CEDAW/C/PHI/5-6 490. During the State of the Nation Address in 2001, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo identified micro-finance as a cornerstone of her administration’s fight against poverty. She directed the Peoples’ Credit Finance Corporation (PCFC) to provide credit to 1 million borrowers by June 2004. As of June 2001, PCFC had served some 349,036 borrowers. Between June 2001 and December 2003, PCFC reported that it has already served 864,965 beneficiaries. Of these, approximately 98 percent are women. 491. To further help women in business, two women senators filed Senate bills No. 601 and 1248 that seek to provide them with financial, educational and information assistance in order for them to excel in commerce and trade (see paragraph 494 in Article 13 for more detailed discussion). 492. As reported in Article 11, the social welfare department has several programs to aid women living in poverty. The first is the Productivity Skills and Capability Building (PSCB) for Disadvantaged Women. In 2001 alone, it benefited some 31,827 disadvantaged women, who were trained in various trades; 9 of 10 found gainful employment as self-employed workers, subcontracting trainers, and various wage jobs. The first level of the second program, the SEAKaunlaran (SEA-K) Integrated Program, served 24,422 families and organized 753 SEA-K associations in 2001. The second level (guided by Department Order 17, series of 1997) involved the organization of SEA-Kabayans that could access higher loan assistance for microenterprise, house construction or improvement projects. In 2001, some 17 SEA-Kabayans with 890 family members received additional capital assistance. A third program, “Enhancing the Role and Status of Filipino Women in Social Development” makes accessible credit facilities to women and promotes the formation of community-based organizations (754 associations in 2000) that can manage a sustainable credit assistance program for members. 493. Women entrepreneurs who need financial and technical assistance could tap the trade and industry department’s "Tulong sa Tao" program, a lending window for micro-enterprises. The credit program was implemented through government financial institutions and accredited NGOs. From 1998 to 2000, it benefited 1,538 women micro-entrepreneurs (about 75 percent of total beneficiaries). The program had released almost PhP51.24 million, of which 68 percent had gone to women. It had also generated 8,198 jobs nationwide, with 6,148 (75 percent) going to women. 494. One of the objectives of the trade and industry department’s program was to develop and strengthen the capability of NGOs through training of beneficiaries, trainers’ training and consultancy services. Between 1996 and 2001, the department’s two training centers, the Philippine Trade Training Center and the Cottage Industry Technology Center, had trained a total of 14,071, of which 52 percent were women (Annex Table B13.2). Women greatly outnumbered the men (3 to 1) in training programs for cottage industries, but not in the largerscale export oriented training (4 to 5). The department reports that as a result of training, women NGOs showed notable improvement in their business operation as evidenced by improved monitoring of loans, better recording, higher collection rate, clearer direction and more responsive management. 134