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- EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN – SciTech & Digital News
ANTIPOLO CITY, Oct. 3, 2024 (SDN) — Re-electionist Sen. Imee Marcos on Wednesday batted for stronger, hi-tech cooperatives in the country as she graced here the 19th Southern Tagalog Cooperative Congress from October 2 to 4.
She cited the importance of cooperatives harnessing the power of technology and joining the digital bandwagon which the world is now deeply into.
The Southern Tagalog Region covers the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon.
This developed as the Ilocana solon filed her re-election bid with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on October 2 before traveling for over an hour to the congress’s venue, signaling her intent to continue her work in the Senate. She said had already filed many bills in the Upper Chamber in her first six-year term as senator.
Rizal officials welcomed the lady senator with enthusiasm, appreciating her presence at the event. They Rizal Gov. Nina Ynares, Vice Gov. Reynaldo San Juan, and Antipolo City Mayor Junjun Ynares and other provincial officials and cooperative officers.
After her speech at the Cooperative Congress held here at the Ynares Events Place, and adjunct of the Ynares Center in the city famous for its Hinulugang Taktak Waterfalls, among other historical, cultural, scenic tourist spots, Marcos (full name: Maria Imelda Josefa Remedios Marcos), faced a select group of reporters who covered the Eastern part of Metro Manila and Rizal Province.
She revealed that amendments to the Philippine Cooperative Code of (PCC) 2008, Republic Act No. 9520, is for deliberation in the Senate. The senator is chair of the Senate Committee on Cooperatives.
Among the amendments that Marcos wants embedded into the PCC2008 is for cooperatives in the country to become stronger. etc., level up their capabilities.
“So, we are amending (the Cooperative Code of 2008) to relax, add, and strengthen our cooperatives, including their access to capital, wider marketing, and give especial emphasis to agricultural cooperatives (help in food crisis),” Marcos emphasizes.
Just as important in the amendments she wants is the increase of tax exemption for cooperatives from the present Php10 million to a 10-fold increase of Php100 million.
The lady senator said that her brother President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in her third State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) reminded on action on the cooperatives, indicating that the President wants them to be stronger and better and more responsive to the needs of society and the nation.
“Kooperatibang Matatag at Malakas, Pundasyon sa Bagong Pilipinas”
Senator Marcos indicated also her desire to open the cooperative sector to foreign capital, particularly that there are foreign cooperatives that want to partner with local cooperatives and put in investments.
She also communicated her suggestion for the private sector to dive deep into the cooperative sector and help them in their access to capital as banks have very strict rules for loan application.
“The banks are too strict, investments should go to the rural areas, give access to foreign capital, especially foreign cooperatives that want to invest in the Philippines,” the senator says at the press conference, flanked at the presidential table by top Rizal province and Antipolo city officials.
She also suggested the establishment of regional cooperatives in the outside the Philippines.
Senator Marcos said it is important the government relax rules in providing loans to cooperatives, help them level up their product packaging, pitching, and marketing.
She also noted the Southern Tagalog region has some of the country’s billionaire cooperatives.
In a related development, Antipolo City Mayor Jun Ynares assured help for cooperatives in the city, especially those groups that are just starting.
The Cooperative Congress revolves around the theme “Kooperatibang Matatag at Malakas, Pundasyon sa Bagong Pilipinas” (Stable and Strong Cooperatives, Foundation of New Philippines (Bagong Pilipinas) to celebrate the “Cooperative Month” which is held annually in October. In the past, before the onslaught of Covid-19 it was being held every March since 2015 until December 2022.
Under the Philippines’ Cooperative Code, cooperatives are defined as “autonomous and duly registered association of persons who voluntarily join together to achieve their social, economic, and cultural needs.”
According to the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) headed by Assistant Secretary and CDA Administrator Santiago S. Lim, the country as of Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 has a total of 18,848 Operating Cooperatives.
The types of the operating cooperatives are Multipurpose, Credit, Agriculture, Transport, Consumers, Producers, Agrarian Reform, Marketing, and Others. (/)