PCEDO, MWF ink MOU

CITY OF BALANGA, Bataan – The Provincial Government of Bataan, represented by Gov. Albert S. Garcia and Provincial Cooperatives and Enterprise Development Office (PCEDO) Head Mrs. Azucena E. Sugatain signed the Memorandum of Understanding with Manila Water Foundation (MWF) represented by its Program Manager, Ms. Janie Rose I. Alfonso to formalize the partnership between PCEDO and MWF, this morning, November 22 at the Bulwagan ng Bayan, this City.

Part of the agreement is MWF will be helping selected cooperatives in Bataan by giving them loans amounting to Php100, 000.00 without interest. In her welcome remarks, Mrs. Sugatain expressed her joy about the blessing that the cooperatives were about to receive from MWF which according to her, is a big help to the small cooperatives to make their business successful. “Blessed tayo ngayong araw na ito dahil ang hinihintay ng mga kooperatiba para sa Kabuhayan Para Sa Barangay (KPSB) ay narito na”, Sugatain added.

To have a better understanding on how KPSB affects the lives of these cooperatives and their members, Ms. Divina L. Canare, General Manager of Capitangan Organic Farmers Marketing Cooperative shared how PCEDO and the provincial government of Bataan helped and supported them until their organic fertilizer business and trading flourished.

Gov. Garcia sees this undertaking as a valuable tool in achieving the province’s vision to attain the top-level Human Development Index in the country. He explained that these cooperatives help a lot in the economic growth of the province because it directly helps its numerous members.

Ms. Alfonso expressed her appreciation to PCEDO for the good partnership and even bared that since 2015, at least 31 cooperatives from all over the province have already received financial assistance, with a 3.1 million volume of loan and 100% collection efficiency.

Finally, the 5 newly approved cooperative partners namely Greater Bani Multi Purpose Cooperative and Co-ops for Christ from the City of Balanga, Orani Teachers and Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative and Orani Water District Multi-Purpose Cooperative from Orani, and Mariveles High School Teachers Multi-Purpose Cooperative from Mariveles received their loans.

The different cooperatives who won in the recent Gawad Pitak and Gawad Parangal such as IWAHORI Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Workers Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Mariveles High School Teachers’ Multi-Purpose Cooperative and Bataan Cooperative Development Council were once again recognized by the provincial government and PCEDO for their outstanding achievements.