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Republic Act 6938, which is popularly known as the Cooperative of 1990 has just been amended “to meet the challenges of the global economic situation and the advent of the technology.”

It was amended when President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed into law the Republic Act No. 9520 or the Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008. The new law is expected to strengthen the thousands of cooperatives in the country and enable the system to contribute better to the country’s economic growth.

A Palace resource person said that the new law also affords “more opportunities to our cooperatives to offer more services for their members not only on financial needs, but also the ability to undertake more productive activities geared towards the upliftment of our countrymen.”   It is hoped that the cooperatives will continue to play an important role in easing the burdens which we are experiencing because of the global financial crisis.

With the new law, newly-organized cooperative will not be able to register as and operate as a multi-purpose cooperative within the first two years their of operation, the P2,000 required minimum paid-up share capital was also increased to P15,000 to be able to register as a cooperative, the number of vote required from members was also increased from two-thirds to three-fourths.

The new law is also strict when it comes to the function of each member, because now members of the board of directors cannot hold any other position that is directly involved in the day-to-day operation of the cooperative, and any member who has a business similar or has an interest in conflict with the cooperative are not allowed to serve as an officer in the cooperative.

Of course, the required annual reports should be provided to the co-op members and the Cooperative Development Authority (CDO) within 120 days after the end of the calendar year.  Failure to comply with such requirement will subject the accountable officers to fines and sanctions and could even cause the revocation of the authority of the cooperative to operate.

Cooperatives have helped a lot of unemployed individuals, especially housewives, as they get access to financial assistance and livelihood trainings. With the proper mindset and dedication, many cooperative members have become established entrepreneurs.