Cooperatives show force for Senate bets

Over a thousand cooperative members in Cagayan de Oro gathered at the Gaston Park to show its coming out as a political force in the May 2016 elections.

Touted as the cooperative capital held a rally to show support to senatorial bets Cris “Mr. Coop” Paez, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Sen. TG Guingona and Richard “Dick” Gordon.

Cooperatives have emerged as an important sector in our society. So it needs to mobilize its political power to protect its interests, the interests like its privilege of tax exemption..

“Pag may problema ang kooperatiba, naghahanap ng political ally. Ngayon, we have to have champions in government,” said Cesar Cortez, president of the Coalition of Cooperatives Party which is pushing the candidacy of Paez, the incumbent and third-term Coop Natcco party list representative in Congress. Paez has been adopted by the administration’s Daang Matuwid.

According to Edgar Abelleda, Mindanao campaign coordinator of Coop Natcco party list, they are also supporting the candidacies of Zubiri as an acknowledgement of his authorship of the Cooperative Code of 2008, Gordon for his work as a cooperative organizer and Guingona for his anti corruption advocacy and as a son of Mindanao.

Former Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives party list (Apec) congressman Pons Payuyo who represented Paez in the rally, it is important for cooperatives to vote for Paez as he is not just a leader, but the symbol of the cooperatives in this current political exercise. “If we fail to elect our very own as a senator, other sectors who do not like cooperatives, like big business who have strong influence on government, will no longer respect us,” Payuyo said.

Cooperatives are very sensitive to attempts to repeal the provisions of the Cooperative Code to exempt them from taxation as it would defeat their comparative advantage to grow and compete with big business.

“Cooperative tax exemption is an expression of social justice, and it is enshrined in the Constitution,” said Payuyo. Last year, cooperatives launched a nationwide protest after it found out that the Fiscal Incentives Bill, which sought to remove tax exemption privileges for businesses involved in investments promotions, mostly in special economic zones. The repeal of the tax exemption for cooperatives was lobbied by the Dept. of Finance. But the House committee on Ways and Means struck out the repeal provision in the bill.

“But there is a need to continue the advocacy to protect cooperative tax exemption as we do not know how the next congress would behave,” said Payuyo.

Paez begged off from the rally to join the Daang Matuwid sortie in Zamboanga and Dipolog cities. “We thought, that Paez is more or less known here in Cagayan de Oro because of its strong cooperative movement,” said BenCy Ellorin, a member of Paez’s campaign team. He however added, that Paez will visit Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental and other areas in Northern Mindanao.

Paez, who has been battling odds because he one of less popular senatoriables is banking on cooperative votes in the country. According to the Cooperative Development Authority, 13 million Filipinos are members of cooperatives. (advt)