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Coops’ share in country’s fight against pandemic: Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri recognizes the “outstanding” contributions of the cooperative sector in the country’s fight against COVID-19 and countryside development. During Wednesday’s hybrid plenary session, September 29, 2021, Zubiri said the coop sector was able to provide P5.5 billion worth of assistance throughout the pandemic, not only to members of cooperatives but to non-members as well. Zubiri, in a privilege speech, made the commendation to officially usher in the National Cooperative Month, stressing that with the enactment of Republic Act 11502 in December, 2020, October was declared as the cooperative month. “Per the CDA (Cooperative Development Authority), we currently have 18,848 operating cooperatives across the country, directly generating over half a million jobs. And indirectly, our cooperatives have paved the way for the creation of about 2.5 million jobs. And what we have to highlight is that many of those jobs are in the countryside,” Zubiri said. (Joseph Vidal/Senate PRIB)