More than 50,000 impoverished Filipino farmers, fisherfolk, informal workers, landless urban settlers and indigenous people struggling to earn a living amid the soaring cost of fuel and other basic goods were granted loans by various microfinance institutions during the first quarter of this year alone, the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) announced yesterday.

NAPC Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban said the People's Credit and Finance Corporation (PCFC), the government's lead agency in microfinance, registered around 556 new clients a day during the 3-month period covering January to March this year for a cumulative total of 50,111 new microfinance borrowers nationwide.

"The beneficiaries who were granted loans used the money as start-up capital for small enterprises, which in turn created jobs for an additional 13,250 previously unemployed or underemployed poor folk," Panganiban added.

These small enterprises include the establishment of sari-sari stores, trading, food processing and agri-related enterprises, among others.

He said the government's intensified microfinance program is part of a massive and sustained effort to afford the poor the capital and training they require to profit from small but competitive enterprises in the wake of rising fuel and food prices.

PCFC President and Chief Executive Officer Edgar V. Generoso said that the average amount of loans issued per borrower by PCFC conduits has seen a significant increase over the past few years.

"A few years ago, our partner microfinance institutions granted loans amounting to as low as P2,000 each. Today, the average loan size per borrower ranges between P8,000 to P10,000," Generoso said.

NAPC oversees the management of the People's Development Trust Fund (PDTF), a grant facility for microfinance capacity-building efforts established specifically for the Filipino poor in 1998 through Republic Act 8425. The fund is administered by the PCFC.

A report forwarded by the PCFC's Corporate Planning Department to NAPC indicates that the new loans were issued through the corporation's 190 partner institutions, which include 75 rural banks, 51 cooperatives, 42 non-government organizations, 18 cooperative banks, 2 thrift banks and 2 lending investors.