by Richard Aliangan
ZAMBOANGA CITY, 29 Feb. (PIA 9) - - After 18 years of collaborative efforts, the Banco Cooperativa de Zamboanga was formally opened Monday to cater the needs of different cooperatives in the city.
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| Mayor Celso Lobregat and Anacleto Tumapon, former CDA-9 director lead in the formal inauguration of the Banco Cooperativa de Zamboanga, the first in the region Tuesday morning. BENJIE BARREDO |
Mayor Celso Lobregat led in the formal opening ceremonies that kicked off with a mass presided by Monsignor Cris Manongas and followed by the ribbon-cutting rite. Assisting the mayor were Councilors Myra Paz Abubakar, Lilia Nuño, Abdurahman Nuño, Rudy Lim, Benjamin Guingona III, Eduardo Saavedra and Reynerio Candido, Banco Cooperativa de Zamboanga Manager Baltimore Lazaro, Cooperative Development Authority Regional Director Harmonio Paa, People’s Credit and Finance Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Edgar Generoso and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)-Zamboanga City Branch Head Melodino S. Patiño.
The first ever cooperative bank in the Region, the Banco Cooperativa de Zamboanga is a one floor building with an area of 116 square meters costing P2.2million. It broke ground August 9 and was completed right on schedule
The initiative to establish the said bank started in 1992 and it took a series of hard works, reorganization among its primary cooperatives and campaigns to raise the required initial capital until the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas issued a resolution, authorizing its establishment on November 25, 2010.0
Long before the approval came, Mayor Celso Lobregat and his mother-the late Congresswoman and Mayor Maria Clara Lorenzo Lobregat lobbied for the lifting of the moratorium on the establishments of banks.
District I Congresswoman Beng Climaco also exerted efforts to ensure the early grant of authority by the Banco Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Their efforts had paved the way for the issuance of BSP MB Resolution # 1698 of 2010, allowing the creation of a cooperative bank in the city.
On July 18, 2011, Lobregat signed the Usufruct Agreement that allows the Banco Cooperativa de Zamboanga to use a government lot at Sta. Cruz Commercial Complex where the bank is now situated.
The 15 incorporators of the Banco Cooperativa are Micro Entrepreneur Multi-Purpose Cooperative, People Micro Finance Cooperative, Philippine National Police-Rainbow MPC, Zamboanga Peninsula Teacher’s and Community MPC, Zamboanga City Community MPC, PHILPOST 9 Credit Cooperative, Zamboanga Social Welfare and Development Cooperative, Recodo Integrated Workers MPC, Office of the City Veterinarian Employees Trust MPC Mines and Geosciences 9 Employees MPC, City Civil Registrar’s Office Employees MPC and City Human Resource Management MPC. (JPA/RA/CIO/PIA- ZBST)