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Exploring Progressive Modes of economic and financial cooperation in the Asia Pacific Region

Hon. Orlando R. Ravanera, CSEE, CEO VI

Hon. Orlando R. Ravanera

The new Chairman of the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) was appointed by President Benigno Simeon Aquino III last March 11, 2015. Formerly the Regional Director of CDA in Region 10, CHAIRMAN ORLANDO R. RAVANERA has manifested a clear grasp of the Cooperatives’ role not only in poverty alleviation but more positively of the Cooperatives’ role in developing/advancing agriculture as a key to inclusive growth. He has the innate qualities of knowing and feeling what policies should be in place to provide a healthy condition for real and genuine cooperativism by reaching out to more of the marginalized and mainstreaming them especially in the development processes.

A product of Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan with Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, Major in Agricultural Economics and post graduate of Bachelor of Laws from the same university, Orland founded the Task Force Macajalar – the group instrumental in blocking logging trucks through direct actions called human barricades against logging in Northern Mindanao. He was also the Chairman of the Philippine Federation of Rural Broadcasters (PFRB) in Region 10.

He had been voted in many capacities, such as: Regional Chairman of Bansang Nagkakaisa sa Diwa at Layunin (Bandila); Member, BANDILA National Council; National Secretary-General of Lakas ng Magsasakang Pilipino Nation-wide (LMP), the Peasant Arm of Bandila); President, Regional Association of Government Communicators (1982 – 1987); Chairman – Regional Science Information Network; President – Golden Village Neighborhood Association, among others. His leadership abilities are manifested by his election to various organizations, as aforementioned, not only in the country but also in the ASEAN as he was elected as President in his KOICA class in Korea in the Development of Agricultural Cooperatives.

Prior to his stint with the government service, he worked for 10 years as the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Alternative Rural Technology, Inc. (CART), the NGO organized by known well-known social democrat personalities, to be a countervailing force against rural poverty and social injustice during the Martial Law Regime.

In behalf of the Task Force Macajalar as founding Chairman, he received the Public Service Award from Xavier University in 1993 for “stopping the flow of logs and for improving the quality of life of the poor.” He also received the 50th United Nations Award for the Center for Alternative Rural Technology (CART) from the friends of the United Nations in Ottawa, Canada in 1995.

He was the Chairman of Sulog, One Sendong is Enough, Inc., a multi sectoral coalition advocating for ecological integrity, that successfully stopped illegal mining and illegal logging operations in Cagayan de Oro City. He was a co-signatory of a Memorandum of Agreement of a CDA -10 led initiative of a 10-member agencies of government by Order of the Court of Appeals to stop illegal mining and logging in Cagayan de Oro City. He was the Presiding Officer of the Order that is instrumental in establishing Task Force Kinaiyahan. He also sat as Board Member of the Cagayan de Oro City Mining Regulatory Board.

The Chairman was a columnist in a local paper in Region 10- the Sun Star, twice a week, focusing on Cooperatives, Environment & People Empowerment believing that the people united can never be defeated. For the past several years, he has strongly advocated for lasting Peace in Mindanao and has shown that he can lead the Cooperative Sector among Civil Society Organizations in supporting the government’s current initiatives to attain lasting Peace in Mindanao.