HB No. 04602 An Act Amending the Cooperative Code of the Philippines

HB No. 04602 An Act Amending the Cooperative Code of the Philippines it is to be known as “Philippine Cooperative Code of 2005”. This bill was calendared on August 24,2005 and approved on second reading on October 12, 2005. on the second reading the body approved to consider the explanatory note of the bill as the sponsorship remarks on the measure. Then the bill was presented and approved for the third reading last November 29, 2006, with House votes YES = 198, NO = 0, and Abstain = 0. On December 6, 2006 the Bill was transmitted to the Senate.

If you would like to get a copy of the Bill please locate our FICCO Management Group with the address: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/ficco and don’t forget to leave any comments if this site has been helpful.

FICCO Basketball Team

Cheers!!! This is FICCO's Basketball Team Champion of the recently concluded Director's Cup Basketball League. From the four clustered teams the league was ended by the Central Cluster as Champion for 2006. The team is headed by BM Egay Micayabas and Coach by Agripino Pacuribot.

Its team members in the picture (from left) Peter Taban, Ramil Obsioma, Neil Jamito, Titing Samuya, Agripino Pacuribot, Egay Micayabas, Alvin Gulayao, Allan Waban, Peejay Menciano, & Michael Alilin, (seated from left) Rolando Mapa & Chael Baritua.

Kudos! from the employees and staff of the Central Cluster, Our presence may not be there during the tourney but we join you in the Celebration (So... asa ta kaon?).

Congrats! Central Cluster!

Co-ops urge gov’t to define their tax obligations

The Country’s Union of Cooperatives has turned to the department of Finance and its attached agency, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, for help in clearing up the tax obligations slapped on member organizations nationwide.

Also, the 22,000-accredited cooperatives grouped under the Philippine Cooperative Center (PCC) have submitted to the DOF and BIR a 100-page primer outlining the tax exemptions and compliance of cooperatives.

According to PCC chair Senen Bacani, the cooperatives group deemed it necessary to issue the primer citing the difficulty some of the members are having in dealing with tax collectors, who appear to have different interpretations of the tax code on cooperatives.

The PCC is hoping that the primer will meet the approval of the DOF and BIR and adopt it “for the uniform guidance of all cooperatives and tax collecting agents,” Bacani said in an interview.

Lecira Juarez, Cooperative Development Authority Chair, said that, despite the clear exemptions of cooperatives from taxes, many cooperatives are still swamped with deficiency tax assessment from the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

“Should these cooperatives be made liable for taxes, even if the exemption is clearly provided in the law?” Juarez asked.

To encourage their formation, cooperatives were granted incentives under the Cooperative Code. The incentive depends on whether the cooperative does business exclusively with members or deals with non-members.

Tax expert Recel P. Cachuela from the Punongbayan-Araullo audit firm, said that “if the cooperatives are to be considered vehicles for promoting self-reliance aimed towards the attainment of economic development and social justice, [the organization] should be accorded benefits clearly intended by law.”

Note: The above article is an excerpt from Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) dated October 30, 2006. By Christine A. Gaylican.

E.O. 332 Cooperative Development Authority is under Department of Finance

Last July 16, 2004 President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed Executive Order No. 332, an EO Transferring the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) from the Office of the President to the Department of Finance (DOF). The Executive Order did not explain much about why the CDA needs to be transferred to the DOF nor was it communicated to the cooperative sector before its decision to transfer. The EO simply said that in order to facilitate coordination of policies and programs between these agencies, it is necessary to place the CDA under the DoF. If I may ask what coordination of policies and programs are the two agencies relate to? As a typical cooperative member this move didn’t give us much concern but what really is the motive in the transfer? After a year and a half I got the answer. It is House Bill No. ____ (never got a copy) now pending in the Senate but before this pending bill came to being I have an inkling that since the DoF was created to formulate fiscal policy. Its basic function is revenue generation to ensure adequate financing needs of the Country. Carrying out this function has led to an expansion of the DOF's role over time. Yes! It’s a revenue generating department and you’ll say well what the hell is CDA doing there? Inevitably CDA will generate income in the near future but it will collect from the cooperatives of course. Those cooperatives they say is the instruments of equity, social justice and economic development, the individuals that form themselves a cooperative for a mutual help to augment needs in times of hardships, the poor farmers and fisherfolks, the marginalize majority and neglected, and those who toiled to form cooperative to protect themselves is not excused from the prying eyes of possible harassment.

Government Bureau’s under DoF are Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Customs (BoC), Bureau of Treasury (BoT), and the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF). The Agencies and corporations under the DoF includes Insurance Commission (IC), Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC), Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency (PHILEXIM), Government Services Insurance System (GSIS), the Social Security System (SSS), and NOW the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA). This means Cooperative Development Authority is now part of the revenue generating agency of the government.