The Filipino sense of volunteerism came alive once again late last year when tropical storm “Sendong” ravaged the booming Cagayan de Oro-Iligan corridor in Northern Mindanao.
Government and the private sector—made up of big businesses and individual households alike—were quick to lend helping hands in any way they could for the recovery from the effects of the typhoon, which had killed over a thousand people.
One of the quickest on the scene to facilitate the delivery of relief goods and to organize search and rescue efforts was the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the country’s leading organization for corporate charity work.
“Sendong had brought profound sadness to many of us,” says PBSP chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan at the group’s recent annual meeting.
Over the past year, Pangilinan says a significant portion of the group’s effort was aimed at providing relief for areas hit by disasters, punctuated, of course, by Sendong just as 2011 was coming to a close.
From July to August of 2011, he says 250 households, comprising of about 1,000 individuals, in the storm-prone Bicol region benefited from relief efforts facilitated by PBSP.
He says with over 250 companies in its roster of membership, PBSP, together with its partners in the Corporate Network for Disaster Response and the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation, has been channeling resources from the private sector to provide immediate relief to affected communities.
Pangilinan, who chairs Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), among several other large Philippine corporations, says tropical storm Sendong was yet another reminder of the country’s vulnerability the effects of climate change and the need for disaster preparedness.
“Reflecting on these tragedies, we should have anticipated the potential destruction,” he says.
He adds a significant portion of the group’s efforts would now be focused on preparing as many parts of the country for the “big one,” be it an earthquake, typhoon or any other kind of natural calamity.
This will entail the establishment of designated evacuation sites before storms or earthquakes hit, and increasing efforts to curb deforestation.
This said, however, Pangilinan notes that PBSP would not lose sight of its primary goal of reducing poverty in the country, through the generosity of its members.
Last year, this generosity resulted in P1.7 billion worth of aid coming from PBSP members going to the group’s chosen beneficiaries. This was more than triple the P556 million in donations PBSP members contributed the year before.
Pangilinan calls on PBSP’s current members, as well as the eight new ones that were welcomed into the group at the annual meeting, to continue giving back to their communities. “We would like to sustain that in the coming years,” he states.
The money collected in the last year, Pangilinan says, was used on a number of projects ranging from the construction of new classrooms and learning centers, to funding efforts to combat the spread of diseases like malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis.
“These are the challenges that lie ahead of us. When we are told that 80 people die of tuberculosis every day; that 160 out of 10,000 mothers die while giving birth; that mean scores of primary students in the Philippines are below the passing rate of 75, we ask, how can the next generation of Filipinos compete with the rest of the world?” he says.
“We recognize that problems of poverty are immense, and these require equally big solutions,” he adds. “Solutions can only begin if we remind ourselves that we can help solve poverty and that the government can’t do it alone.”
He reminds PBSP of the group’s stellar history of helping underprivileged Filipinos. Starting from a group of 50 of the country’s leading corporations, PBSP has grown to an organization of over 250 enterprises, made up of small businesses and conglomerates alike.
Since its founding more than 40 years ago, he says PBSP has helped improve the lives of over 6.5 million Filipinos and assisted over 6,400 social development projects through more than P5.5 billion in grants and development loans.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador Harry Thomas, who was the keynote speaker at PBSP’s annual meeting, states the Philippines, “for the first time in a long time,” has an honest government. PBSP members, he says, should take advantage of this opportunity to be able to give more back to the community.
“The biggest thing that undermines anti-poverty efforts is corruption. It’s too prevalent and reinforces poverty and inequality across the country,” he adds.
“I agree with President Aquino’s campaign motto: ‘kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap,’” Thomas says.