ILOILO CITY (PNA) – The top official of the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) in Western Visayas is “undesirable and unwelcome” here, with the city government declaring Regional Director Nora P. Patron as persona non grata on Thursday, September 28.
In an interview on Friday, September 29, Mayor Jerry P. Treñas said since July, he has invited the CDA several times amid the financial issues hounding the Iloilo City Government Employees Multipurpose Cooperative (ICGEMPC).
“I discovered that she has issued a certificate of good standing for the cooperative. And this certificate was the basis for the loan from the Landbank (of the Philippines), which the directors themselves borrowed,” Treñas said in an interview on Friday.
The certificate was issued sometime in the first quarter of 2023.
He added the ICGEMPC submitted a fraud audit report done by a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with expertise in fraud audit but was disregarded.
A 33-page attendance of the general meeting of the cooperative was also submitted to the CDA but it was disregarded.
Further, the CDA declared as illegal the interim ad hoc committee that was selected by the members to replace the previous board of directors who resigned after the issue came out.
“I don’t think this is correct,” Treñas said.
On Thursday, Patron met the mayor only after she was brought to the city hall by National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Regional Director Arecio A. Casing Jr.
During the meeting, Treñas informed Patron she would be included in the charges of syndicated estafa as an accomplice against the former ICGEMPC board of directors.
Executive Order 129 issued September 28 said the cooperative has been suffering from financial losses due to irregular loan transactions, including the loans of directors, offices, stockholders, and related interests (DOSRI) which to date amount to over P31 million and the dissipation of the capital share of members.
The EO and a separate letter addressed to the CDA central office asking for Patron's ouster from Western Visayas were prepared amid the meeting.