Cebu to host 2014 national coop meet

CEBU, Philippines - The 12th “National Cooperative Summit” was formally launched last Saturday, highlighting the closing of the 2013 Central Visayas Cooperative Congress held at the J Center Convention Hall in Mandaue City.

Cebu will host the cooperative summit on Oct. 16-18, 2014 that is themed “Coops 2020: Raising the Bar!”  The event is expected to draw around 4,000 coop leaders from all over the country.

Engr. Sylvia Paraguya, summit chairperson and chairman of the Philippine Cooperative Center, said they are excited over next year’s upcoming assembly following the success of the previous event in 2012.

She said that because of that success, the blueprint for a coop decade is now released and would be launched during the 2014 summit.

“We are excited in the national coop summit to see how the Philippine cooperatives can really push the coops to be a very potent force in the development of the country,” she said.

Doris Cañares, Victo National chairman, said the summit is also an opportunity for cooperatives to share and get updated on cooperative movement developments.

Philippine Cooperative Central Fund Federation chairperson Zenny Novabos likewise said that one of the summit’s objectives is to reiterate that “the force of the cooperative is there, let that force spread even among politicians and non cooperators so that we can actually convince the other non-cooperators to become cooperators.”

This way, “cooperativism will prevail in the country.”

Cooperative Development Authority Administrator Mercedes Castillo likewise said that the summit is very significant as this year marks the start of the 2020 decade for the cooperatives after it was launched last year.

“This is a venue where concerns of cooperatives in the next ten years would be discussed to prepare the coops to respond and contribute to economic and social development,” she said.

Castillo said that the 2014 summit will start the national assembly of cooperatives in the country, with its first action being a call for solidarity.—(FREEMAN)