n the 1987 Philippine Constitution. It was during this period, that the first Philippine Development Plan for Women (PDPW), 1989-1992 was adopted through Executive Order No. 348. Also enacted shortly was the "Women in Nation-Building Act" (RA 7192), which promotes the integration of women as full and equal partners of men in development and nation-building.
Government officials and staff were sensitized and provided with skills to make gender and development (GAD) concerns a way of life in the government. This campaign was supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) under Phase I of its Institutional Strengthening Project.
Committed to build upon and sustain the gains of the previous administrations, the NCRFW continued to push for stronger policies and programs on gender mainstreaming through institutional strengthening and capacity building of government agencies.
As a result, the period 1992 to 1998 gave birth to the Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive Development (PPGD) 1995-2025, a 30-year perspective plan that outlines the policies, strategies, programs and projects that the government must adopt to enable women to participate in and benefit from national development. Under Executive order 273, the PPGD was adopted as the country's main vehicle for implementing the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (PFA) adopted at the 1995 UN 4th World Conference on Women.
Another milestone achievement was the passage of the legislation on the Gender and Development (GAD) Budget. The GAD Budget provision mandated all government agencies and instrumentalities including local government units (LGUs) to allocate a minimum of five percent (5%) of their total appropriations for GAD programs and project. This policy has since been incorporated annually in the General Appropriations Act (GAA), though revisions have been made to ensure effective implementation of the GAD budget policy.
To meet growing demands on its services, the NCRFW was reorganized following the issuances of Executive Order Nos. 208 and 268. The directives strengthened the NCRFW as the coordinating body on policies affecting women, by further defining its powers, functions and organizational structure.
Through the continuing support of the CIDA, the NCRFW also implemented Phase II of the Institutional Strengthening Project aimed at capacitating government agencies on gender mainstreaming, and at the same time, building NCRFW's internal capability to manage the over-all gender mainstreaming efforts in the bureaucracy.
Since 1998, the government's focus on poverty alleviation brought forth the importance of empowering women to ensure that the mainstreaming efforts of the government are contributing to the improvement of the lives of women especially at the countryside. The NCRFW, thus, intensified its advocacy for the development of programs and projects that would not only benefit the women, but also, enable them to participate in the decision-making processes.
From 2001, the NCRFW that became PCW in 2009 supported the administration’s poverty alleviation agenda by sustaining the gains of the past in making the bureaucracy work for women under the thrust of advancing and protecting human rights, promoting women’s economic empowerment and promoting gender-responsive governance.
On July 8, 2010, the PCW launched the MCW Implementing Rules and Regulations to its partners and stakeholders. It is currently revising its structure and staffing pattern to effectively and efficiently undertake and accomplish its mandate.