Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte must certify HB 4174 as an urgent and priority bill if this administration expects to mitigate poverty and uplift the economic conditions of the millions of poor Filipinos living below the poverty line.
HB 4174 is the bill creating the Department of Cooperatives that is expected to generate income, employment and decent livelihood for every Filipino family.
Already, it will interest you to know that, nearly 170 (out of 291) HOR members have affixed their signatures as co-authors of the said bill even before committee hearings are exhausted and the final bill is presented in the plenary for discussion and debate.
We heard positive comments that “pasado na ito” from some quarters who believe it will complement the current thrusts of the Duterte government and should, ideally, form part of the Dutertenomics program.
Sponsored principally by Rep. Maria Valentina Plaza (1st Dist.,Agusan Sur) and six five others as principal co-authors namely Reps. Prospero Pichay (Surigao Sur), Manuel Zubiri (Bukidnon), Rico Geron (PL AGAP), Sabiniano Canama (PL Coop-NATCCO) and Evelyn Mellana (2nd Dist.,Agusan Sur), HB 4174 held its first hearing last May 23 jointly conducted by the Reorganization Committee and the Committee on Cooperatives Development chaired respectively by Reps. Virgilio Lacson and Rico Geron.
After the exhaustive question and answer session, Rep. Wilter “Sharky” Palma II moved for the formation of a TWG (technical working group) which was warmly received by committee members.
Plaza, in her opening sponsorship message, said there is a great felt need to elevate the Cooperatives Development Authority to a line department to give the more than 25,000 existing cooperatives a “louder” voice in the Cabinet.
This number, according to CDA Chair Orlando Ravanera, is expected to double in the next five years.
Plaza cited the CDA’s handicaps in addressing the multifarious concerns of 14 M cooperative members, including the much-needed appointment of a local cooperatives development officer in the provincial, city and municipal levels.
She said the lack of qualified personnel in the regions hamper the CDA to address the even basic concerns of small cooperatives that are just starting to develop themselves.
Plaza conferred with Ravanera who supports the creation of DepCo to pave the way for the sustained promotion and growth of entrepreneurial endeavors in the countryside.
“There is a great likelihood that the Duterte administration can establish a cooperative economy that is envisioned to improve the economic status of the people in the regions and provinces, including those living in remote villages and barangays,” Plaza explained.
Even the many thousands of un-employable Filipinos – drug rehabs, ex-convicts, rebel-returnees, the uneducated but technically skilled, the idle (istambays) and the underprivileged IPs can participate in creating income and livelihood and the equitable distribution of wealth by encouraging them to enlist as members of cooperatives.
Plaza is hoping that the office of Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco, under whose office the CDA functions, could see through the merits of HB 4174, strongly endorse and recommend it to PRRD who will certify the same as urgent and priority bill.
“We are in the process of gathering together all stakeholders in the cooperative sector, listen to their opinions and sentiments and collate these to enable us to enact a most comprehensive bill.”
Plaza said the enactment of HB 4174 is not only very timely.
It not only cultivates and promotes the values of volunteerism, communal harmony and industry.
“Cooperatives develops faith in our ourselves as a people and transforms us into a united nation,” stressed Plaza.
People empowerment it is. (Email your feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
