by Karl Vincent S. Mendez

The municipality of Los Banos held its very first cooperatives festival on August 16-18 with the theme, “Maunlad na Mamamayan, Matatag na pamayanan, sa Kooperatiba Makakamtan.” The event was held at the municipal building.

The three-day event was started with a traditional ribbon cutting led by Mayor Ceasar Perez and opening speech by Rico Geron of the Agricultural Alliance Sector of the Philippines.

Every day the exhibit opens at 7 o’clock and runs for 12 hours. It featured different products of cooperatives from Quezon, Cavite, Laguna, and Batangas, among them the Southern Tagalog Rubber Producers Cooperative that showcased rubber products and demonstrated the process of making rubber.

The participating cooperatives also offered their services and invited  guests to become members. During the last day of the festival, all of these organizations received certificates of appreciation.

Participants and guests of the festival expressed hope that this same activity will be held again next year in Los Banos.