MANILA – President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was unaware that she was addressing the wrong audience at an event March 8 marking Women's Day, but that did not stop her from urging them to organize themselves into cooperatives so they could benefit from the government's microfinancing program.
The President spoke before 8,000 women government employees gathered at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
Mrs. Arroyo asked the audience if they
have been invited to take part in any microfinance project. Their resounding
answer was “Hindi! [No!].”
The President, thinking all along she was
standing before the beneficiaries of microfinancing programs, expressed
surprise.
Undaunted, she encouraged women workers
to get involve in microfinance and multipurpose cooperatives that could bring
additional income to their families.
She promised that when the Fourteenth
Congress opens in July she would endorse a bill to raise their wages.
She also expressed hope that next year
when she appears before them and inquire about microfinancing, she would hear a
positive reply from them.
After the President spoke, Myrna Yao,
chairman of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, said Mrs.
Arroyo had not been informed that 70 to 75 percent of her audience were
government employees and not from nongovernment organizations as she had
presumed.
She said the President was not angry over
the crowd’s reaction.
Mrs. Arroyo has said there are at least
more than 100 micro¡finance institutions nationwide that could give as much as
P10,000 in financial assistance to small entrepreneurs.
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