Press Release
August 1, 2011

Zubiri cites gains in nationwide cooperative roadshow project

Senator Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri today reported the gains from the nationwide cooperative road show project and consultation forum sponsored by the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Cooperatives.

"Six months ago we launched the first ever nationwide road show campaign which is to hold a dialogue and discuss with coop leaders and members the rules and regulations, benefits and challenges of the Cooperative Code or RA 9520. I am honored to report to you the fruits of our labor," Zubiri said in his keynote speech at the 50th anniversary of the San Dionisio Credit Cooperative recently held in Manila.

Zubiri noted that consultations with cooperatives which kicked off in January this year resulted to the following:

  • The BIR has agreed to ease up the tax requirements and exemptions for cooperatives after a dialogue between BIR Commissioner Kim Henares and Senator Zubiri;

  • There is a need to strengthen the regulatory functions of the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) through amendments in their charter as proposed by Senator Zubiri in SB 2621 which is now pending in the Senate;

  • The CDA will submit to the BIR the required list of members and their capital contribution instead of the cooperatives themselves;

  • To push for the bulk filing of TINs by cooperative members. Under this scheme, it is the cooperative who will obtain the form from the BIR, have its members fill-up the form and for the cooperative to file the same with the BIR;

  • The BIR has committed to speed up the process of releasing CTE (Certificate of Tax Exemptions) and clarified that BIR Form 1945 pertains only to the exemptions from VAT. Under the law, exemption from VAT is specific as to the type of cooperative and the capitalization. In the case of a nonagricultural or noncredit cooperative, it is exempt from VAT for as long as no member has a share capital contribution of more than P15,000. The BIR has already committed to issue a circular clarifying the matter; and

  • Cooperatives transacting with members only are not required to pay business permits to LGUs while those transacting with members and nonmembers are required to pay this but only for a minimal amount of P1,000. For the Community Tax Certificate, they are required to pay only P500.

"These gains are the results of our discussions with the public, the communities and the different provinces down to the coops from countryside. But we shall continue to go around the country, to gather more fruits and come up with positive results as I encourage all of you coops and the government agencies concerned such as the BIR to work together and carry out the real objectives of the law which is to contribute to the economic development of our country," Zubiri, principal author of the new Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008, said.

He also urged government agencies to support the cooperative industry.

"We will continue to push and seek for government cooperation. We need to ease up the burdens of the coop sector and make it more convenient for them as well as our agencies like BIR and CDA to deal and transact with each other," Zubiri who has been hailed as the "father of the cooperative code" added.

The Coop Code was signed into law in March 2009. It has been hailed as a landmark legislation that empowered coops to professionalize their management and operation, while providing a monitoring and evaluation tools for them to conduct self-assessments in terms of its managerial, financial, and social objectives.

The coop roadshow project led by Zubiri and Congressman Jose Ping-Ay, representing the House of Representatives, has traveled from Metro Manila, Baguio, La Union, Pampanga and Nueva Vizcaya. It is scheduled to hold consultation meetings in Region 5 in Legazpi, Albay, Region 4-A in Laguna and in key cities of Visayas and Mindanao in the coming months. It aims to empower more than 35,000 registered coops nationwide.

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