Baug CARP Beneficiaries Multi Purpose Cooperative (BCBMPC) started with more or less 30 individuals from different walks of life, became crab hunters in the damp town site of Magallanes, at the delta of the Agusan River way back 1985. They were developing the swamps into fishpond areas and were paying the land rental to the Municipal Local Government of Magallanes. Their struggle to own the land went on for years.
In 1995, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), identified 110 association members as beneficiary to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). The 164.7 hectares of swamp we patiently developed in years was awarded through issuance of a CLOA. In the same year we registered with the CDA using the P39,200.00 cash contribution of members. The cooperative is popularly known today as “BAUG”. The term stands for Baug CARP Beneficiaries Multi Purpose Cooperative. The Co-op provides loans to members for fishpond development, and shrimp production which steadily grew in 1995 – 2002. The profit derived from business was used in the construction of cooperative building. During this period, production loan and annual shrimp harvest was good, and the income of the cooperative, including that ARB members improved.
. In 2003 the municipality of Magallanes was hit by the White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) all prawns’ farms were wiped out by the virus, multi million cooperatives and prawn farm operators got bankrupt but God spared BCBMPC. The cooperative continue to operate through Bayanihan. The Board of Directors’ honoraria was reduced by 80%. The cooperative employees agreed to reduce salary by 50%. The affected members were offered liberalized loan settlement and restructuring program. These strategies are effective in increasing collection and improving coop cash balance. The members also helped by bringing in new depositors.
Today, BCBMPC has a total of eight (8) branches operating in the cities of Butuan, Surigao, Cabadbaran and Bayugan as well as in the municipalities of Magallanes, Buenavista, Kitcharao and Las Nieves in the Province of Agusan del Norte.
BCBMPC now ranks as one of the top cooperatives of Caraga Region and the only organization with programs for Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries, the LGU and Community, Environment Protection, and Climate Change Adaptation.