The Senate approved on third and final reading Monday the bill that would require the designation of a cooperatives development officer in every municipality, city and province in the country.
Senate Bill No. 1855 hurdled the Upper Chamber with 19 affirmative votes and no negative votes or abstention.
The bill seeks to amend the Local Government Code of 1991 and create a mandatory position for the cooperatives development officer (CDO) in all local government units.
The CDO shall be in charge of identifying and assisting groups and sectors in organizing their cooperatives with the objective that they "shall be vehicles in poverty reduction, job creation, and socioeconomic development" of the LGUs.
The said officers shall also help the cooperatives in establishing linkages with the Cooperative Development Authority and other government agencies and provide them the necessary training, education and other forms of assistance.
Under the bill, the CDO to be designated shall be a resident of the LGU concerned, of good moral character, a holder of a college degree preferably cooperatives, business administration or any related course, and a first-grade civil service eligible or its equivalent.
He or she must also have three to five years of experience in cooperatives organization and management or other comparable experience.
Local governments may choose to appoint a full-fledged CDO, or they may merge the responsibilities of a CDO with an existing position, depending on the size of the local cooperative sector or the capability of the LGU to fund the emoluments for the position.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, principal author of the measure, said the passage of the SB No. 1855 is still timely even after the observance of the National Cooperative Month last October.
"Once we have CDOs in all our LGUs, we will be able to more easily reach communities in our most far-flung areas, and they will be able to deliver vital and immediate support on the grassroots level," he said in a statement.
"The cooperative sector is such a huge economic driver, especially in the countryside. We have over 28,000 registered cooperatives in the country, which is a good, healthy number, but I believe we can have an even more robust national cooperative movement if we strengthened government support for the sector," he added.