business of buy-and-sell, selling banana chips and yema (a type of soft candy made of condensed milk).
Yema with peanuts

Sweetened banana chips
Nanay Cely (Celenia Lazo), from the province of North Cotabato, owns and operates a boarding house (i.e. a house with rooms rented to individuals, where the renters may rent an entire room or a bed space) and a function hall with food catering.
A boarding house in Cebu with advertising of availability
Nanay Lucy (Lucy Gonzales), from the province of Masbate, owns and operates a sari-sari store and a tricycle.
A tricycle passing in front of the CDMI office in Bay, Laguna. © Gadhi Cruz 2014. All rights reserved.
Nanay Bing (Patricia Pelera), from the province of Agusan del Norte, is in the wholesale flag-sewing business, supplying flags to government bodies in the Philippines.
The Philippine flag
Nanay Lita (Angelita Ismael), from the province of Occidental Mindoro, is in the agriculture business, which includes farm operations and rice farming and rice retailing. She also provides book-keeping services.
Rice farmers at work in the Philippines

A rice-farmer in the midst of planting rice, a labor-intensive activity that requires the farmer to be up on his/her feet, but bent downwards to plant the grass on the mushy rice field. One of the first things I’ve learned as a pre-school student in the Philippines is a folk song called, “Magtanim Ay Di Biro”, which depicts the daily lives of Filipino farmers. The lesson: planting rice is an enormous feat.
Nanay Adoracion (Adoracion Balmonte), from the province of Pangasinan, owns and operates a sari-sari store and direct sales. She has been a CARD MBA member for 5 years, and is currently serving as the treasurer.
A typical sari-sari store in the city of Cavite
Nanay Edna (Edna Royo), from the province of Camarines Sur, owns and operates a sari-sari store and hog-raising (i.e. piggery) business.
A piggery attendant cleans the pig pen with pressurized water hose
Nanay Charito (Charito Rivera), from the province of Bulacan, owns and operates a sari-sari store. She has been a CARD MBA member for 5 years, and is currently serving as the secretary.
A sample of goodies sold by some of the CARD MBA members. © Gadhi Cruz 2014. All rights reserved.
Nanay Genelyn (Genelyn Chavez), from the province of Iloilo, owns and operates a sari-sari store.
Beautiful wooden handcrafts made by some CARD MBA members. © Gadhi Cruz 2014. All rights reserved.
Nanay Letty (Letecia del Corro), from the province of Cebu, is in the business of renting various equipment.
Nanay Letty
Nanay Bembem (Emmylou Onyat), from the province of Misamis Oriental, sells DVDs and tapes and provides massage, manicure and pedicure services. She is also an official of a barangay (the native Tagalog term for a village, district or ward).

These women’s tenacity and courage in the face of adversities, such as when super typhoon Yolanda hit the Philippines on November 8, 2013, helped rebuild devastated communities. They ushered CARD MBA through a successful and quick claims process… so successful and quick, in fact, that by December 31, 2013, over 90% of the death claims were paid. Perhaps an even more inspiring story I learned (and a model that other insurance companies should generally try to emulate) is that of CARD MBA’s compassionate and carefully planned claims processing on the first five days of the Yolanda aftermath. CARD MBA staff brought cold cash (in millions of pesos) to pay death claims; even without proof of death, CARD MBA decided to pay out 50% of the claim on the spot, helping the families of the victims in practical ways more than once. Since CARD coordinators knew the members personally through weekly MBA centre visits, they easily validated the death of members through body identification. While other insurers were still assessing how to get to the disaster areas on the 6th day of the aftermath [shake your head with me from left to right and say, “tsk, tsk, tsk” at the same time], CARD MBA was already reporting death statistics and details of claim payments to the Insurance Commission [exclaim, “Oh, my god” and feel some goose bumps like I did]. This story is a great example of the real difference that co-operatives make in communities.

Thirteen women in 13 provinces: 13 stories of hope, resilience and impactful co-operative existence. Indeed, these women should be celebrated by co-operatives across the globe as women role models and, as a group, a story of great success! I am in awe of and forever humbled by their struggles, their experiences, their work and their impact. It is women like these that we all should to try very hard to emulate.