PRESIDENT Arroyo was embarrassed yesterday at a Women’s Day celebration when she boasted of giving microfinance to women to an audience of women government employees who are not its beneficiaries.

Arroyo asked her audience – a throng of 8,000 women at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium – if any of them had benefited from the microfinance program.

"Wala," was the audience’s resounding cry.

"Myrna," she said, turning to chairperson Myrna Yao of the National Council on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW), "Ano’ng nangyari? Ano?"

Yao told her that the beneficiaries of microfinance programs were not invited, but some of the non-governmental organizations were.

So, Arroyo persisted: "Pero hindi ba marami sa mga NGOs ang conduit ng micofinance? Sino sa inyo ang mga conduit ng mirofinance?"

"Wala!" again came the reply.

"O, Myrna?" she said again. "Siguro first time ko rin nag-attend ng Women’s Day dahil bago si Myrna," she just said.

Arroyo then told her crowd that the microfinance program is now in 97 percent of the country and that in the 3 percent of the towns and cities where there is none, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) serves as the conduit in giving credit.

When she asked if someone in the crowd has inquired with the DSWD about microfinance, back came the reply: "Wala."

"Mukhang kailangan, Myrna ay nakasama natin itong mga NGOs na inimbita mo dito ngayon. Ano, Myrna?" she told the NCRFW head.

DSWD Undersecretary Alice Bala tried to help out by inviting the audience to coordinate with the DSWD. Arroyo tried to get the help of officials from the People’s Credit and Finance Corp. and the National Council of Women in the Philippines but she just could not connect to her audience.

Finally, she was told that most in the audience were career women from government agencies. She said the multi-purpose cooperatives from the government agencies could also be used as conduits for microfinance. Arroyo should have been content that she ironed out that particular kink.

But she had to ask if the employes had received their additional P1,000 monthly allowance last year.

When the employes replied in the negative, Arroyo grimaced. "Ano ba naman? Hindi kayo nakakuha ng P1,000 na allowance last year?"

Fortunately, a budget official was on hand to say that all government employees have received their P1,000 salary increase.

Arroyo then said that government workers would still get another salary increase if the incoming Congress approves a new bill that she will propose. She said she will also initiate a microfinance project for government workers, which was loudly applauded.

"Siguro next year, pagtanong ko (kung) meron bang nagma-microfinance, meron nang sasagot na marami. Okay? Maraming salamat," she said.

After her speech, Arroyo met backstage with NCRFW, DSWD, and PCFC officials.

Yao said they were not given a dressing down and that Arroyo was just not informed that 75 percent of her audience were government employees.

Later in the afternoon, Arroyo told the Philippine Councilors’ League in Cebu that she has realized that government employees should also benefit from microfinance and that the employees’ cooperatives should be used as conduits of funding. – Regina Bengco