Group bats for microfinancing for small businesses

MANILA, Philippines — The Batang Quiapo party-list has vowed to help intensify microfinancing for business if it wins a seat in the May 12 midterm elections.

Zofia Canlas, a nominee of Batang Quiapo party-list, noted that most Filipinos aspire to own a business, but they lack government support.

“This underscored the need for adequate microfinancing and business-friendly laws, which Congress must pass,” Canlas said in a statement.

Canlas, an online seller, said recent surveys showed a strong desire among Filipinos to manage their own businesses to gain financial stability.

She cited a March 2024 survey by the OCTA Research group, which showed that 78 percent of 1,200 adult respondents, or eight out of 10 Filipinos, wanted to become entrepreneurs.

The National Economic and Development Authority’s “Ambisyon Natin 2040” report found that 47 percent of Filipinos preferred to become employers in family-owned businesses. Twenty-two percent wanted to become self-employed without any paid employees.

Canlas said there is a need for the enactment of laws on microfinancing that will mandate banks to provide loans to low-income entrepreneurs.

More benefits for traffic enforcers sought

Saying they deserve recognition for their unrelenting sacrifices to keep the streets safe and orderly, a party-list group has vowed to push for more benefits for traffic enforcers and other road workers.

Traffic enforcers endure scorching heat, pollution, physical exhaustion and even verbal abuse from abusive motorists while working to ensure safe and orderly roads, Ang Probinsyano party-list Rep. Alfred delos Santos said.

Their salaries should be increased and their health benefits expanded in exchange for their hard work, Delos Santos said.

“They should get all the support they need. Government agencies and local government units must ensure humane working conditions for them, especially on long holiday breaks,”Delos Santos said.

The group said traffic enforcers usually have no days off and report to work even on holidays. It encouraged motorists and passersby to extend simple acts of gratitude, especially to those directing traffic under the sun, by giving them water.

“These workers do their jobs amid the risks they face on the roads. If you have the means, a cold bottle of water, a sandwich or just kind words can go a long way,” Delos Santos said.