Co-op leaders push 17-pt agenda for development

More than 2,000 leaders of the 10 million-strong cooperative sector urged President Arroyo yesterday to implement a 17-point agenda to further develop and strengthen cooperatives as an effective vehicle for poverty-alleviation and social amelioration.

Felix Borja, chairman of the Philippine Cooperative Center (PCC), said the action plan was drawn up by leader representatives attending the 9th National Cooperative Summit now being held at the Provincial Capitol Convention Center in Pili, Camarines Sur.

The PCC is the lead convenor of the summit that ends today.

The summit, dubbed “Cooperatives: Breaking through Barriers and Beyond”, is held every two years to assess the current state of the cooperative sector and identify solutions to pressing problems jointly with government leaders, Borja said.

It is sponsored by Land Bank of the Philippines, Peace and Equity Foundation, Metro South Cooperative Bank , AMKOR Tech Phils Employees Cooperative, Ating Koop Party List, National Cooperative Movement, Cooperative Insurance System of the Philippines, National Confederation of Cooperatives, and Nationlink.

Borja, concurrent secretary-general of the umbrella Cooperative Union of the Philippines (CUP), said among the the 17-point agenda listed are the observance by the Bureau of Internal Revenue of the tax exemption privileges of cooperatives, treatment of cooperatives by the BIR as separate and distinct from corporations and other business enterprises for taxation purposes; implementation by all government agencies and instrumentalities, including their regional and provincial offices, of all the privileges granted to cooperatives.