Reflections on our Class CSR Project

For our Lasallian Leadership Business class, our innovation was implementing a class project rather than a project per group. We decided to implement our CSR activity in Sta. Monica Elementary School in Hagonoy, Bulacan.  The school was severely affected by Typhoon Lando with floodwaters rushing inside the school compound and inundating its facilities.

We partnered with the school by proposing to implement the following activities:

1    Repainting some eighty school chairs and desks; and

2   Constructing an elevated concrete pathway from the entrance of the school towards the main building.

The second activity was especially requested by the school since during typhoons, students are unable to enter the flooded entrance of the school. With the construction of the pathway, a means of access was provided to ensure the safe entry and exit of all students and teachers during times of calamity.

For our fund raising activity, our group decided to sell t-shirts in the Lasallian colors of green and white, bearing the messages “The ends does not justify the means” and “Got ethics?” We sold these shirts primarily through our friends, classmates and colleagues at work and as such, our group was able to raised Php 9,730 as our contribution to the class pool of funds.

Two batches of students undertook the activity; the first batch went on November 22. 2015 and the succeeding batch went on the following week, November 29, 2015.

The following were the issues that arose during implementation of the CSR project:

1.    Administrative issues

-       Who will procure the supplies for the project

-       Division of labor during implementation of the CSR activity

2.    Substantive issues

-       How to ensure completion of the project within the given time frame

-       How to apply the learnings in class to this activity

I am pleased to report that a class project has a higher impact to the partner community as compared to a group project. This is because as a class we were able to raise a larger amount of funds and as such was able to implement a more complex project i.e. the pathway construction. All students actively participated and it is noteworthy that there were no freeloaders; all of us were hard at work to ensure the project’s successful completion.

It is fitting that we undertook a CSR project to help improve a school’s facilities. St. Lasalle was a teacher who was known for being an innovator and a servant-mentor, among others. As Lasallian business leaders, a CSR project such as this reminded us that it is our responsibility to help especially those who are in need and to be part of the solution for the various problems that our country is facing.

Evaluation of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) State of My Company

For this blog, I would like to highlight what I have written in my Individual CSR project proposal for my company.

I work for the National Electrification Administration (NEA), a government owned or controlled corporation (GOCC) under the Department of Energy. We are the agency tasked to implement the Rural Electrification Program (REP) of the country. Our vision is “Total electrification on an area coverage by 2020” and our mission is “To pursue the mandate of rural electrification and to provide financial, institutional and technical assistance to electric distribution utilities (electric cooperatives) to make them highly competitive in delivering quality service.”

Guided by our core values of “Absolute Honesty, Maximum Efficiency and Total Solidarity”, we have spread the gospel of rural electrification for the past 46 years to tell the story of rural Filipinos freed from the crippling effects of darkness.

In the class session about CSR, one of the topics was about the “Boat of Life” wherein there is an unequal access to integral human development and that corporations are described as “Maintaining”, “Exploiting” or “Ameliorating” in their operations.

I am proud to say that we at NEA can be considered as an “Ameliorating” corporate boat, for what can be nobler than uplifting the lives of our fellow Filipinos that live in the countryside by providing them with the benefits of electricity; a benefit that most of us already take for granted but for the rest of our countrymen is just a dream. We at NEA are vigorously turning that dream into a reality.

This is confirmed by the numerous awards and citations received by NEA, most recently is the Islands of Good Governance (IGG) award, in which public sector agencies were recognized by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA) for their efforts in transformative and sustainable good governance reforms.

To end this blog, I would like to quote our Administrator that “The journey of energizing the countryside is a journey taken on not by the agency and the electric cooperatives alone. It is, above all, a journey of a nation that has learned to remain hopeful for an energized future.

Marcopper

Our group reported in class the Marcopper case. As a background of the case, “the Marcopper Mining Disaster occurred on March 24, 1996 on the Philippine island of Marinduque, a province of the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region in Luzon. It remains one of the largest mining disasters in Philippine history. A fracture in the drainage tunnel of a large pit containing leftover mine tailings led to a discharge of toxic mine waste into the Makulapnit-Boac river system and caused flash floods in areas along the river. One village, Barangay Hinapulan, was buried in six feet of muddy floodwater, causing the displacement of 400 families. Twenty other villages had to be evacuated. Drinking water was contaminated killing fish and freshwater shrimp. Large animals such as cows, pigs and sheep were overcome and killed. The flooding caused the destruction of crops and irrigation channels. Following the disaster, the Boac River was declared unusable.”

(www. /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcopper_mining_disaster)

As an ethical issue, our group stated that “What can the government do to address the current environmental and economic issues of the mining industry?”, considering the fact that the mining industry is often accused of not bringing its promised benefits to the host communities.

The group then presented the following alternative courses of actions:

1.    Suspend the grant pending the review of the Mining Law

2.    Continue the mining industry and ensure that an environmental management plan would be integrated into the socio-economic development of the host communities; and

3.    Shut down all mining operations in the country

The group recommended that ACA number 2 was the best alternative.

However, upon subsequent reflection, I realize some of the errors in our analysis of the case, which was also pointed out by our professor. One is which is that these ACAs are not equal in weight; our group in its eagerness to ensure a “win-win” recommendation, failed to realize that the ACAs are not mutually exclusive. Another is that we should have considered the timeline of the case when we were developing our SWOT analysis.

Mea culpa.

As a lesson learned from this case, the laws enabling the mining industry and protecting the environment are already in place, there should have been stricter implementation of its policies and stronger enforcement by the responsible agencies. Let me end by quoting  Manny Pangilinan in his speech during a forum in Makati, “mining is not the enemy, poverty is.” 

The Ozone Threat: Managing With Uncertainty

This case discusses the issues facing the Dupont Company, the largest producer of the one billion pounds of fluorocarbons (valued at $450 million) manufactured in the United States in 1974. The company was facing a backlash for the harmful effects of its products, which was being charged with decreasing the ozone layer surrounding the earth which protects its residents from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation.

Chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, are compounds made up of combinations of the elements chlorine, fluorine and carbon; aerosols, refrigerants and foams contain CFCs. When these CFCs enter the air, they rise up into the atmosphere to meet up with and destroy ozone molecules. First used in 1928, CFCs have since become more common as various other CFC compounds were created. Some of the better-known CFCs are the Freon compounds, which were used as cooling ingredients in refrigerators and air conditioners. (www.science.opposingviews.com).

Several scientific studies have confirmed that If CFCs continue proliferating in the upper atmosphere, it will lead to the eventual degradation of the ozone layer. However, there are also some credible reports which gives the opposing view that ozone depletion came as the result of sources other than CFCs.

As pointed out in the Journal of Business Ethics, “the real test of business ethics is how well it can handle issues in which the right course is not certain and in which there are no exact precedents.” Indeed, as the chairman of the Dupont board said, “why should they be prejudged…before any answers are found?”

Initially, Dupont was coming from an economic mindset; as the leading producer of CFC, it was in its best interest to protect a multimillion-dollar industry. Subsequently, when public opinion was turning, they utilized a political framework by actively blocking the passage of key legislation that would have limited the production of CFCs. Eventually when the scientific community were mostly unilateral in their condemnation of products using CFCs, Dupont used an ethical strategy by actively pursuing the signing of the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty to phase out production of ozone-depleting products.

Uncertainty is a part of the operating reality of any business. When the uncertainty of the ozone depletion of CFCs was becoming an issue, Dupont should be guided not only by its mission and vision, but also by the core values that the company espouses. They should have asked not only “What is our product?” but also “What does our company represent?”

Silent Initiative: Pedro’s Commitment to the Hearing Impaired

The reporting group presented the case “Silent Initiative: Pedro’s Commitment to the Hearing Impaired.” The case talks about Lamoiyan Corporation, a Filipino firm well known for producing personal hygiene products such as Hapee Toothpaste. It details the management style of its founder, Mr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro, who is well known for his Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative of employing persons with disabilities (PWDs), particularly those who are hearing-impaired. Mr. Pedro advocacy was helping PWDs to earn decent wages by providing them jobs where other companies may be hesitant to do so.

In the Philippines, Republic Act No. 7277 or the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, which was passed in 1992, ensures that PWDs should be able to have equal opportunities for suitable employment as their able-bodied counterparts. The Magna Carta specifies that the State “shall adopt policies ensuring the rehabilitation, self-development and self-reliance of disabled persons and shall develop their skills and potentials to enable them to compete favorably for available opportunities.”

In a discussion paper series published by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) entitled “Employment of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the Philippines: The Case of Metro Manila and Rosario, Batangas,” it was cited that “A number of policies, programs and services had already been implemented in relation to employment of PWDs. There have also been employment-related programs and services provided by the government to PWDs, which include the following: Tulong Alalay sa Taong May Kapansanan (TULAY) program, or Support services to PWDs, of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE); Assistance package for PWDs of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI); Philippine National Skills Competition for PWDs of the Technical, Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA); Science and Technology Intervention for the Poor, the Vulnerable and PWDs of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).”

With these various programs and services that are in place, however, employment of PWDs is still limited. In the PIDS paper, it mentioned that education is a critical factor in gaining employment and that some PWDs are “vulnerably employed” or have jobs that have no security of tenure. The paper also suggests some interventions that the government may pursue to further encourage PWD employment.

It is in this context that Mr. Pedro and Lamoiyan Corporation should be recognized for their pioneering efforts and ethical business behavior in helping the PWDs in the country become participative members of the society by providing them gainful and secure employment.