MANILA — The Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) intensified its anti-poverty initiatives through the launch of the “Biyaya ng Pagbabago” program during their 28th anniversary celebration on Monday in Quezon City.
CDA Acting Executive Director Giovanni Platero said their program for the marginalized is part of their response to President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s call to provide comfortable living for all.
“Two out of 10 Filipinos are poor especially in the provinces of Mindanao,” Platero said.
He said the number of poor Filipinos increases each year due to socio-economic and political inequities like housing backlog, involuntary hunger, unemployment and decline in agricultural productivity.
Platero said that various government departments and agencies have projects aimed at poverty alleviation but most of them do not bring results because there are bottlenecks in the services and delivery mechanisms of the government such as corruption and patronage politics.
Platero added through the program, the cooperatives will assist the government in the effective and timely delivery of the basic services the poor needs.
During the event, Corazon Echano, a member of the Cooperative Union of Taguig and Pateros, asked Platero if CDA wants its member cooperatives to help in the promotion of the program.
“Malaking tulong po ang maibibigay ng cooperative sector sa pagsusulong dun sa mga ginagawa ng pamahalaan. Ang hiling natin sa cooperative sector ay sundin yung mga panuntunan ng isang tunay na kooperatiba…iwasan natin ma-involve ang kooperatiba sa mga illegal na gawain, lalo na yung mga nagtatayo ng kooperatiba na iba ang layunin (The cooperative sector can provide a big help to what the government is doing. We request the cooperative sector to observe the rules and regulations of true cooperative…let us not be involved in illegal activities, especially those who are establishing cooperatives with a different purpose), Platero said. (PNA)
