Retired judge says move will allow co-op to educate members
Cebu CFI Community Cooperative will take over a network of radio stations on August 1 to educate its members on a wider scale.
Lawyer Lito Astillero, CFI spokesman, said the cooperative signed a contract about three weeks ago with the Cagayan de Oro-based Sarraga Integration and Management (SIAM) Broadcasting Corp. for the management of El Nuevo Bantay Radyo.
Astillero, a member of the co-op’s board of directors, said details of the contract were confidential.
With this development, CFI will be the first cooperative in the country to manage a radio station network. CFI is believed to be the biggest cooperative in the Visayas with over 90,000 members and around P9 billion in assets.
“Our members will be proud because we will be able to broadcast already,” Astillero said. New programs focusing on the cooperative sector will be introduced.
TALKS
Retired judge Esperanza Garcia, CFI chairperson and founder, said they have been in talks with SIAM since last year.
“If we acquire a radio station, it will be used for our education program,” Garcia told Cebu Daily News yesterday.
“First, there is pre-membership, so that they will know what a cooperative really is. Another example is that if we issue bulletins, the radio station can be made as a venue for information,” she explained.
Bantay Radyo is a network of AM radio stations, each with a power of 10,000 kilowatts, strategically located in the provinces of Cebu and Negros Occidental. It has been managed by the family of Cebu Provincial Board Member Grecilda “Gigi” Sanchez for the last 10 years.
Sanchez, who is the network’s chief executive officer, could not be reached for comment. The Sanchez family is at odds in politics with the Garcia family.
Garcia also declined to divulge additional information.
Astillero said he has been appointed interim chief executive officer.
He said CFI got word that SIAM was looking for new management through its branch in Cagayan de Oro City. Negotiations have been going on since then.
STATIONS
The network’s main broadcast comes from the studio of dyDD 1260 kHz, located along Escario St., Cebu City. It is simultaneously aired over two other radio stations, dyHH 864 kHz in Bogo City, northern Cebu, and dyZZ 1458 kHz in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.
In his column on the Manila Times published last May, radio broadcaster Niño Bonito Padilla, who hails from Cebu, wrote that “local politicians are in panic mode, buying airtime, even renting the whole operations of AM radio stations in the locality.”
He mentioned that former governor and now Cebu 3rd District Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia, daughter of the CFI chairperson, was negotiating for the SIAM-owned radio station network.
PROGRAMS
Is the takeover part of the Garcias’ political agenda in 2016?
Astillero emphasized that the network will be used for cooperative purposes only.
“One thing is for sure – this station will be used for cooperative purposes,” he said.
Presently, CFI has timeslots for its education programs in four local AM radio stations, including dyLA 909 kHz and dyRC 648 kHz.
He echoed Garcia’s statement that the purpose of “acquiring” the station is to educate the co-op’s members, especially on new policies.
“We have health services, schools, and a bank. We have to explain all this to our members,” he said.
The lawyer said the CFI board will act as the highest-ranking managing body. Preparations are ongoing.
“Employment changes, program, and formats, among others, are being finalized,” said Astillero.
At present, the management of Bantay Radyo is composed of the following personalities: Busay Barangay Captain Yody Sanchez as vice president for operations, Jun Carillo as station manager, Jess Villarba as assistant manager and news director, Emie Mates as news editor, and Cesar Cajes as chief technician.