The Founder & Chairman

Ret. Judge Esperanza Fiel Garcia

“A Landmark of Strength and Success”

Ret. Judge Esperanza Fiel Garcia is an epitome of a great leader. She is a wizard of all sorts and is a product of the modern hybrid technology whose excellence can be compared to a mathematical formula for all generations.

Ret. Judge Garcia is currently the chairman of the Cebu CFI Community Cooperative,a multi-awarded coop­erative she founded and nurtured for over 40 years. She is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cooperative Bank of Cebu and the Coop Life Mutual Benefit Services (CLIMBS). She is likewise a member of the Board of Directors of the Visayas Cooperative Development Center (VICTO), a secondary coop, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Lyceum of Cebu which is a coop-managed school.

Ret. Judge Garcia is married to the Honorable Deputy Speaker Pablo P. Garcia of the House of Congress representing the Second District of Cebu was then a three-termer Governor of Cebu. They have eight successful children who are all profession­als. A daughter, Hon. Gwendolyn F. Garcia is the Governor of the Province of Cebu, who is serving her third term. Their sons, Hon. Pablo John F. Garcia is the congressman of the Third District of Cebu, Hon. Nelson F. Garcia is the mayor of Dumanjug, Cebu, and Hon. Marlon F. Garcia is the vice-mayor of Barili, Cebu. An­other son, Atty. Winston F. Garcia was the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Government Service and Insur­ance System (GSIS).

She was a consistent scholar from grade school until her college days. She completed her Pre-Law and the Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of San Carlos and garnered 83.85% in the bar examination. Her more than thirty years in the government service as a Labor Attorney (1960-1969) in the Department of Labor, Clerk of Court (1969-1983) in the Region­al Trial Court (RTC) in Cebu City, RTC Judge (1983-1988) in Mandaue City, and Presiding Judge (1988-1993) in RTC – Cebu City earned her outstanding awards from prestigious organiza­tions such as the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Federacion Internacional De Abogadas, Mandaue City Lawyers Association, Inc., Carolinians, Inc., and a Special Commendation as One of the Best Trial Court Judges in the Philippines from then Chief Justice Andres Narvasa of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.

Ret.. Judge Garcia’s compassionate heart and benevolent concern to those who have less in life started her deep involve­ment in the cooperative movement. She organized with then Jus­tice Francisco Tantuico a credit union in 1970 to save the Court of First Instance (CFI) employees from the clutches of usurers. That credit union is now the Cebu CFI Community Cooperative, and with her all-time guidance has over four billion pesos in as­sets and almost 70,000 members from the Provinces and Cities of Cebu, Bohol, Negros, Leyte and Samar, and the Cities of Iloilo and Cagayan.

She has been for six years Chairman of the Board of Direc­tors of VICTO, and it was during her stewardship that VICTO became a recipient in the Second Annual Management Awards which was presented by the Japan Airlines and organized by the World Executive Digest in cooperation with the Asian Institute of Management.

For her expertise and commitment to the cooperative movement, she is oftentimes invited to speaking engagements. Her management skills and exemplary leadership merited for her awards from the Asian Institute of Management, Integrated Bar of the Philippines, VICTO, and several other organizations.

On January 16, 2000, she received the “Baul Awards as Model Filipino” from the Filipino Foundation, for her life long work of initiating the organization of one of the Most Successful Cooperatives in the Country. She was awarded the Tony Martin Leadership Award by VICTO on April 29, 2001 as outstanding volunteer leader in the VICTO Network, who has demonstrated exemplary performance for enhancing the promotion of coop­erativism and fostering the ideals of freedom, justice and nation­alism. She also received from the Federacion Internacional De Abogadas (FIDA) on November 16, 2001, the Esperanza Award for the cause of women, children and family.

Ret. Judge Garcia is a legal luminary and is a profilic writ­er. She is a lover of music and can play the piano ala virtuoso.

She is a landmark of strength and success, a dynamo in cooperativism.