BAGUIO CITY – The Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) is boosting their monitoring and audit on the operation of registered cooperatives to ensure their success and financial prosperity.
Felicidad Cenon, CDA Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) director, in a report furnished on Wednesday said: “Cooperatives are mandated to report their activities and audited financial statements aside from their compliance with the different mandatory trainings, which allow us to see their condition and give assistance.”
“For non-compliance, we issue show cause orders. We also give technical assistance to help the cooperatives recover, if (they are) ailing, or to level up. Our goal is to make all the cooperatives prosper economically so that these can help the members.”
These measures allow the cooperatives to strengthen their operations as shown in their achievements, with 11 players in the region now in the billionaire level.
Records show there are 326 micro cooperatives, 132 small cooperatives, 101 medium and 12 large cooperatives.
Earlier, Cenon said the concept of cooperativism has appealed to the Cordillera people, with 2022 recording over 707,000 individuals as members of cooperatives, higher than the 696,000 in 2021 and 571,000 in 2020.
Cordillera has a population of 1.8 million according to the 2020 census of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Cooperatives in the region have total assets of PHP46 billion in 2023, way higher than the PHP28 bilslion in 2019; and a total business volume of PHP32 billion.
Jona Ponciano, a member of two cooperatives – Benguet State University Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BSUMPC) and the Abra Diocesan Teachers and Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative (ADTEMPCO) – said she has come to appreciate the concept of cooperatives with her minimal capital earning dividends.
“I like it even if it is small because my membership also has medical and death benefits, which I personally appreciate since my family will not be burdened in case my time comes,” she said in Ilocano.
Ponciano noted that despite her minimal salary she is able to save some money and has an option in case she needs emergency funds.
“I can withdraw my savings and have the opportunity to avail of a loan for projects in my small property,” she said.
Ponciano said both cooperatives she joined now belong to the billionaire groups in the region, making her confident that the little amount of money she has invested is protected. **Liza Agoot
