Of course, we also salute the members of the working groups from the Microfinance Council of the Philippines headed by Rollie Victoria, from the Bangko Sentral, from Citi, and from other partner institutions. Palakpakan din po natin sila. They had the privilege of seeing our successful microentrepreneurs up close and personal, but I am sure they had a difficult time narrowing down the list.
I can say this with certainty because we who compose the National Selection Committee devoted long deliberations on each of the finalists. Given the remarkable accomplishments of our finalists, it was a tough choice indeed. And so, this year, the members of the National Selection Committee decided to give three special awards on top of our eight major winners.