07 March 1996
| Organizing the employees of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City into a housing cooperative was no simple task . The founders who formed the organizing nucleus of the housing cooperative, namely Dr. Virginia A. Teodosio (now Virginia Queano) and Melisa R. Serrano, faculty and research associate respectively of the UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations, were confronted with the task of encouraging the once cynical Diliman community to go cooperative housing to meet their housing needs and aspirations and the difficulty of selecting the most appropriate project site. The initiative was the first ever in the UP community. |  |
Organizing started in March 1990 highlighted by the unit-to-unit orientation seminars conducted in some 73 colleges and offices in the Diliman campus. The cooperative was officially registered with 20 cooperators as the UP Employees Housing Cooperative (UPEHCO) in December 19, 1990, the first housing cooperative to register with the then newly-created Cooperative Development Authority (CDA). Since then, membership has grown at an average rate of 40 percent annually. Members were no longer concentrated in the Diliman campus but other campuses of the UP as well - in the Manila-PGH campus, and the UP Iloilo campus. As of December 31, 1995, UPEHCO’s membership stands at 2,218.
UPEHCO aims to provide good and decent housing to its members at the lowest possible cost. It utilizes non-conventional housing technologies and building systems without compromising quality and affordability. Its vision-mission is to build alternative housing cooperative communities where each resident has a voice in managing the whole community where his/her creativity and skills could be put into practice.
As of March 1996, UPEHCO has already two sites -- the 8.2 hectare property in Antipolo, Rizal and the 6.2 hectare property in Dasmarinas, Cavite. The Pamayanang UPEHCO-Antipolo is home to about 322 beneficiaries and the Pamayanang UPEHCO-Cavite, about 480 beneficiaries. Both sites are now into the third phase of project development - house construction. Later in 1996, UPEHCO plans to go to the Los Banos and Tacloban campuses for housing cooperative projects.
Most of the contents of this manual are taken from the Cooperative Housing Society Member Orientation Manual prepared by the Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF) for the National Cooperative Housing Union (NACHU) in Nairobi, Kenya which came into print in September 1988. Minor modifications have been incorporated.
It is anticipated that this manual will enable members to acquire a better understanding of UPEHCO as a housing cooperative. It is hoped that this understanding will encourage members to provide more meaningful participation in all activities of UPEHCO and continuously support the cooperative as it pursues its objectives.
Mabuhay ang UPEHCO!
