Gata Daku Multi-Purpose Cooperative is association of people united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled business. It involves mutual assistance in working towards common goal.
Co-operatives are businesses owned and run by and for their members. Whether the members are the customers, employees o
r residents they have an equal say in what the business does and a share in the profits.
The Gata Daku Multi-purpose Cooperative (GDMPC) was founded in March 1992 by a group of farmers concerned with the plight on how to augment their income. Among the founding members of the cooperative provided great effort were the 32 farmer- cooperators led by late Hermenegildo Dela Rosa. Its registration was confirmed by the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) in August 14, 1992 through CDA Registration No. CGY-992.
For about 7 years, the GDMPC carried out its operations in the barangay where its sari-sari store was located. In its early stages, the cooperative was under pressure in dealing with arrears accounts due to calamity and vulnerabilities of the organization and in the lives of the members. But owing to a strong social capital, the kinship and faith-based relationships, and the infusion of younger and more educated members, the GDMPC was able to institute changes in its operations.
In 1999, its office was moved to the town proper where the cooperative started facing the challenges in developing strategies of becoming a financially viable and stable organization. The management staff had experience hardship, tension and sacrifices in recovering losses, coping professionalism and standards, establishing relationship with new members and building partnership with other institutions and coop networks. But all these struggles and tests, led the cooperative to it's new paradigm and thrust to soar on high for a cause of making change in the lives of the people.
For the past years, the existence of the cooperative has exhibited good governance and management with commitment and determination to endure hardships and great efforts to achieve organizational sustainability.
