Coops to hold congress in Cebu on Oct. 20-22

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

THE Victo National Cooperative Federation and Development Center announced yesterday that the First Central Visayas Cooperative Congress will be held in Waterfront Hotel-Cebu City on Oct. 20 to 22.

Victo said the event will be attended by leaders from various successful cooperatives in the country. The congress is spearheaded by the Central Visayas Co-op Solidarity Council (CVCSC), which is composed of coop federations and unions in Region 7.

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Victo and the Cebu News Workers Multi-Purpose Co-operative (Newscoop), the only media co-operative in the country, are co-chairs in the publicity and promotion of the coming Congress.

Victo chief executive officer Mercedes Castillo said the Cooperative Congress is part of the kick-off events of the International Year for Cooperatives 2012 (IYC 2012), as declared by the United Nations (UN).

Social development

Castillo said the UN declared 2012 the year for coops to recognize the cooperative business model as an effective vehicle for social development worldwide.

Castillo said various cooperatives in the world have already recorded achievements of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Victo, together with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) and through the National Committee, will launch “IYC 2012” in Manila on Oct. 1. IYC 2012 will be launched again during the First Visayas Cooperative Congress.

The IYC 2012 theme for the Philippines is “Transformative Co-operatives Advancing the People, Planet, Prosperity and Peace for Sustainable Development.”

During the October congress, various cooperatives will exhibit their products and services and present their best practices that contributed to their success and members’ benefits.

Victo currently has 223 cooperatives under it in the entire country. Of the 223, four, including Cebu CFI Community Cooperative, are billionaires and about half have assets of P100 million and above.

“The total aggregate assets of all the co-operatives under Victo is about P17 billion with over a million individual members,” said Castillo. (PR)

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on August 18, 2011.