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By Johanna M. Sampan, Reporter
Even with the global financial
crisis, some companies remain committed to their corporate social
responsibility (CSR) programs.
“Having a CSR program is like
hitting two birds with one stone,” said Pacita Juan, member of the
advisory council of League of Corporate Foundations (LCF).
“The CSR programs of companies
aim to help people and at the same time attract business
investors.”
The foundation is a membership
association with more than 70 operating grant-making corporate
foundations and corporations, seeking to provide business solutions
to social problems in the Philippines through CSR. Thus, the
foundation represents private sector involvement strengthened with
public sector partnerships and multisectoral approaches in various
development sectors, including the arts and culture, education,
environment, health, enterprise development and CSR research.
Quality of education
One good example is
foundation’s committee on education, where the foundation is
working with its private sector partners and Task Force 57-75.
Mario de Riquito, project head of
Task Force 57-75 explained, “We all know the problems of
Philippine education, but the real problem is the scarcity of
resources. These include shortage of classrooms, books, school
supplies among others. [Task Force] 57-75 is a private sector-led
movement that aims to reverse the education crisis through focused
interventions and school-community action toward system-wide
performance improvements.”
He added that the 57-75 was
symbolic. The figure 57 is the national average score of
public-elementary school pupils in the National Achievement Test,
while 75—though commonly known as the passing mark—symbolizes
the state of education and the national average score the project
wants to achieve in the next five years.
The reversal of numbers
represents what the campaign is trying to do—turn things around
and take the Philippine education out of its present sorry state.
The campaign emphasizes the
importance of community involvement and how it can unravel local
resources and energies for improving the performance of public
schools and their students, while making the schools more
accountable.
“Since we are in the business
sector, we want to harness the corporate business to help address
this [education] problem,” de Riquito said.
Effecting change
One company that made a big
impact on a community through CSR is the Binalot Fiesta Foods Inc.,
an all-Filipino company that sells 12 of the most popular Pinoy
dishes as budget meals. Besides being affordable, its banana leaves
packaging are environmental friendly compared with the
non-biodegradable styrofoam box used by other restaurants.
Binalot recently launched a
community livelihood project that aims to provide employment to the
underprivileged residents of Barangay Buhanginan in Nagcarlan,
Laguna. Residents there were trained on how to plant, harvest and
process banana leaves for Binalot’s use. In return, that
restaurant buys the banana leaves for use in packing its food
products.
Rodney Oriel, a father of three,
said he was able to send his children to school because of stable
income from harvesting banana leaves. Oriel, together with 16 other
workers, collects about 4,000 pieces of leaves every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays, their wives cut
the leaves based on Binalot’s needs.
Oriel and his team produce 200
bundles from every harvest, which they sell at P90 per bundle. There
are 25 pieces in each bundle.
“May pang-araw araw na kaming
panggastos at pang-aral sa aking mga anak [I can now meet our daily
needs and even send my kids to school],” Oriel said.
Captain CEO
Pacita Juan said the League of
Corporate Foundations has always believed that the chief executive
officer, or CEO, was the best ambassador for a company’s CSR
program.
“We [foundation officials] want
the chief executive officers to always be aware of their own CSR,”
she added. “Common problems arise when sometimes the CSR project
is not aligned to what the CEO believes in for his company, which
prompts halt to the project.”
For Juan, the so-called triple
bottom line—people, planet and profit—is a practical and
effective method in conducting CSR.
She added that for a business to
be sustainable and lasting, it should also consider the betterment
of the community and the environment, and be financially rewarding
at the same time.
“Sustainability is living while
making others live,” Juan said.
To educate businessmen more about
CSR, the foundation and its members are set to meet from July 8 to
10 to discuss strategies in achieving business goals while
addressing the plight of the unprivileged people.
Dubbed as “The 8th CSR Expo
2009 Business Unusual: S.O.S. (Skills. Opportunities.
Sustainability),” it will be held at the SMX Convention in SM Mall
of Asia in Pasay City.
The roster of guest speakers
include experts from leading multinational and local companies with
academe and civil society presentations by William Kramer from the
Global Challenge Network, Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee, Federico
Lopez of First Gen, and Annie Garcia of Shoe Mart.
Among the topics to be discussed
are opportunities for green products, linking the value chain to the
base of the pyramid, new business development and accessing bigger
markets.
The expo will also tackle matters
on social and environmental agenda such as education,
pandemics-preparedness, business continuity and reforestation.
“CSR is not just philanthropy,
it is more than giving the excess money of the company,” Juan
said. “It is helping the people who need long term assistance to
live.”
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