SHAPII Multipurpose Cooperative and SHAPII Foundation
A Corporation with the Heart of a Cooperative, and the Soul of a Foundation
The dream of the 10 people who came together in 1987 to form the handmade papermaking group of the People's Economic Council of Salay, Misamis Oriental, Philippines, was to form a Cooperative or a Foundation. However, the lack of money in the form of equity and bank account prevented them from doing so. Instead they registered the endeavor with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a Corporation in 1990. The founding leader, Loreta C. Rafisura, did so just to be able to secure a legal personality.
The basic aspiration however, that workers should be part owner of the company to which they give their time, talent, and resources, was not shelved away. Up to today, Salayhandmade continues to function as a Corporation, but it has the heart of a Cooperative and the soul of a Foundation.
In 1999 Salayhandmade had gathered enough revenue from sales and began profit-sharing among its workers. Through the years, 14 workers became stockholders by way of stocks bought from salary deduction, or given as salary (with their permission) when cash flow was short. By 2003, these workers owned about 15% of the capital stock, while Dr and Mrs. Rafisura and her family owned almost half of the total stocks. They too are workers: Dr. Reynaldo G. Rafisura is the Chairman of the Board and Mrs. Loreta Rafisura is President of the company. When their three children finished college they also came in to help; Neil is its General Manager now, while Loreen Marie took care of the Marketing Department until she left for the US to work as a nurse. J. Emmanuel, the youngest, has been a member of the Board of Directors for several years now and also served as its treasurer.
Salayhandmade currently has 48 stockholders.
SHAPII Multipurpose Employees’ Cooperative
In the meantime, Salayhandmade’s Management looked into how its workers could benefit more from the company. In March 2000, they facilitated the organization of the SHAPII Multipurpose Cooperative, initially with 137 members. Now (2010) it has grown to a total membership of 191 workers and stockholders of Salayhandmade, and a present capitalization of approximately P540,000.
The main purpose of the Cooperative is to provide cash and rice loans to its members. It has its office in the canteen area within the company compound. In 2009, with the help of a P337,000 grant from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), it started a 10-sow level piggery project aimed at augmenting the income of its member-employees.
SHAPII Foundation
The social concerns of Salayhandmade have never been forgotten; in fact, it is the fruition of its aspirations and dreams. Where there are activities in the town, province, region, or in the national scene that concerns the development of the Filipino, Salayhandmade workers are sure to be there too.
On July 3, 2000, the Salay Handmade Paper Industries Foundation, Inc. (SHAPII Foundation), was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This formally separated the social arm of Salayhandmade from its business activities. 
It initially had 9 members, composed mostly of the members of the Rafisura family, along with close relatives Pocholo Capistrano, Recolito Perocho, Jr, Fritz Hortelano, and Alfonso Alamban. Members of the Administrative staff of Salayhandmade worked extra hours for the Foundation with almost zero compensation. A token honorarium, usually P100.00 a month or less, would be given just to uphold the principle that no one works for the Foundation with no compensation at all.
In 2002, all the other stockholders of Salayhandmade also chose to become members of the SHAPII Foundation (except for Joseph, Lita and Patterson Lee in Manila) with a minimum contribution of P100.00 per year. Now there are 60 people all working together to keep the Foundation going.
In 2008, the Foundation was registered with the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC).
Vision and Mission
The primary aim of SHAPII Foundation is to build linkages and give scholarships to enable poor but deserving youth to pursue higher education. Formalized in 2007, its vision is as follows: We are a leading organization in an environmentally sound community anchored on Filipino values and reinforced by positive external linkages contributing to sustainable economic growth.
It has for its missions: To catalyze the holistic development of the rural communities and to enhance people’s competitiveness by bridging strong rural communities with the rest of the world through provision of relevant technological services and facilities.
Grant-Aid Scholarships
Its first and main activity is the Alay-sa-Bata Program (Offering for the Child) which provides scholarships to elementary and high school students. Sometimes the offer goes on until college or university, as long as the sponsors are willing to continue giving aid. Alay-sa-Bata commits US$150 per deserving student, renewable every year until the child graduates from a 4-year secondary education. The scholarship deliberately does not intend to take all the financial responsibility from the parent as the program is conceived only as a grant-aid. It advocates the three-pronged approach: the Parents, the Government, and the Foundation are joint donors/supporters of the bright child who wants the chance to fulfill a dream.
Before acceptance into the program, each scholar goes through a three-part selection process: academic qualifying exam, personal interview, and home visit.
During the school year, scholars take part in supplemental programs organized and sponsored by the Foundation to add more substance to the local education curricula. This includes work education activities, field trips, and seminars. Scholars are also required to submit reading reports periodically.
The Fruits of the Foundation
Amazingly, this modest effort to sponsor only 4 scholars in 4 years grew very fast! There were just too many worthy applicants that the Foundation had to look for additional sponsors to augment the P100,000 yearly pledge from Salayhandmade profits. Twelve export clients of Salayhandmade , as well as other friends from within their circle, gave support year after year, until it just couldn’t say no to aspiring College students!
The most significant networking the Foundation had was with Fr. Terry Barcelon S.J. of Xavier University. His NKVS scholarship program enabled 4 of the brightest students who graduated from Salay National High School to enroll for medicine and nursing courses at the elite Xavier University in early 2000. Today (2010), SHAPII Foundation looks forward to 2 former SHAPII scholars who are about to start their careers in healing after graduating from Med school!
To date SHAPII Foundation has graduated 17 more college students from its roster of scholars, 90% of whom are gainfully employed. Currently, it supports a total of 46 scholars in both College and high school levels.
The Foundation Home
When it started in 2000, SHAPII Foundation initially rented half a building next door to the old Salayhandmade office. Three years later, when Salayhandmade moved to its new home in Purok 1, the vacated building on El Progreso Salayano became the main headquarters of the Foundation, and houses its Main office, a Computer Laboratory and a Contemporary Free Reading Center.
The Computer Laboratory
Another important connection was Vivien Carroll of AusAid, who came to the Philippines to work with the technical-vocational sector with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Region X of the Philippines. She facilitated the donation of 20 used computers from Swinburne University of Australia, which enabled the Foundation to offer a 40-hour Basic Computer Course since 2001. The Foundation shouldered the P120,000 cost of freight of these computers that were donated through TESDA. Through this initial donation, and later supplemented by additional units, SHAPII Foundation has given hands-on computer literacy training to the majority of its 350 workers.
Realizing that the Computer Center could also answer the community’s need for computer literacy, SHAPII Foundation networked with TESDA to teach Basic Office Applications (MS Word and Excel) right in Salay. It was able to train more than 120 students from all over the province of Misamis Oriental.
For a three-year period before the global economic crisis, after which it had to trim down its social involvement, the Foundation offered free supervised hands-on computer exposure to grade school pupils of the community’s upper barangays.
In 2010, SHAPII Foundation partnered with the Mindanao University of Science and Technology (MUST) Community Outreach Program in Salay to continue teaching its 40-hour Basic Computer Course at the SHAPII Computer Laboratory. The big difference from its usual program is that now, full-fledged deans and instructors with student assistants come to Salay to teach 20 or so students on a one-student-to-one-computer ratio. There is hope that soon, other livelihood courses will be offered in this very venue.
(To ensure sustainability, the Computer Laboratory engages in income generating activities like computer rentals, internet access, encoding and printing, and photocopying.)
The Free Reading Center
SHAPII Foundation strongly believes in the importance of education as a key factor to personal and communal growth and development and as the best way out of poverty. This is why the Foundation put up a Free Reading Center for its community. It is filled with daily newspapers, books and various contemporary magazines mostly donated by Salayhandmade friends. It even has a good collection of CDs and DVDs (for rent at low prices). Anyone interested can just walk into the Free Reading Center and learn to his or her heart’s content!
Other Programs
SHAPII Foundation, either independently or in partnership with Local Government Units, also spearheads other community activities and services, such as:
- Free Medical, Dental and Optometric clinics
- Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning Advocacies
- Anti-diabetes Initiatives
- Wellness Clinics
- Clean and Green and Solid Waste Management activities
- Athletic Programs
Livelihood Trainings and seminars (including, but not limited to Interactive English, Basic English Refresher Course, Organic Farming, Entrepreneurship, Fair Trade Orientation, Skills Training in Basketry, Papermaking, Designing, Crafting, Social Graces, etc.) are also held at the SHAPII Foundation Function Room.
Finally, workers of Salayhandmade as well as SHAPII Foundation scholars are actively involved in most Catholic Church affairs on a voluntary basis. There is a monthly mass for spiritual nourishment held at the company compound.
SHAPII Foundation: Salayhandmade’s Legacy
SHAPII Foundation's activities cover education, livelihood, health, agriculture, information technology, population, moral values, athletics and Christianity… just about anything and everything that affects the development of its people! Its greatest need is to discipline itself to become focused for the sake of sustainability, for there is so much to do. Its generosity is only limited by its financial and physical capabilities!
Truly, SHAPII Foundation holds on to its dream that the youth are the hopes of the country.
SHAPII Foundation is Salayhandmade’s legacy to the future.
Click to view the SHAPII Foundation brochure in PDF format.
