The islands of San Pablo and San Pedro lie in Southern Leyte, fronting the horizon of Hinunangan's shoreline. The local government says that the town, while resting just beside the Pacific Ocean, was spared from storm surges during the recent typhoon Yolanda because these two islands blocked the strong winds. The faithful, however say that it were St. Peter and St. Paul who protected them. That formidable tandem could be working for the people in other ways.

Sts. Peter and Paul Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SPPMPC) was put up by Canadian Scarborough  Fathers, missionaries assigned in the Pacific areas of Southern Leyte in 1968. When it was first organized, there were only 56 founding members with only Php837.50 for initial capital. This money came from the collected sales of the coconuts from the founding members' backyards.

Now, SPPMPC is one of the biggest cooperatives in the Philippines with a total net worth of Php 435 million. This is a fact that Landbank, their finncial partner since 1996, has not failed to recognize. Since the mid-2000s, SPPMPC has placed consistently in Landbank's Gawad sa Pinakatanging Kooperatiba (PITAK) ascending to the Gawad PITAK's Hall of Fame in 2008.

"I couldn't believe it when we were handed the "Gawad PITAK trophy. I never let it go until we got out of Malacanang," says Honorato Vacal, Jr., 72, the cooperative's chairman for nine years. He was a government employee before martial law, working in Congress as Confidential Assistant at the Office of the Majority Floor Leader, after which he was appointed as Postmaster of the  Bureau of Post, and then eventually elected as member of the Sangguniang Bayan in Hinunangan Southern Leyte. " I did not think I'd end up as the coop's chairperson," he says.

“I became a Parish Council President for 15 years. It taught me how to trust and lead people. It taught me social actions. That’s what we are looking for from whoever wants to succeed me as chairperson.”

Epifania Edicto, 56, has served the coop as bookkeeper and then general manager for over 25 years, and has seen life in Hinunangan change radically.” Before, all these lands were just ricefields. Life was slow. It used to be that time chased after people. Now it’s the other way around. Everyone’s on the go!”

The Saints Peter and Paul building, named the Hinunangan Commercial Center, is currently under construction. It will serve as the town’s first mall where local business can apply to sell their products. The construction was made possible through government’s private-public partnership program, whereby the government, together with LANDBANK and SPPMPC, raised Php18 million to put up a building designed to benefit the Hinunangan community.

Our relationship with Landbank is like big-brother, small-brother – we treat each other as equals, but we’re always ready to help each other.

“Indeed, SPPMPC with its partnership with Landbank has contributed to changing life in Hinunangan for the better,” Epifania says. “With us being a co-op, with bank-like functions, Landbank has made sure that we manage our finances well. Our relationship with the Bank is like big-brother, small brother – we treat each other as equals, but we are always ready to help each other.”

Life in the co-op, however, is not as easy as SPPMPC makes it seem. Their two most valuable tenets are to educate its members and to be transparent. SPPMPC’s leadership believes that their services should mimic the perpetual motion of the waves coming from San Pedro and San Pablo islands to move, to take and to give. All these, they couple with prayer and unyielding faith in God. They recall that the coop’s office itself started out in the convent’s basement.” Now it’s in the corner of San Pablo and San Isidro Labrador streets. That makes us favored with three saints all in all. “