Big businesses encouraged to support cooperatives

CEBU, Philippines - Former Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri is asking businesses in Cebu to help build cooperatives by patronizing goods and services of coops.

“We are appealing to large private corporations especially here in Cebu to patronize the goods and services produced by our coops, and in the process, bolster them as viable small enterprises,” Zubiri said during the 35th General Assembly of the COOP NATCCO Network at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel yesterday.

Zubiri is the author of the Cooperative Code of 2008.

In his speech, Zubiri said that with unemployment reaching new highs, the more than 20,000 cooperatives in Cebu and other parts of the country need the support of big businesses.

A survey of the Social Weather Station showed that joblessness hit a new high in the first quarter with some 13.8 million adult Filipinos unemployed.

He said that with their fairly modest asset base, co-ops tend to rely more on hiring new workers and less on acquiring machinery and tools to increase their output of goods and services. As a result, coops are fast emerging as potent drivers of labor-intensive economic production.

He also cited the big contribution of Coop NATCCO Network in the development of the cooperative industry.

With the representation of Coop NATCCO Network headed by Party-List Rep. Cresencio Paez, the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas launched an initiative to strengthen cooperative banks. The program is intended for cooperative banking.

The former senator said coops now directly employ a total of 201,225 Filipinos with each co-op having an average of 10 full-time workers. This is on top of coops providing indirect employment to another 141,260 persons, he said.

The United Nations has declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives.

Citing Cooperative Development Authority data, Zubiri said the country now has a total of 20,792 registered co-ops with nearly P210 billion in combined assets.

A coop is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit.

Under the law, Filipinos can freely organize coops to promote thrift and savings mobilization among members; generate funds and extend credit to members for productive and provident purposes; encourage among members systematic production and marketing; and provide goods and services to members.

Coops may also develop the expertise and skills of members; acquire lands and provide housing to members; insure members against losses; advance the economic, social and educational status of members; and establish, own, lease or operate banks, wholesale and retail complexes, insurance and agricultural/industrial processing enterprises, and public markets. – (FREEMAN)