House body moves to revitalize co-ops

MANILA, Philippines - The House commitee on cooperatives will revisit the charter of the National Food Authority (NFA) and amend the charter of the Cooperatives Development Authority (CDA).

In its first hearing held last Wednesday, the committee headed by Coop Nattco senior partylist Rep. Jose Ping-ay as chairman with Cresente Paez and Jocelyn Bernos (Abra) as vice chairmen tackled various proposal that would strengthen CDA in its role in the cooperative movement.

Leaders of various cooperative associations attended the hearing.

Ping-ay told The STAR that his committee plans to strengthen the CDA by equipping the agency with an “adjudication function” and re-organization its leadership structure to make it more efficient and responsive to its clientele.

He expressed the need to streamline and revitalize cooperatives to make them relevant and in good shape to enhance their role as partners of development in urban and rural areas.

The Ilocano lawmaker noted that many cooperatives have folded up and have not re-registered with the CDA which he said had been attributed to poor leadership among their officers. The operations of many of them were reportedly marred by anomalies.

“It’s a matter of leadership, really,” Ping-ay who heads the successful Sta. Cruz Development Cooperative based in Sta. Cruz, Ilocos Sur told The STAR.

The committee believes that CDA should be equipped with disciplinary powers over cooperatives. Ping-ay said the plan is for CDA to discipline erring cooperative groups to protect the interests of their members.

He also stressed the need to streamline CDA’s leadership structure and correct what he said is an irregular set-up where it is run by a chairman and three administrators. The admi-nistrators he said are also serving as regional directors.