Gov. Gwen Garcia graced the 32nd General Assembly of the Cooperative Bank of Cebu (CBC) as a sign of goodwill towards an institution that has partnered with the Provincial Government in various developmental programs for the Cebuanos.
“The Cooperative Bank of Cebu has been the most active and supportive of the programs of the Cebu Provincial Government, particularly the Caravan of Services and the Enhanced Countryside Development program,” Gov. Garcia said on Sunday, July 7.
Joining the Governor at the Social Hall of CFI Cooperative Building were Ako Bisaya Partylist Congressman Sonny Lagon, sixth district Congresswoman Daphne Lagon, and TESDA Deputy Director General for Operations Vidal Villanueva III.
The governor thanked her sister, Farla Carolyn Garcia, CBC chairwoman, for loaning under her leadership an accumulated amount of P160 million to the beneficiaries of the Enhanced Countryside Development program with zero interest.
Under the program, the Capitol acts as guarantor for farmer and fisherfolk borrower-beneficiaries before lender-partners such as the Land Bank of the Philippines and CBC in order that their loan application might have a better chance of getting approved.
The dancing inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) have also opened savings accounts at the CBC, the only banking institution in Cebu that allows inmates to open accounts despite their present predicament before the law.
This would allow them to set aside savings from the CPDRC’s various inmate-led income generation which they could withdraw upon their eventual reintegration into society.
CBC is owned, operated, and supported by cooperatives and federations of cooperatives across Cebu Province. It was officially registered with the Cooperative Development Authority on March 24, 1993, and with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on April 18, 1993.
The general assembly served as a gathering for all member cooperatives to discuss important issues that concern the local banking and cooperative industry in the province. | BJR