Villegas tackles the importance of Caritas in Veritate’s benevolence for workers

Dr. Bernardo Villegas

Edmundo Castañeda

Citing an important provision in Pope Benedict XVI’s Caritas in Veritate, well-known economist and university professor, Dr. Bernardo Villegas set the keynote of the Seminar-workshop on Workers Cooperative attended by leaders, managers, and government officials last August 20, 2010 at the Telengtan Hall of the University of Asia and the Pacific, Ortigas Center, Pasig City.  

Specifically, Dr. Villegas discussed the role cooperatives play in what he calls the “reform” of capitalism.  Depending on the motivation that drives an economic activity, there may be ways of doing business, but it all points to the dominant way of doing business and that the main concern is generating profit.  He noted the development and presence of social enterprises and emergence of cooperatives that focus not only in making business but in “doing good business” as well, specifically in the social protection and improvement of communities, and primarily of espousing the “concern for workers, and their immediate families”.  

Dr. Villegas pointed out that social enterprises and workers cooperatives are vehicles that serve as means to actualize what the Caritas in Veritate’s catholic social teaching uphold in attaching importance to consideration and kindness to workers and laborers.  He believes that these enterprises are taking an important part in giving value, advocacy, and stanchion of “benevolence for workers” as he reminded the participants of the meaning of dignity of the human person and the gist of one’s self-worth and human work.   

Part of the Seminar Workshop was Mr. Bien Nito’s talk on the relationship of the Social Teachings of the Church vis-a-vis the Workers Cooperative Model scoring the importance of the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity.

Asiapro Cooperative Chairman Edmundo Castañeda led the group in the discussion workshop on issues and challenges confronting workers cooperatives, and shared success stories in the setting up and the operations of Asiapro Cooperative, the largest workers cooperative in the Philippines, with about 30,000 members all over the country.

These series of roundtable workshops on Emerging Trends on Workers’ Cooperatives have been brought to the public by the collaborative efforts of Asiapro Cooperative, Co-op Works, Social Enterprise Institute - Center for Research and Communication, and in partnership with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA).