Step up CSR efforts to lift poor, CEOs urged

Drop those financial sheets for now, look around you, and see how your company could channel funds for worthwhile projects.

Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. issued this call on Wednesday to CEOs of large corporations who, he said, should step up their corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts to improve society and curb poverty.

Villar observed said that while CSR was a “natural inclination” for some companies, it’s being resisted by others because this entailed “involuntary expenditures.”

He said this mindset should be changed because “responsible and responsive corporate citizenship” was key to the private sector’s role in nation-building.

“I always believed that the private sector, with its considerable financial and technical resources, can make a real difference in improving society and helping address the poverty problem in our country,” he said at the 10th Annual CSR Expo and Conference in the Mall of Asia.

Prone to corruption

Villar added that those in the corporate sector “can boldly claim to be more competent and efficient than those in the government or public office” that was more prone to corruption and red tape.

“This is the private sector’s chance to prove that. This is the platform for your conscious, sustained efforts to thrive. Let us bring about a change in mindset. This we can pass on to future business leaders, who hopefully, would be not just good but great corporate citizens,” he said in his speech.

Given some companies’ resistance to CSR, Villar said he introduced tax incentives for “do gooders” in the CSR bill that he authored and which seeks to institutionalize CSR work among corporations.

At the same time, he also included a provision mandating large corporate taxpayers, identified by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, to allocate a reasonable percentage of their income for CSR activities.

“Large taxpayers will therefore be required to submit, as part of their annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, a list of their CSR activities. The SEC shall be the principal repository of all public records related to CSR,” he said.

Enticements needed

The senator conceded that there was a need for enticements but also for “mandatory obligations” to prod companies to embrace CSR.

“We need to disturb the people in the board rooms so that they can look up from reading their financial sheets and have a look-around,” he said.

Villar, a real estate magnate, said the idea of the measure had been inspired by the Villar Foundation’s experience in CSR in the area of environmental sustainability.

The foundation, for instance, had been processing water hyacinth plants—that had clogged rivers and caused flooding in Cotabato—into handicraft by employing local communities; and been mounting the mobile livelihood program Caravan sa Kaalaman, and Feed the Children, and OFW Repatriation, among others.

A million trees

“Along with the usual complement of utilities and facilities, we consider trees and greenery to be an indispensable part of any community our firm establishes. They not only beautify the surroundings but also help clean the air, protect against erosion and provide a haven for living things,” he said.