THE Philippine Chamber of Cooperatives, Inc. (PCCI) on Thursday asked senators to reconsider a provision on “shared voting” in its proposed amendments to the cooperative code, saying this could limit the power of cooperatives to a few.
Senate Bill No. 2811 proposes an option for “shared voting,” wherein “the voting rights of the member-cooperatives shall be proportionate to the number of their paid-up shares.” The measure is up for second reading at the plenary.
“The number of shares a member holds must not give them more voting power, as this would lead to a few members with more shares having more control and potentially monopolizing the cooperative,” the PCCI said in a statement.
In a recent Senate hearing, CLIMBS Life and General Insurance Cooperative President Roel D. Raboy cited openness to allowing 40% share capital holdings in a federation, given that such shares do not carry voting rights.
Mr. Raboy said a shared voting system would turn cooperatives into a “corporation-like” model.
The cooperative model currently follows the one-member, one-vote principle, while the corporate model follows a shared voting system.
“If share voting schemes become part of the law, it would be difficult to ensure that they continue to serve their democratic purpose.”
“In the Senate’s version, they are giving operations for either a cooperative vote system or a shared vote system,” Edwin A. Bustillos, executive director, told reporters on the sidelines of a forum.
However, a shared voting system may allow corporations to disguise themselves as a cooperative and evade taxes, Mr. Bustillos said.
“Some may create a corporation, have this registered as a cooperative, and eventually avail of the tax exemption. But it is controlled by a few, And that’s not the value and principles of cooperative,” he said in mixed English and Filipino.
The groups also opposed the Senate’s proposal to remove tax perks for cooperatives, noting that its members are already subject to tax in the form of income and value-added taxes. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz