PRESS RELEASE
January 30, 2025
COOPERATIVES BUILD A BETTER WORLD
QUEZON CITY- The year 2025 is declared by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Year of Cooperatives, where cooperatives are recognized as an alternative solution in addressing various global challenges, such as climate change, food security, health, jobs generation, social welfare, among others.
We are proud to be part of a global movement promoting and realizing social and economic development. We must continue to sustain our advocacy, programs, and services that will directly benefit our members, their families, and their communities and create a positive impact for the upliftment of their lives in particular and the society in general.
In the Philippines, we continue to bring meaningful changes to our society, and in most cases, our government recognizes that we are one with them in reducing poverty, providing social welfare to our members, creating jobs, and creating partnerships and collaborative programs for the benefit of the marginalized sectors, particularly in far-flung areas and the countryside. We also empowered our members to be active and productive citizens through education and training, livelihood activities, outreach programs for the communities, and engaging policymakers to promote cooperatives as an alternative model in socio-economic development and economic growth.
Related to this, in policy engagement, we need to protect the gains our forefathers won for us, especially the tax exemptions and privileges for cooperatives, which are threatened to be removed as proposed by the Department of Finance. We need to remind the legislators, in the words of the Supreme Court:
[In closing] the cooperatives, including their members, deserve a preferential tax treatment because of the vital role they play in the attainment of economic development and social justice. Thus, although taxes are the lifeblood of the government, the State’s power to tax must give way to foster the creation and growth of cooperatives”.
What differentiates us from other economic models is that we are guided by the cooperative’s principles and values. We pledge to work and to cooperate for all to be prosperous. We not only recite this pledge; we are actually doing it in our communities and society as a whole.
The tax exemption for cooperatives is a strategic policy tool that supports inclusive economic growth, financial stability, and social equity. Instead of focusing on maximizing profits, cooperatives reinvest their earnings in community development, climate resilience, and member welfare, making them key players in sustainable local economies. That is why we have a common vision and the belief that cooperatives can build a better world, NOT FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE FEW, BUT FOR EVERYONE.
Contact person: Edwin A. Bustillos, Executive Director – 09178017309
