COUNCILOR Al Ryan Alejandre said he is seeking to amend the allowable loanable amount to further assist people’s organizations and cooperatives in the city.
During the Pulong Pulong sa Dabawenyos on Tuesday, Alejandre said that with the high inflation, loanable amounts should be “realistic.”
“Ang pinaka-ideal is P300,000, so siguro pwede moabot og up to P1-million or P1.5 million labi na karon nga inflation is very high,” he said.
He noted that the P300,000 is somehow outdated as it was implemented about ten years ago.
“Dili na ingana ka equivalent ang amount, so dapat realistic pud atong loanable amount nato sa atong cooperatives,” he stressed.
The City Co-op offers the Cooperative Financial Assistance Program (CFAP) for MSMEs and the Cooperative Livelihood Development Program-Start-Up Capital Assistance (CLDP-SUCA).
Under the CFAP, micro and small cooperatives may borrow P100,000 to P300,000, payable in three years. Meanwhile, medium and large cooperatives may borrow P301,000 to P1 million, payable within three years.
Meanwhile, the CLDP-SUCA is a financial assistance program intended for individual members of cooperatives who wish to do their own business outside of the coop. For the start-up capital, members can avail of an amount ranging from P10,000 to P20,000 payable in one year.
While the cooperative members who already have their own business can avail working capital loan of P30,000 to P50,000, payable within three years.
Alejandre also stressed that training in in-demand skills should be incorporated in the livelihood programs, such as computer skills, to be responsive to modern times, on top of the traditional skills.
He noted there are ongoing talks with an online platform that will assist the co-ops who want to venture into selling products online, which is a good avenue.
“We will equip co-op or people’s organizations to have livelihood para at least they will stand on their own,” he stressed.
