The Dacongcogon Sugar Mill Cooperative will hold its annual assembly tomorrow at the millsite in Brgy. Tabugon, Kabankalan City, Rolando Parpa, former chairman and president, announced yesterday.

Parpa said in a press statement that Dacongcogon is facing bankruptcy and is now in near death situation.   

The forty-year old Dacongcogon was founded by the late Bishop Antonio Fortich and Benjamin Gaston.

The 10,000 cooperative members lost their P50 million Collective Bargaining Unit contributions in payment of their P120 million worth of sugar sold by their majority directors without the authority of the members.

Parpa had reportedly worked for the survival of the mill but he was eased out a few years ago by majority of its board members who entered into an agreement with Amertech Industrial Ventures to finance the mill's operations, but to no avail.

This was contrary to the move of the cooperative members who then passed a resolution for the Philippine Sugar Corp. and the Philippine National Bank to resume support for the Dacongcogon sugar central, and for PHILSUCOR to take over its management.

Parpa said that while the Cooperative Development Authority was supportive of the actions of the majority directors in calling an assembly to ratify what he called a sell-out agreement, the CDA ignored and later dismissed the petition in behalf of 10,000 members to allow them to hold and assembly to stop the agreement.

They were also prevented from knowing their financial status, on whether the cooperative is already bankrupt, because the mill is already in the hands of another party that changed the name of the Dacongcogon sugar mill, he added in the press release.

Parpa said they would need the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office to deploy a security contingent to the mill site, and the presence of the media for transparency.*

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