Senate declares October 'National Cooperative Month'

The Senate on Monday, September 14, 2020 declared the month of October as "National Cooperative Month."

Senators, with 22 affirmative votes, no negative votes and no abstention approved on third and final reading Senate Bill No. 1807, under Committee Report No. 108 declaring October as National Cooperative Month.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, chairman of the Committee on Cooperatives, said the measure, when signed into law, would institutionalize Proclamation No. 493, issued by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2003.

Zubiri said cooperatives, in this time of pandemic, play a significant role doing work on the ground to help countless kababayans to overcome the crisis.

"From generating employment, rendering services and producing goods, our cooperatives continue to play a pivotal role in our economy's growth as they keep the spirit of bayanihan alive by helping Filipinos help themselves. Cooperativism allows communities to grow in a specialized, self-sustaining manner, which in turn creates healthier economies for a region, and then, eventually, the entire nation," Zubiri said.

Under the measure,the chairperson of the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), in coordination with the cooperative development councils, national and local federations and union of cooperatives, and other agencies of the government, is mandated to conduct activities and programs that promote the principles and values of cooperatives and encourage cooperative movement during the month of October.

President Rodrigo Duterte last year signed Republic Act No. 11364 reorganizing CDA which was sponsored by Zubiri.

"This will respond to the clamor of the cooperative sector, to make the Cooperative Development Authority more responsive to the needs of the sector and further promote cooperativism as an effective tool in achieving inclusive growth," Zubiri had said.

SBN 1807 is in substitution to SBN 1324, filed by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, and 1326 authored by Zubiri.