The COOP-NATCCO PARTYLIST, which represents the cooperative sector in Congress, accuses the COMELEC of ‘sabotage’ for changing the numbers assigned to Party-list groups without due notice. In the final Certified List of Candidates for Party-list released by COMELEC earlier this month and currently posted at the COMELEC website, the assigned number for Coop-NATCCO is 133. However, in the official ballot, Coop-NATCCO was listed at 139. Other party-list groups were also affected.

“Why did the COMELEC change the number of partylists without any notice or explanation? This is a form of sabotage against us because the voters will be confused, especially now that we’ve already informed thousands of our cooperative members that our party-list Coop-NATCCO is number 133 in the official ballot. Suddenly, we are at 139!” Coop-NATCCO Representative Jose Ping-ay exclaimed.


 

The COOP-NATCCO Party hails the Supreme Court for ruling that the savings and time deposits of cooperative members are not subject to 20% final withholding tax. Recently, SC declared that cooperatives including their members deserve preferential tax treatment because of the vital role they play in the attainment of economic development and social justice.

In the recent case of Dumaguete Cathedral Credit Cooperative vs Commissioner of Internal Revenue promulgated on 22 January 2010, the Court assailed the Court of Tax Appeals for disregarding BIR Ruling No. 551-888 wherein BIR affirmed that cooperatives are not required to withhold taxes on interest from savings and time deposits of their members which was reiterated in BIR Ruling DA-591-2006.

Assailing the irregularity of the one-year term extension of the Board of Directors of Negros Oriental Electric Cooperative II (NORECO 2), adopted based on an advisory issued by the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), Coop-NATCCO Representative Cresente C. Paez delivered a privilege speech at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, February 2. The legislator questioned the legality of said advisory and urged Congress to investigate the present governance of NORECO 2 and the supervisory and regulatory conduct of the CDA.

“I believe that CDA gravely abused its regulatory and supervisory powers as it deprived the electric cooperative members their right to elect the new set of Directors, not to mention the fact that it violated Art. 37 of RA 9520 providing for a two-year limit in the terms of members of the Board of Directors, unless there's an amendment in the By-Laws legitimately approved by the General Assembly,” Congressman Paez said.