Thursday, June 21, 2007 City to probe coop operation
THE Cebu City Council wants to get to the bottom of alleged anomalies at the Bayanihan Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BMPC) and ordered an investigation of its officers and employees.
In yesterday’s regular session, the council approved the conduct of a joint investigation or inquiry on the operations of the BMPC, whose 1,500 members are mostly City Government employees.
The council ordered an in-depth investigation for BMPC’s officers to answer allegations of funds misuse, impropriety and abuse of authority.
Its officers have reportedly been granted excessive loan amounts and have been exempted from paying loan charges.
Transparency
Among other things, the council wants to find out whether there is transparency within the cooperative amid allegations that the Board failed to present the cooperative’s financial statement when the members asked for it.
The Board officers also allegedly refused to open the cooperative’s books of account.
The Cebu City Cooperative Development Council (CCCDC), together with City Administrator Francisco Fernandez, will conduct the joint-investigation with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA).
‘Mistrust’
CDA has already started its inquiry after members of the cooperative elevated their complaints to the agency.
Since most of the members of the cooperative are City Hall employees, Fernandez also conducted a fact-finding inquiry on the matter.
“In his report, Mr. Fernandez confirmed the growing mistrust and animosity between a segment of BMPC members in one hand and the officers on the other hand. In order to address the issue, both parties agreed that an independent auditor may be tasked to look into the financial standing of the BMPC,” a report of the council committee on cooperatives read.
The complaints surfaced after the BMPC General Assembly and election last March 24, when the election pushed through despite the request for deferment of the business meeting.
Members of the cooperatives have asked that election results be declared void since most of them were not given notices that an election will be held on that day. (LCR)
