Companies are easily drawn into conversations about sustainability—actions to provide access to economic opportunities, quality education, health care and social services, among others. Yet, why do most of us don’t address income and wealth in societies? Why is there so little effort in creating social mobility and eliminating inequality and barriers?
These are the key points that the San Miguel Corp. (SMC) senior vice president and corporate sustainability advisor, Rita Imelda “Tatish” Palabyab, spoke about during the Oct. 11 Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) general membership meeting at Shangri-La The Fort.
As the Philippines’ multinational conglomerate, SMC is expected by many Filipinos to articulate its purpose in taking its share in providing solutions to the most critical problem that the country is facing—social inequality. Palabyab expressed that the company is indeed taking its actions and embracing this responsibility by creating opportunities that will uplift generations of Filipinos through the rewards of sustainable development and prosperity. She assured that this vision statement “has to do more with the country rather than San Miguel as a company.”
“SMC’s investments were mostly projects designed to drive economic growth on a large scale and directly impact millions of people daily,” the SMC official added.
Some of the projects that SMC has championed thus far to better understand the creation of inclusive growth include the Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project, in which 12 water districts in the province (200,000 households) were supplied with treated bulk water.
Over the last three years, SMC implemented its ambitious P3-billion cleanup effort and flood mitigation initiative to hoist tons of oil and solid waste from Pasig, Tullahan, and San Juan rivers. Massive cleanup and rehabilitation of the major river systems in Metro Manila, Pampanga, Cavite, and Bulacan were also covered, specifically the Meycauayan and Maycapiz-Taliptip rivers, among several others.
SMC also boasts of their Better World Community flagship project with four sectoral communities: Better World Tondo, Better World Diliman, Better World Cubao, and Better World Smokey Mountain. This aims to leverage idle and abandoned properties, and repurpose them for community and civic uses.
These projects are focused on the following: providing access to healthy food, clean water and education in communities at the bottom of the pyramid; women empowerment; health consultations; skills training; and workshops that cover diverse topics, such as violence against women, parenting challenges and gender equality.
Furthermore, such projects can encourage greater civic capacity and give the economically disadvantaged a voice in their communities, as well as share resources and experiences where they can create a safe space and a sense of belonging.
However, the premise of capitalism may have a huge role to play in the core tension between businesses and a more sustainable future; hence, Palabyab encourages corporations to build efforts on lifting people out of poverty and raise standards as we can create more significant class impact by investing in our economy rather than focusing on the amount of product or service we can sell.
Empowering communities
“As corporations, we have the responsibility to build communities that are empowered, resilient and self-actuating— not communities that are dependent on handouts because we don’t build prosperity that way,” she said.
While efforts are being undertaken by SMC to provide basic needs to our fellowmen, poverty should be seen in a different lens. To eliminate this heavy burden on our Filipino people, a more intentional approach should be done by urging the government to continue taking steps to further ensure that the economic gains will benefit our countrymen whose lives need uplifting the most.
As the president of MAP, I encourage all our members to support and take action on addressing social development issues, especially the lack of access to healthy food and quality education, employment, health and social services and financial services.
MAP continues to take big bold steps by driving flagship projects with these advocacies at the center. Aligned with our Campaign against Malnutrition and Child Stunting, we will continue to champion shared prosperity that contains a road map of commitments on how businesses can help uplift the poor out of poverty as manifested in their dealings toward their employees, customers, suppliers, communities where they operate, the environment and other stakeholders.
Shared prosperity requires a whole-of-society approach that goes proudly with our respective business interests. We can create a good and livable world if we are willing to collaborate among the enablers of action— the national government, local governments, other corporations, nongovernment al organizations and the beneficiaries themselves.
Converging the public, private and civil society will help solve the intractable problems today and shape the future that defines how the next generation remembers.
We should not leave anyone behind, especially our consumers and employees who make our businesses possible and prosper. It is time to give back in the best possible way and build a resilient world with a sustainable goal in mind.
As business organizations, it is important for us to understand the well-being of our employees and the people on the ground, not only as corporations and nation-builders but as decent human beings.
There is no excuse not to lead prosperity for the betterment of the country and our countrymen. We should act beyond human basic needs. There are other ways to reciprocate the support we receive from our consumers and people, such as creating more safe spaces for them and their families. It should never be seen as fair for these disadvantaged people to feel that they do not belong in the society—everyone should be treated equally. INQ