LP nips in the bud political backlash from co-ops

When this corner heard that Co-op Natcco partylist Representative Cresente Paez earned a berth in the administration Liberal Party’s senatorial slate, my first reaction was one of elation coupled with excitement.  Party-lister adopted as official candidate of a mainstream party? No kidding, I said to myself.

The news feed in the social networking site seemed to leap out of my FB page, prompting me to reply that Paez’ inclusion signals the mainstreaming of cooperatives.  But even before my post could elicit a “like”, mainstream media was  painting Paez’s senatorial bid as one by an unknown and neophyte candidate.

How utterly careless and condescending of traditional media to describe Paez in such terms.  He has been around 5 congresses as party list representative of Co-op Natcco, one of first party listers that participated in national elections ever since the system was institutionalized in 1987.

If only to prove that he has logged a satisfactory performance, Paez clearly needs to render a full accounting of his stint in five congresses.  This will be in line with the spirit of transparency and accountability, the hallmarks of the sector that he represents.  Moreover, it will also emphasize the fact that among all senatoriables, he is the only candidate who has a well-defined program of government, one that lays the foundation for a cooperative economy.

As a co-op advocate, I have been going around the country and one part in Asia calling on co-ops to tell their stories because that is the only way the sector could be heard.

Thirteen (13) million members engaged in social enterprises with total assets of P313 billion and share capital of P72 billion as of 2014.  Half-a-million people are directly employed by co-ops and more than 1.9 million are benefited by indirect employment.

Why are co-ops below the radar of government?  Why are the contributions of the sector merit only a footnote in state reports?  The reason is because the capitalist economy has succeeded in portraying the third economy as a marginal sector.  This situation is being compounded by the systematic disregard of cooperatives to tell their remarkable journey and amazing stories.

The inclusion of Cres Paez in the LP senate slate comes at a time when the sector is up in arms over moves by the Department of Finance to lift the tax exempt status of cooperatives, a privilege granted to the sector by virtue of Sections 60 and 61 of RA 9520.

I’m sure Malacanang has kept tabs of co-op events because the Cooperative Development Authority is a co-convenor of numerous tax fora which always end up in negative terms in so far as the Aquino administration is concerned.  To lift the tax-exempt status of co-ops at a time when the sector celebrates its centenary is a mockery of people power.

On the whole, the mood from Batanes to Jolo is one of anger and disgust that the Executive department is bent on wiping out the sector through removal of its tax-exempt privileges.

Seventy-six percent of 24,000 co-ops all over the country are micro and small co-ops that if the state should impose taxes, it would signal the death-knell of self-help grassroots organizations, which by its very nature, should receive support from the government, not persecution.

Having said that, mainstream media was clearly way off the mark in belittling Paez’s candidacy because from where I sit, the LP decision to put him in the slate was aimed to nip in the bud a worrying trend in the co-op movement, one that could potentially become a political storm and ruin the chances of LP’s presidential standard-bearer in 2016.

As former Cebu governor and deputy house speaker Pablo Garcia has said, cooperative members maybe compared to a “sleeping giant” who is now fully awake and conscious of its political power.

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The Philippine cooperative movement is rolling out this week the reddest of red carpets for two young and dynamic stateside Credit Union practitioners – Ms. Teresa Briggs and Mr. Austin McAfferty of the Houston Highway Credit Union of Houston, Texas.  They are here to co-facilitate the 10th run of the elite training course for professional cooperators known as Philippine Development Educators (PhDE).

The DE Course was developed by the United States’ National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF) and is billed as a transformative training for credit union or cooperative professionals.  The training in the Philippines is under the aegis of VICTO National led by DE guru, Dudz Samson, who took the course in the US ten years ago.

Upon completing the Credit Union Development Educators (CUDE) course, Dudz replicated the training for local co-op practitioners.  To date, he has conducted 9 DE classes with a harvest of more than a hundred graduates.   I took mine in 2013 and my life has never been the same again!

By the way, past DE graduates will join this year’s batch in a gathering to be held on Sunday, October 18.  Project updates, plans to create a lobby group are in the agenda.

The 10th DE, as with all previous DEs, will be backbreaking.  But in true Pinoy fashion that curiously but naturally merges work with fiesta-like activities, it will also be a treat for the comely Teresa Briggs and head turner, Austin McAfferty.

As we say in Cebu, “Maayong pag-abot, mga kaubanan sa buhat!”  Welcome, co-workers in the co-op movement!