By DANNY O. SAGUNPIA Dagupan Infocenter

COOPERATIVES have to continue with their capital build-up as well as education and training for the members in order to succeed.

Supervising cooperative development specialist Josefina Bitonio of the Cooperative Development Authority gave this advice to the more than 4,000 cooperatives in Region l as she noted that only about a third of the total number or 1,100 are active.

More than 50 percent of the coops come from Pangasinan.

Good management and active participation by the general membership also contribute to the growth of the groups, she said, citing the more successful cooperatives in the region like the Tubao Credit Cooperative in La Union and the Lingayen Catholic Multi-purpose Cooperative in the province whose liquid assets grew into hundreds of millions of pesos.

The board of directors of the highly-successful coops can afford to hold their meeting abroad and with the management staff well-paid, she told the Pantongtongan Tayo radio program of the Philippine Information Agency over Radyo ng Bayan-DZMQ last Tuesday.

The general-manager of a successful cooperative receives higher take-home pay than a regional director of a government agency, she said.

Inactive or non-operating coops are given three years to rehabilitate or become active again, she revealed

Land Bank of the Philippines, which is very active in supporting the growth of coops, continues to provide technical assistance, she said.

Cooperatives may go into a single line of business like credit or service. Others may be multi-purpose and offer two or more businesses.