Mindanaotoday.com | CDA-10: Transport groups keep coops afloat
By: Uriel Quilinguing
“As of December 2021, we have 1,254 registered coops compared to 1,231 in 2020,” Mary Grace Vapor, who heads CDA-10 Research, Information and Training Unit, said in a forum in Cagayan de Oro to drumbeat this year’s Cooperative Month celebration.
But the number could have been higher if all transport service cooperatives (TSCs) in the region have secured Certificate of Compliance from the CDA-10.
The Office of the Transportation Cooperatives (OTC) has listed 82 TSCs in Region 10 and at least 25 of them operating in Cagayan de Oro, including those who have complied with CDA-required basic membership seminar (BMS) and documentary requirements.
For these TSCs without CDA certificates, the OTC of the Department of Transportation (DoTr) issued each of them Provisional Certificate of Good Standing, a regulatory relief that would expire December 31, this year.
Vapor said the organization of TSCs came at a time when no new coops of other categories are expected to register, adding that individuals who want to help others – even during the pandemic – have always been behind the growth of cooperative movement.
She recalled that more than 50 years ago, there were “men for others” in the likes of Jesuit priest William Masterson and lawyers Mordino Cua and Aquilino Pimentel Sr. who organized the Ateneo Credit Cooperative Union (ACCU) at Xavier University – the forerunner of First Integrated Community Cooperative (FICCO) and Oro Integrated (Credit) Cooperative (OIC).
Today, FICCO and OIC, both based in Cagayan de Oro, are among the country’s oldest and billionaire cooperatives.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer Floriano Hilot of OIC said the resilience of cooperatives during a pandemic was anchored on the operating standards set by the Board of Directors, implemented by the management, and observed by members.
Hilot likened OIC’s strength to a tripod whose legs are leadership, management and members – all aware they are in a cooperative, all committed to help each other for the coop to grow.
He said adjustments have to be made, in the collections of loans and interests, because nobody was prepared for the pandemic, citing an instance where a store had daily sale of P5,000 from the usual of P100,000.
He said that unlike corporations, each coop member, regardless of his shares of stocks and cash deposit, is entitled to one vote during the Annual General Assembly – the occasion when members receive patronage refunds and dividends.
Members, he said, were made aware during the BMS that joining a cooperative does not mean low-interest loans but one must deposit in the form of savings first.
On low-interest loans, Account Officer Laizah Ting of Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) Velez Branch, who joined two coop leaders in the forum, said they have special windows for cooperatives and farmers ranging from two to six-percent per annum.
Ting said that during the pandemic and until now, LBP Velez Branch accept loan applications filed online and these can be approved within three working days. Approval and release of loans are referred to the nearest LBP branch to the applicant. (MT)
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