PRESS RELEASE
Bill mandating co-op development officer in LGUs approved at the Committee level (Committee on Cooperatives Development)
Local governments must play a more active role in the development of cooperatives. This is the aim of COOP-NATCCO Rep. Sabiniano Canama and Rep. Estrellita B. Suansing of Nueva Ecija & Rep. Horacio Suansing of Sultan Kudarat who filed House Bills 2436 and 287 respectively. Other related measures were filed by Representatives Dahlia A. Loyola, Wilter “Sharky”Wee Palma III,Anna Marie Villaraza-Suarez and David Suarez and Carlito Marquez.
The Suansings cited the 1987 Philippine Constitution which “provides for the promotion of growth and viability of cooperatives as instruments of equity, social justice and economic development under the principles of subsidiarity and self-help.”
Said Constitution – lauded as a progressive document that put into the forefront social development – has been the basis of succeeding Philippine laws such as the Local Government Code of 1991 (Republic Act 7160). The law, written by the late co-op champion former Senator Aquilino Pimentel, requires local governments to recognize and work with cooperatives as “instruments of equity, social justice and economic development under the principles of subsidiarity and self-help.”
Though a landmark law, the Local Government Code, according to Rep. Canama, “the words of the law are vague and the implementation became optional on the part of the LGUs resulting in either LGUs with cooperative officers who serve other functions or no cooperative office at all. In the long run, the cooperative sector is left to suffer.”
Section 35 of the Local Government Code encourages LGUs to partner with “people's and non-governmental organizations to engage in the delivery of certain basic services, capability-building and livelihood projects, and to develop local enterprises designed to improve productivity and income, diversify agriculture, spur rural industrialization, promote ecological balance, and enhance the economic and social well-being of the people.”
Not all are actually aware that co-operatives are peoples’ organizations (POs)
Section 17 says “agriculture and fishery activities which include dispersal of livestock and poultry, fingerlings, and other seeding materials for aqua-culture; palay, corn, and vegetable seed farms; medicinal plant gardens; fruit tree, coconut, and other kinds of seedling nurseries; demonstration farms; quality control of copra and improvement and development of local distribution channels, preferably through cooperatives .
Furthermore, Section 17 requires Provinces to provide “assistance in the organization of farmers' and fishermen's cooperatives and other collective organizations.”
Section 50 stipulates LGUs must create within nine days after elections committees on appropriations, women and family, human rights, youth and sports development, environmental protection, and cooperatives.
Section 149 guarantees cooperatives of marginal fishermen the “preferential right to such fishery privileges.”
Section 108 requires LGUs to allow NGOs and POs to elect or “choose from among themselves their representatives to the local development councils.”
Approved at the Committee level, the bills push the “mandatory appointment of a cooperative development officer in every local government unit (LGUs) in the country.” This development was lauded by the Philippine Cooperative Center and other cooperatives that were there in the congressional hearing.
If the Bill becomes a law, each LGU will have to set aside budget and appoint an officer who will ensure – full-time – the growth of cooperatives. There Are currently 27,000 co-ops registered with the Cooperative Development Authority.
Quezon City
December 5, 2019
Contact Person:
Edwin A. Bustillos
+639178017309
Diosdado L. Luna
+639175198433
Carlitos Duenas
+639228906524
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Topic: LGU Cooperative Development Officer (Read 671 times)