Vice President Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio cited the Credit Surety Fund (CSF) program as a mechanism that provides opportunities to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to access collateral-free loans from banks during the 2nd National CSF Cooperatives Congress held in SMX Lanang City, Davao on August 15-17, 2024. As a credit innovation developed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) as its co-implementor, Vice President Duterte said that through the CSF program, her mission and advocacy of providing employment, education and comfortable life to Filipinos is sustained and advanced. She cited the efforts of the Davao City Credit Surety Fund Cooperative (DCCSFC) as the local government’s partner to help MSMEs and startups, and “mga Negosyo na walang sapat na kakayahan mag loan sa bangko o magtayo ng malaking negosyo”.
The Congress coincided with the city’s annual Kadayawan Festival and was attended by more than 500 participants from various CSF Cooperatives nationwide, representatives from the Local Government Units (LGUs), the BSP, Land Bank of the Philippines, and other CSF stakeholders as well as CDA officials and personnel.
As the Keynote Speaker, Vice President Duterte said she hopes that the cooperatives will continue to be strong in all its undertakings for the good of the country and support the majority of the population especially the MSMEs that have not yet recovered from the impact of the pandemic and incurred heavy financial losses. She enjoined everyone to work hand in hand in working towards the vision wherein the economy will not solely rely on big businesses but on MSMEs and other sectors such as agriculture, education, tourism and health.
The convergence was hosted by the Davao City Credit Surety Fund Cooperative (DCCSFC) in cooperation with the Davao City Cooperative Development Office (CCDO) and CDA with the theme “CSF Cooperatives: Partners in Nation Building, Trailblazing Program for MSMEs”. The event aimed to bring together key stakeholders from across the CSF ecosystem to collaborate and discuss the recently formulated comprehensive roadmap for the CSF program over the next five years (2024-2028) and the challenges currently faced by the CSF cooperatives.
