ILOILO City – The city council has set on Monday, July 17, the start of its investigation in aid of legislation on the controversies surrounding the Iloilo City Government Employers Credit Cooperative.
The goal is to shed light on the exact status of the cooperative.
The probe to be held at the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) session hall at 10 a.m. will be spearheaded by the SP committee of the whole chaired by Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon.
The coop’s members of the board were called to attend the investigation.
On June 12’s regular session the SP passed a resolution for the conduct of an investigation in aid of legislation.
“The recent turn of events in discovery of financial records which employees, officers, and members of the board of the credit cooperative loaned substantial amount from the cooperative by grave abuse of discretion and authority has resulted to a massive uproar of the members and dragged the name of the credit cooperative into the limelight,” read part of the resolution.
It can be noted that some of the members complained they could not easily take out a loan and their applications just filed up while the loan of the board of directors (BOD) reached millions of pesos.
According to the SP, such exercise of grave abuse of discretion and authority by the employees, officers, and members of the credit cooperative has prejudiced the members.
“For the members must be enlightened on the controversies dragging the credit cooperative into the limelight, it is just right and proper that in the name of equity and fairness the employees, officers, and members of the board of the Iloilo City Government Employees Credit Cooperative be also given an opportunity equal opportunity on the issue for purposes of transparency,” the resolution further read.
For his part, Mayor Jerry P. Treñas earlier had a meeting with the cooperative officers.
He, however, noted that the problem of the cooperative will have to be resolved within them. He cited that it has an identity separate and distinct from the city government.
“While I try to use my moral ascendancy on the board of directors so that the contributions of the employees can be protected, it is the members of the board themselves who will have to make the decisions to resolve the problems,” Treñas added.
Human Resource Management Office head Leo Elevencione, cooperative’s chairman of the BOD, said they have already received the copy of the resolution of the city council and they are ready to attend the investigation./PN
