Emotional co-op forum stuns Congress and CDA officials

Some three (3) million people from regions 7 and 8 virtually – that is, through their respective co-operative organizations – converged in the Cebu Capitol last week to attend the forum on the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act RA 9520, a.k.a. the Co-operative Code of 2008.  Conducted by the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Cooperatives in collaboration with the Cooperative Development Authority, the forum attracted members and leaders of more than 420 co-op organizations and federations from the two Visayan regions.

Incidentally, Regions 7 and 8 host a number of century (with assets upwards of P100 million) and billionaire cooperatives.  On the obverse side, thousands of micro and small cooperatives dot these regions and have yet to fully recover from the economic fallout from the killer quake and supertyphoon Yolanda that hit them in late 2013.

RA 9520 has been around for 6 years now and Congress saw fit to revisit the bible of cooperatives to make it more relevant to the times and, at the same time, address concerns on the regulatory powers of the Cooperative Development Authority CDA.

As the agency is mandated to accredit, supervise and regulate co-operatives, CDA has a love-hate relationship with the sector.  There is a perception the agency’s regulatory powers under the existing implementing rules and regulations are fit for large and billionaire co-ops which make up only a tiny fraction of the 24,000 total number of cooperatives all over the country.  In other words, the law had the effect of stunting the growth, if not choking the life out, of  the 18,000 micro and small organizations with meager assets of P3 million each.

Spearheaded by the House Committee on Co-operative Development and the Senate Committee on Co-operatives in collaboration with CDA, the revision of the IRR began in 2012.  In between legislative work, there were numerous multi-sectoral consultations between Congress, excutive departments, non-government organizations and the cooperative sector.

After more than two years, the revisions were finally promulgated in March this year and based on initial reactions, the sector was upbeat to interact with the JCOCC with respect to the more dramatic changes in the implementing guidelines:  the number of mandatory trainings were significantly reduced (from 14 to 2), the reportorial requirements were relaxed and penalties earlier imposed on micro coops were to be condoned.

The House contingent in the JCOCC was represented by Natcco Partylist Rep. Cresente Paez.  Senator Lito Lapid arrived late for the opening ceremonies, but his son Mark Lapid, top honcho of Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) was around to deliver his father’s opening statement.  CDA Board of Administrators Mercedes Castillo and Benjie Oliva together with CDA lawyers and the staff of the JCOCC were on hand to make the forum substantive and orderly.

The JCOCC is going around key cities to present the revised IRR in an info drive that also encourages the sector to air concerns that may have been overlooked by Congress.  A similar activity was previously held in Baguio City and in two other cities where issues related mostly to taxation and trainings as well as mergers and consolidations were discussed during the open forum.

The same template was used in the forum held at the Cebu Capitol last Thursday but something interesting happened that set the Cebu forum apart from all other areas, at least at the time of this writing.
In the interaction that ensued after CDA lawyers presented the salient features of the revised IRR, a lady co-operative leader from Bohol stood up to point out the need for education and trainings of officers and members of micro and small cooperatives.

Continuous education and training are hallmarks of co-operativism but they don’t come cheap.  For big-size coops that have a lot of resources, trainings are not an issue but this is a struggle to the more than 18,000 micro and small coops all over the country.

The woman leader, who raised this issue, later asked CDA chairman Orlando Ravanera to mobilize the agency in the training and education of struggling micro and small coop organizations, prompting Ravanera to explain that this cannot be done unless President Aquino increases the agency’s budget from P360 million to P5 billion.

The CDA chair lamented the low priority afforded to the agency saying that he does not understand why the government is quick to react to the concerns of the chambers of commerce and Makati businessmen, but slow to recognize the needs of more than 13 million mostly marginal members of the cooperative sector.

Ravanera’s comments elicited a reaction from CDA administrator for the Visayas Benjie Oliva who exhorted co-operators to ask their congressmen and local officials to come up with resolutions urging the President to up the CDA budget.

I stood up to point out that the strategy which calls for co-operators to meet with elective officials does not take advantage of the fact that the 420 or so coop leaders who were already at the Cebu Capitol actually represent a 3-million constituency that can very well start a signature campaign and deliver a strong message to President Aquino.

Since I was standing in front of the VIPs seated at the presidential table, I can only hear the clapping of the hands and the positive comments of the crowd behind me who, I guess, just like me are sick and tired of the way government treats the co-operative sector.  The scene took on an emotional note which left the JCOCC stunned and speechless for a few minutes until Chairman Ravanera thanked me for taking up the cudgels for the agency.  At the end of the forum, the participants presented the JCOCC the signatures of the coop members and leaders who called on President Aquino to increase the CDA budget.

For lack of space, let me end this piece with a clarification that I did not do it for CDA but for the co-operative movement.  (TO BE CONTINUED)