Excellencies,

Distinguished delegates,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Assalamu alaikum wa Raḥmatullahi wa Barakatuh. 

The Philippines remains a committed partner in contributing to poverty eradication, the acceleration of gender equality, and the empowerment of all women and girls, as reflected in our Philippine Development Plan 2023 to 2028 and Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Plan 2019 to 2025.

To support gender mainstreaming, we introduced “The Women’s Budget” as early as 1995 to implement programs and projects focused on GEWE. This was further strengthened by the Magna Carta of Women and regular policy issuances on preparing annual gender and development plans, budgets, and accomplishment reports. 

In 2022, 24 percent of the National Government’s budget was utilized to implement gender equality initiatives, including integrating gender-responsive elements into flagship programs.

Our Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), our largest social protection program, is a conditional cash transfer initiative that has benefited 4.4 million households, advances access to education and health services, financial inclusion, and the empowerment of women and girls. 

This is further strengthened by the Kilos-Unlad strategy, a social case management framework that facilitates the transition of beneficiaries from subsistence to successfully overcoming poverty. 

Further, the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP) supports the vision of a gender-responsive MSME sector. With a USD 1.33 million budget in 2023, it created 3,348 jobs for Filipino women. We also improved women entrepreneurs’ access to capital. In fact, 68 percent of those who access MSME loans were women business owners. This data supports the findings that more Filipino women use financial products and services than men.

The Philippines also provides scholarships to students in  secondary up to postgraduate level to address gendered poverty with a priority on science-based education that produces female graduates in technology, engineering, and mathematics careers. 

A significant portion of the Philippine budget has also been allotted to support the health and nutrition of pregnant and lactating women, and to deliver culturally appropriate and gender-sensitive socio-economic services, which we will monitor through a gender budget tagging initiative.

Lastly, we recently signed the 2024 to 2028 Philippines-United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework that prioritizes joint initiatives with the UN on human capital development, inclusion, and resilience building. 

Excellencies, the Philippines is one with the Commission on the Status of Women in recognizing and pushing for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by achieving global poverty eradication. 

Maraming salamat po. Thank you.