CEDAW/C/SR.1405 ground had nevertheless been noted owing to initiatives such as the Gender Responsive Economic Actions for the Transformation of Women (GREAT Women) Project, which fostered enabling environments for women’s economic empowerment and included capacity-building for women micro-entrepreneurs, and the decision to make women the primary bearers of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) card. 42. Ms. Rebong (Philippines) said that monitoring was carried out to ensure gender and development mainstreaming at all levels. The pool of gender trainers on the Philippine Commission on Women had been expanded to provide training in women’s empowerment to trainers who subsequently engaged with bodies at the local level and rural areas, thereby extending the Commission’s outreach to the entire population. The Commission was also subject to auditing and reviews to measure the impact of its programmes. The Department of Foreign Affairs allocated 5 per cent of its budget to the implementation of women’s empowerment programmes. 43. Ms. Villar (Philippines) said that the conditional cash transfer programme provided women with cash grants in order to ensure that their children went to school and had access to health care. The programme had benefited 4.4 million households to date, with around 89 per cent of those receiving cash grants. The programme comprised parenting skills training and monthly family development sessions run by NGOs and civil society organizations on, inter alia, disaster risk reduction management, active citizenship and gender sensitivity. The coordination of other support services, such as the “Sustainable Livelihood” programme, with the conditional cash transfer programme strengthened the social benefits afforded to women. 44. Ms. Sy (Philippines) said that the Philippine Commission on Women and the Department of Labour and Employment were advocating the enactment of a bill to give effect to the International Labour Organization Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204), with a view to empowering women in the informal sector. In addition, the Integrated Livelihood and Emergency Employment programme offered grants, raw materials and skills training to poor and marginalized workers to enable them to secure their livelihood and develop sustainable enterprises. From 2010 to 2015, around 600,000 women workers in the informal sector had benefited from the programme. Women’s employment rate was slightly higher than men’s, women salaried workers made up almost 40 per cent of the salaried workers in the country, and the average basic wage of women was higher than that of men. The health of the economy was therefore partly attributable to women’s contributions. 45. Ms. De Dios (Philippines) said that a court ruling had recently been handed down in favour of the retired female flight attendants who had filed an age and gender discrimination suit against Philippine Airlines, which had set an important precedent. Recently introduced legislation stipulated that a minimum of 1 per cent of all positions in government agencies should be filled by persons with disabilities. A number of public bodies, including the Philippine Commission on Women itself, had statutory requirements for the recruitment of women from a cross section of the population, including indigenous and Muslim women. The Local Government Code also established requirements for women’s representation in local legislative bodies. The armed forces were encouraged to increase women’s representation and the Civil Service Commission was making efforts to promote the recruitment of women to management positions. A bill establishing a quota for women of 30 per cent of parliamentary seats had not been passed, and discussions were being held to identify other ways to address the issue of women’s proportional representation in the parliament. Certain smaller parties, however, had already secured proportional representation of women. Lastly, the Philippine Congress had recently elected its first transgender person. 8 GE.16-11608