Micro Finance sector prays for the approval of HB 4243

CEBU, Philippines - The Micro-Finance industry is hoping for the fast approval of the bill submitted in congress, which aims to fully support and strengthen their efforts in addressing the poverty issues in the country.

During a press conference yesterday, Microfinance Council of the Philippines President Ruben de Lara said that they are very confident with the passage of the House Bill 4243 or the “Micro Enterprise Development Institution Act of 2008,” which would follow a focused program in alleviating poverty in the country by helping more in need.

De Lara said that through this bill, more institutions would be encouraged to adopt measures that would have a holistic approach in easing the problem of poverty in the country.

According to de Lara, the bill would certainly assist them in their advocacy in helping the country get out of poverty not only through micro-finance but in other means as well.

De Lara explained that while Micro-Finance institutions offer financial services to those in need, these efforts would not be enough. He shared that it would need to have initiatives that would support these financial aids.

He said that MCPI is gearing towards more initiatives like education, healthcare, sanitation, housing and even values formation, leadership and entrepreneurial skills, which would be a strong back up for the financial help that that institutions are giving.

MCPI is made up of 38 regular members and 7 support institutions that is working on the development of the micro-finance industry in order to ease the problem of poverty in the country.

According to the bill introduced by Hon. Prospero Nograles, the bill would shed light on the needs of the poor who covers 40 percent of the country’s total population, which is around 88 million.

De Lara, who is also the president of TSPI, a microfinance NGO also working for poverty reduction, said that at present there are a lot of institutions adopting the wholistic approach but through the bill, more would be enlightened in having programs that are not just within the financial aid.

He said that this is one of the topics to be tackled during the two-day regional conference in Cebu on November 26 and 27 in Waterfront Hotel Lahug with the theme “Beyond Credit: A Wholistic Approach to Poverty Eradication.”

With around 200 expected guests from all over the country, de Lara said that they will be highlighting the platforms in adopting the “wholistic” during the conference, which is the first of three conferences to take place in the country. The second would be on May in Davao and the last in Manila on November 2010.

Chief Justice Reynato Puno would be giving the keynote address followed by numerous respected personalities that would be sharing on different topics related to Micro-finance.

He said that this is their way of changing gear by not only focused on financial means but also on the development that would be achieved through other programs.

De Lara said that if the bill gets approved, it would have a big impact to the Philippines which is presently one of the lead movers all over the country in strengthening the Micro-Finance Industry. According to de Lara, an index survey showed that the Philippines is currently third in the promotion of the industry after Peru and Bolivia .

The proposed bill reportedly would also strengthen the partnership between the government and the NGO’s involved in Micro-finance for collaborated efforts on gathering more revenues and for social development.