The four sample cooperatives were chosen from those who were engaged in palay procurement, processing, and marketing. The sustainable cooperatives had centralized power structure, with elite groups. Both groups had well defined roles of officers and members but they operated with overlapping roles. The Board of Directors were the most influential specifically on the distribution of resources in the cooperatives. The sustainable cooperatives were moderately cohesive, had higher shares of stocks per member, slower growth in membership but faster growth in internally generated funds, and contiguously located membership. The non-sustainable cooperatives were slightly cohesive, faster growth in membership but slow growth in individual equity contribution and small shares of stocks per member. Economic interventions were used to empower the cooperatives. Personalized dyadic to multiple group activities and social gatherings facilitated empowerment in sustainable cooperatives. This was brought about by their contiguous location and limited membership. The agrarian problems of the sustainable cooperatives enhanced group mobilization in sustainable cooperatives while inefficiencies in the management of the non-sustainable cooperatives led to their faster demise. T test showed the groups were significantly different in empowerment and sustainability. Planning and decision making and ownership was positively correlated in sustainable cooperatives while the variables: