Homegrown multi-billionaire Tagum Cooperative achieves momentous milestone for being the first and only Gold ACCESS Awardee in the entire Asia. ACCESS stands for A-One Competitive Choice for Excellence in Service and Soundness, a quality assurance tool attesting the service excellence and financial soundness of a cooperative.
The prestigious award was bestowed during the Asian Confederation of Credit Union (ACCU) Forum – the annual gathering of Credit Unions or Cooperatives from the entire Asian Region. The Forum was held on September 26-28, 2019 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with the theme, “Making Positive Impact on the Lives of People through Ethical Cohesion for Financial Stability, Good Governance and Inclusivity of Asian Credit Union Standards.”
In addition to Tagum Cooperative, ten (10) other cooperatives coming from the countries of Nepal, Indonesia and Philippine secured the Silver Accreditation while sixteen (16) cooperative from Nepal received the Bronze Award.
Tagum Cooperative’s ACCESS journey started with Bronze accreditation in 2014 and successive silvers for years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Finally realizing the dream, Tagum Cooperative CEO Juris D. Perez commits to sustain, innovate and strengthen the best practices of Tagum Cooperative. She further dedicates the historic award to the beloved members who continue to patronize the products and services, with the help of the ever-dedicated Officials and hardworking Management and Employees.
Chairperson Argent recalls that it Tagum Cooperative has long aimed for the gold accreditation. She then emphasizes that the international recognition should encourage the community to be part of the growing cooperative movement, especially Tagum Cooperative who is a steward of financial literacy and youth empowerment.
During the said forum, Tagum Cooperative Chairperson Rosalina S. Argent and Dir. Antonio C. Aranas were invited as panelists for the breakout tracks on Good Governance. Chairperson Argent focused her topic on the Soft Facts in Building Behaviors and Culture aligned to Credit Union Purpose. Her presentation capitalized on the core values of Tagum Cooperative and how it is integrated to the organization. Meanwhile, Dir. Antonio C. Aranas topic in on Building a Solid Quality Assurance Framework for Credit Union Networks. Both presentations were well applauded and stirred cooperators to improve on their governance practices to achieve strategic goals.
Prior to the awarding, an extensive ACCESS Audit was held on July 15 – 18, 2019 through the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) spearheaded by Ms. Daisybelle M. Cabal, CPA together with Ms. Evangelina M. Quiazon, CPA, Mr. Alfredo V. Gomez, Jr. and Mr. Rosario Candido. The validation focused on 86 indicators from four (4) different perspectives: Financial, Internal Business Process, Member-Customer and Learning & Growth.