The years 1982 and 1983 were haunting for the agricultural municipality of President Roxas, Cotabato, as a prolonged dry spell left villagers starving and crippled with the loss of harvest and livelihood. Desperate parishioners of the Sta. Catalina church sought help from the priest (and later co-op founder) Fr.Fred Epiz. Through the priest and other church leaders, the “Tindahang Kooperatiba sa Parokya” sari-sari store was erected behind the church where the parishioners sold basic commodities. Through the years the little store born out of drought, flourished to a well of opportunities for the community through buffalo dairying.

Now upgraded to Sta. Catalina Multipurpose Cooperative, the community-based business was introduced to the buffalo dairy industry during a convention of cooperatives in North Cotabato in 2019. The DA-PCC at University of Southern Mindanao (USM) Center Director Benjamin John C. Basilio who also attended the event opened the discussion on conduit partnership with the co-op for the implementation of dairying in the municipality. 

Sta. Catalina MPC Operations Manager Wendell Amoronio admitted to have second thoughts with the idea, as carabaos were normally utilized for draft power in the community and not for sourcing milk. Nonetheless, a discussion between Dir. Basilio and the co-op board took place and a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed by the two parties.

Witnessing how DA-PCC facilitated the engagement of the co-op through every process of the Carabao-based Business Improvement Network (CBIN), Amoronio grew to appreciate the project.

“As it turns out, CBIN is unlike any past government projects we have participated in because it has a sure-market set in place through the milk feeding program of DepEd and DSWD. As soon as we started our operation with the dairy industry, we were able to engage in the DepEd milk feeding program based in our own municipality. We agreed with PCC to start with one municipality as our milk supply was still limited and we were still familiarizing ourselves with the project,” Amoronio gladly narrated.

By 2020, Sta. Catalina received a total of 50 carabaos from the CBIN project. With the increasing milk production, the construction of a Dairy Box outlet and processing facility followed the next year. 

The Dairy Box became an instant hit among locals with its wide variety of dairy delectables such as yogurt, ice cream, pastillas, cara blanca, cheese, flavored milk, as well as milk tea. According to Amoronio, they generate an average sale of PHP4000 to PHP5000 each day.

From one municipality, the co-op advanced to supply milk to five municipalities in their second milk feeding cycle. With the good market they were able to invest in a PHP1 million-worth of storage facility, purchase an auto-filling machine for the ice cream products, and about PHP400,000-worth of freezers to sustain their milk feeding venture as well as for added quality to their dairy products.

It took over a couple years to recover its capital share but it was worth the patience, as Sta. Catalina evolved to open more opportunities to its co-owners and the community as a whole. The co-op now has around 2,900 members and continues to reach out to other farmers in the community.

“However little, we encourage the dairy farmers in the community to sell us their milk harvests. Aside from this, we also encourage them to sell us forage grasses to feed the buffaloes, as our farm space is not enough for forage plantation,” Amoronio enthused.
Aside from the dairy industry, Sta. Catalina MPC also markets general merchandise, agricultural marketing services in procurement, grading and warehousing of agricultural products, rice milling and corn shelling, drying, and warehousing, trucking services, feed production for livestock, organic rice production, whole nut and copra buying, a gasoline station, and a separate credit cooperative.

Throughout his 12 years of service in the cooperative, Amoronio said the dedication invested by the people in the management and the solid support of the members have kept the cooperative thriving. 

“With our vision of inclusive growth, Sta. Catalina MPC leaves no one behind. In every step forward, every member and stakeholder are included,” Amoronio stressed.

Having this resolve, Sta. Catalina MPC is confident of a bright future in the dairy industry filled with opportunities that will never run dry through whatever forms of drought that may come.

With all the government projects that we have participated in so far, this is the first to offer a complete value chain with components on production, processing, and marketing.