Would you frequent a restaurant more if you knew that it separates its biodegradable waste from the rest of its garbage? Would you shift to a different oil company because it invests in biofuels?
Would you stop buying a product if you knew that it is made in factories that are polluting the environment? Does it make more sense to buy Ayala stocks because the company donates huge chunks of cash to provide public schools with computers and Internet connection?
These questions were tumbling in my mind as I observed around six corporate chiefs preaching their green projects to reporters at the Good News Kapihan last Wednesday. The League of Corporate Foundations, the organization that effectively coaxed these CEOs to traipse across clogged Makati streets to show that they care about the environment, prides itself in bringing competing companies such as Shell Pilipinas and Petron, Globe and Smart, and other unheard-of tandems, in the name of corporate social responsibility.
In recent years, CSR has become a sexy buzzword. If you are one of those who believe an individual can make a difference, just imagine what corporations can do if they embrace the idea of allowing their businesses to flourish without losing their soul. Unfortunately, though, some companies still use CSR only as a buzzword and a PR tool.
So, MoneySmarts popped a question for the corporate chiefs: How involved are you in CSR work? How do we know this is not just a PR effort and that you don’t relegate the job of being socially responsible to a small department that has no say in corporate policies? Here are their answers.
Ed Chua, CEO of Shell Pilipinas: CSR is part of our core values because it is the right thing to do. We believe that our investments in projects like biofuels will provide returns for the company in the future. We are doing this not as a separate project, or delegating it to some philanthropy department, but as part of our corporate philosophy where staff volunteerism is a major part.
Luis Miguel Aboitiz, senior vice-president for power generation of the Aboitiz group: In the Aboitiz Group, every CEO is involved in our CSR efforts because the ideas come from them. Staff can suggest, of course, and they do the implementation but the ideas come from the CEO.
Khalil Al-Faddagh, president of Petron Corp.: We have made major investments in making sure that we are not harming the environment. We have spent P100 million to make sure our refineries comply fully with the Clean Air Act. We are investing in development of biofuels and also to remove risks associated with moving big volume of fuels. One of our projects is the well-known coastal cleanup project in Bataan and we are expanding this to the Manila Bay area. I am pleased that people are paying attention to the problem of global warming, which really is a very complex issue.
Guillermo “Bill” Luz, executive vice-president of the Ayala Foundation: The Ayala Foundation is 46 years old, so right there you can see the group’s level of commitment in CSR work. Our social initiatives are built in to the business and now, we are looking at how to measure all our efforts. Our company’s CSR efforts are focused on three areas: education, environment and entrepreneurship. Each company takes a lead in each of these areas.
Lydia Sarmiento-Enrile, chairperson of the Sarmiento Foundation: At LCF, we make it a point to push our agenda to the CEOs because they are the creators of a company’s social vision. And if he doesn’t take CSR to heart, the whole organization will not follow. We have engaged other business organizations in this effort, like the Makati Business Club, the Management Association of the Philippines, the People Management Association of the Philippines and recently the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines. We feel very confident that we are able to push our agenda to the CEOs.
Chit Juan, president of Figaro: You don’t have to be as big as all of them to have CSR. We have small companies like Binalot who are also implementing socially responsible projects.
MoneySmarts, just someone who works at Inquirer.net: If these guys have true ownership of their companies’ CSR efforts, there might be hope here after all. But six CEOs out of the many CEOs out there will not cut it.
Perhaps one way to let them know effective social intervention among corporations matters to the average Pinoy is to give them an incentive for doing it — show them that it pays to be a do-gooder.
Inspirational environmentalist David Brower said there is no business to be done in a dead planet. Let me add that there will be no business to be done in a country where people are not well educated, where the land and seas are sick, where the government is corrupt beyond measure, where people do not know how to build businesses.
Question is, do consumers really care. Do you? I would really like to know.
Rare Egyptian tortoise. I love em! Photo from AFP.
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! jifllabcbtek
June 5th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Randy,
I wonder too…maybe their parents…but I am talking about the general population and if the parents of these people have taught them the right way to dispose garbage like your kids , then we won’t have any problems…but we do, so it’s either the parents are too busy to make a living or the schools failed in simple tasks of proper garbage disposal learning..as we all know, kids now have more time in schools than at home esp. when both parents are working, so a big chunk of their knowledge came from schools not from home…
June 4th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
omski,
I wonder who thought my children to throw their garbage to the proper place especially my three year old, she’s not in school yet…………….
as for detergents, there is this Executive Order lifting the ban on the use of Hard Alkyl Benzene sulfonate, an ingredient for detergent making replacing our very own coco methyl esther and other coconut derivative product. Sana pure coco chemicals na lang di ba coz it’s eco friendly unlike HABS which is a petrochemical derivative.
And when you go out, instead of eating to fastfoods such as JB and McD where you are served with plastics why not go to Max? kubyertos ang gamit doon, and the price? +10% Ave diff lang.
These are my ways of limiting my capacity to destroy nature, to know my products. And qwerty is right if you find something objectionable to an establishment, boycot the product.
June 4th, 2007 at 8:11 am
Salve,
I think the general population in 3rd world countries like ours don’t give a damn what happens to our environment because they are more concerned with how to survive the day instead of looking forward what happens to country 10-20 years from now…you can just observe how people throw waste everywhere…bus tickets, candy wrapper, cigarette butts…they are small garbage in itself but tons and tons of them are already under our sewer systems and we blame the weather…the government… if we get flooded streets on rainy days…
we need more wake up calls and constant advertisements on tri-media to be able to generate more awareness, DECS could help out educate all the school children about environmental awareness and at the same time strict enforcement of anti-littering laws so the next generation will learn…what I’ve noticed in school children today - they are told not to litter in schools , so the schools are squeeky clean inside, but once these children go outside , they forget everything about anti-littering education at schools…(I’m not saying all students but a lot of them do) so somewhere there is a disconnect of learning and application…or maybe because there are enforcements inside the schools so they obey, while there is non outside…
June 2nd, 2007 at 5:43 pm
if you were sent one of those emails asking for the boycott of mcdonald’s because they didn’t heed a certain environmental organization’s request that they cut their styrofoam usage by at least half, you would be surprised by the positive response of a good number of people. the same email details how the group was reportedly snubbed by the organization and claims that jollibee already took steps to “clean-up.”
if you are to ask me, i would certainly support environmental programs if given the choice. there are products which come in earth-friendly packaging and there are stores which use paper bags instead of plastic bags. as a parent, i feel obligated to do something in this regard for the benefit of the environment where my kid will eventually live in.