Co-ops Celebrate Centennial 2015

The entire cooperative sector – leaders, members, management and staff, regulators and the academe – will celebrate this year the Philippine Cooperative Centennial Year, 100 years after the first cooperative law was enacted by US Colonial government.

Theme for the celebration is “Isandaang Taong Pagpupugay, Tulay sa Maunlad na Buhay”

The celebration marks the enactment into law of the Rural Credit Cooperation Law, known as Act No. 2508, which mandated the organization of rural associations.  Under this law, the cooperatives’ objectives were to “accumulate funds by means of co-operation, in order to extend their members credit on reasonable terms for exclusively agricultural operations, and to encourage thrift, activity and punctuality in meeting obligations among the members.”

 The Act was authored by Bulacan Governor Teodoro Sandico.

The Centennial Celebration is headed by the Centennial Committee is composed of representatives from various primary co-ops, unions, federations, educators and is led by the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA). 

“It is with great pride that the Cooperative Development Authority, in partnership with the cooperative sector, the academe, and the government invites you to join us in celebrating the centenary of cooperatives in the Philippines,” said CDA Administrator Dr. Eulogio Castillo. 

 “The Centennial is a time for many things–reflection, planning, and setting new goals. It is also an opportunity to look back and cite the many achievements of the Philippine cooperative movement in the last millennium dating back from the early years of its organization abiding the time honored cooperative ideals, principles and values, as well as take stock of what else should be done to fully realize the core of its existence – to uplift the lives of the marginalized — as an instrument for social justice and economic development as enshrined in Section 15 Article 12 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution,” he added.

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