News

HPPCOOP would like to welcome Planate Management Group South East Asia Corporation (PMGSEAC) into its cooperative family! On March 15, 2021, HPPCOOP and PMGSEAC signed a Memorandum of Agreement which will allow PMGSEAC employees to become Associate Members of HPPCOOP and enjoy the benefits of a cooperative that’s focused on uplifting the lives of IT/BPO employees in the Philippines.

Planate is a multinational company headquartered in Virginia, USA. It provides facilities engineering and management consulting services worldwide. In 2013, Planate came to the Philippines to set up PMGSEAC to complement its global team of licensed professionals. Based in Subic, Philippines, PMGSEAC is a business/knowledge process outsourcing company focused on consulting services that specializes in Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD), Designing, and Modeling.

“We are glad to know that HPPCOOP is open to accepting IT/BPO companies like us. With just around 70 employees, it will be very difficult for us to put up a cooperative of our own. Joining HPPCOOP, our employees will immediately be able to leverage on their size and enjoy the benefits that existing HPPCOOP members already enjoy. This is a big help both for our employees and our company,” shared PMGSEAC Business Support Group Executive Vice President, Ms Caryll Orcales.

HPPCOOP-PMGSEAC MOA signing. From Left: Miroa Ramirez (PMGSEAC VP for HR), Val Hilario (HPPCOOP CEO), Caryll Orcales (PMGSEAC EVP for Business Support), and Teena Nartea (VP for Finance).

Due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases, the Local Goverment of Tagaytay has opted to set stricter policies to help contain the spread of the virus. 

In particulary, the following guidelines will strictly be implemented effective immediately:

• A 14-day quarantine period will be required for those visiting Tagaytay.
• Airbnb and similar operations are strictly prohibited.

As a result, we will be suspending bookings of our Serin unit until further notice. For those who have confirmed bookings already, you may cancel for free or rebook once Tagaytay reopens. Thank you.

The HPP Employees Multipurpose Cooperative has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Soga Asia Technologies Inc. to allow Soga employees to become members of HPPCOOP. With the agreement, Soga employees will be able to leverage being part of a bigger organization and get the same benefits being enjoyed by other members of the Cooperative. 

Soga Asia Technologies is a small software company based in Alabang that specializes in Integrity Management Services for the Oil and Gas Industry. Founded in 2002, Soga has a number of clients across  Asia and around the world. "We are excited to be part of the HPPCOOP family. Being a small company in terms of number of employees, joining HPPCOOP will be a big help for us especially the affordable HMO for family members as well as the different savings and loan products available." shared Soga General Manager, Mel Dulay.

"The objective of HPPCOOP is really to help as many IT/BPO employees as we can.", said HPPCOOP CEO, Val Hilario. "Particularly for small IT/BPO companies that don't have the capacity or the required number of employees to put up a cooperative of their own, HPPCOOP is offering itself to them so that their employees can enjoy the benefits of cooperativism. Larger IT/BPO companies that may not have the time to start a cooperative from scratch are also welcome." added Val Hilario.

Photo shows Val Hilario and Mel Dulay signing the MOA at a simple ceremony held at the Orchard Golf and Country Club on March 11, 2021.

This has been a particularly difficult year for a lot of people and, as a cooperative, we've been tested. But finally, we are reaching the end of what has been a really challenging and unprecedented year.

Our plans may have been spoiled by a "series of unfortuante events", but for whatever it's worth, we've shown what being a cooperative is really all about.

• Financial Assistance to Taal Victims - we've offered P20,000.00 interest-free loans payable in 12
  months to members affected by the Taal eruption.
• Tulong Taal - partnered with DXC Inspire to donate P55,000.00 for the Taal Evacuation Relief and
  Feeding Program.
• HPP Distributes Free Face Masks - in the aftermath of the first reported coronavirus case in the country, face masks have suddenly become overpriced if not out of stock. To help members
  protect themselves, HPPCOOP gave away free face masks to members.
• Donation to COVID-19 Frontliners - together with DXC Inspire, we were able to donate meals
  and much needed PPEs to the Philippine General Hospital.
• Typhoon Ulysses Donation Drive - HPPCOOP has put up the Typhoon Ulysses Damayan Fund and
  matched members’ donations to the Fund. A total of P126,200.00 was donated to the victims through DXC Inspire.
• COVID Loan - we offered a special COVID Loan to members of up to P20,000.00 with a very low 0.37% interest per month payable in 12 months.
• Free COVID-19 Insurance - as the pandemic continues with no end in sight, HPP has given all its
  members free COVID-19 insurance.

But despite all of these challenges, we are still expecting to end the year strong.

• Unaudited Financial Statements show that we will be ending the year with more than P76M in Assets, a 25% increase vs previous year.
• Net Surplus (profit) is expected to increase by at least 80% vs year ago due to solid income generated from laptop sales and other activities plus cost savings due to the cancelled General Assembly and skipping of Christmas Cash Gifts.

Future Plans

As mentioned during the Members' Forum, we have some big plans for the future of our cooperative. All I ask is for everyone to be Ambassadors of HPPCOOP. The success of HPPCOOP is your success.

• Invite other IT/BPO Companies - we are now accepting other IT/BPO Companies to join HPPCOOP. The strength of cooperatives is in numbers. The more we are, the stronger we'll be.
• Promote HPP Builders - if everything goes well with the ongoing setup and SEC Registration, this will be our ticket to the construction business. Refer HPP Builders if you know anyone needing design and build services.
• Recruit your coworkers - as they say, sharing is caring. Please invite your colleagues to be members so they can also take advantage of the benefits of being a coop member. 

As we come to the end of this difficult year, I would like to finish by wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a safe and healthy New Year! 

Yours in the spirit of cooperation,

Val Hilario