Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 11364)
The short title of Republic Act No. 11364 is the "Cooperative Development Authority Charter of 2019."
The State promotes the viability and growth of cooperatives as instruments of equity, social justice, and economic development, recognizes cooperatives as associations for economic and social betterment, and maintains a policy of noninterference in their management except as provided by law.
The CDA is responsible for the institutional development, regulation, and supervision of cooperatives, including registration, formulation of regulations, training, and enforcement of laws relating to cooperatives.
The head office is located in the National Capital Region (NCR), and it maintains sixteen extension offices and field district offices throughout the country as necessary.
The CDA has the power to register all cooperatives, amendments to their articles and bylaws, authorize branches and satellite offices, supervise all types of registered cooperatives, require reports and audited statements, and order suspensions or cancellations of certificates for noncompliance.
The Board consists of the Chairperson (rank of Undersecretary) and six members (rank of Assistant Secretary), each representing specific cooperative clusters such as credit and financial services, consumers, human services, education, agriculture, and public utilities. The Secretaries of DTI and DILG serve as ex officio members.
They must be natural-born Filipino citizens, hold a bachelor's degree, have at least five years' experience as a cooperative officer in the cluster they represent, and be residents of the Philippines for at least five years prior to appointment.
Use of the words "cooperative", "coop", "co-op", and "koop" in business names without registration with the CDA is prohibited and penalized under Article 140 of Republic Act No. 9520.
Disputes among members, officers, directors, and between cooperatives are to be settled preferably through the mechanisms under Article 137 of RA No. 9520 and RA No. 9285 (Alternative Dispute Resolution Act), with certain cases like election issues being elevated directly to the CDA.
The Authority formulates training standards for cooperative officers and members, accredits cooperative promotion and research institutions as training entities, and ensures cooperativism is included in formal and nonformal education curricula as well as in various academic programs in state universities and colleges.