CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The provincial government has utilized the municipal cooperative officers and members of the academe to carry out trainings and capability building to different associations as part of the cooperative development program of the Pineda administration.
Through the collaborative effort of the provincial cooperative and entrepreneurial development office (PCEDO) and Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), a Pre-Membership Education Seminar was conducted which was participated in by the 21 municipal cooperative officers together with representatives from Angeles University Foundation, Don Honorio Ventura Technical State University and Mabalacat College.
Mamerto Gatus, PCEDO head said, in the past, PCEDO is the only one that provides seminars and trainings to associations but this time, they have empowered municipal cooperatives and schools to widen and strengthen the advocacy of forming cooperatives in the province.
“Many associations want to level up into cooperative and we can’t handle them all. It is very important to mobilize and educate our LGU cooperative officers so they will be able to handle capability building seminar in their respective areas. We also enter into a partnership with the academe,” said Gatus.
Gatus said, it was CDA Assistant Regional Director Mildred Esquerra who personally facilitated the whole-day trainers’ training seminar.
“We asked credible authorities from CDA to orient our local trainers and partners so that no one can question the trainings they will give to cooperatives in the future,” he said.
Cooperative development is one of the agenda of the Pineda administration. Through PCEDO, it continuously conducts capability building and empowerment activities for the members of the various organizations including maintaining and strengthening linkages with national government agencies and non-government organizations with cooperative programs.
PCEDO report showed that the province has more than 200 registered cooperatives comprising 43,678 members with more than P1.7 billion total assets.
These cooperatives have P678 million paid-up capital and P394 million member savings deposits.
BY JENNA LUMBANG
