Co-ops can provide loans for businesses

COOPERATIVES can help provide loans for start-up businesses and generate jobs in Lapu-Lapu City, said Mayor Paz Radaza.

She pledged her administration’s support for cooperativism “because it is a potent weapon against poverty” and challenged groups to work harder and stay united.

Citing a report, Radaza said 90 percent of jobs in the country are provided by small and medium enterprises.

In Lapu-Lapu City, cooperatives like the Kababayen-an in barangay Poblacion increased assets from P17,000 to P100,000. The Gun-ob Producers Coop’s assets grew from P50,000 to P700,000 and the Pajac Producers Coop increased its assets from P200,000 to P750,000.

“We still have a very long way to go compared to the province of Bulacan, who in 1998 already had a total combined assets of P3.8 billion,” said Radaza, who cited the book “A Call for Cooperative Revolution” by Roberto “Obet” Pagdanganan, who is acknowledged as the father of coooperativision in that province. In Bulacan, the number of cooperatives increased over 12 years from 52 with assets of P50 million to 975 with combined assets of P3.8 billion./Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza