Part One
ANTONIO S. Yap is a big man with a big heart who wants to go bigger, particularly in the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Yap is the founder and chairman of the Benita and Catalino Yap Foundation (BCYF), a group based in Mabalacat, Pampanga, that has been advocating CSR for the past 24 years.
In the past decade, CSR evolved from companies giving to charitable donations to communities where they operate in to ensuring profits were gained from methods that enhance the environment, employees and economy of the community. Referred to as “capitalism with a heart,” the practice of CSR is now concerned with one of the expected outputs of capitalist production: innovation. Attaining social innovation, in general, is the core of “CSR 3.0,” CSR’s current version.
For Yap, CSR 3.0 focuses on developing social enterprises. He explained that social enterprises, if harnessed of their full potential, can be effective agents of progress.
Moreover, Yap told the BusinessMirror that he believes social enterprises deserve to be supported because they have integrated social objectives in their operations.
As it turns 25 this year, Yap said the BCYF is going to further push CSR 3.0 in the Philippines.
“We are going to become more active in the promotion of CSR 3.0 this year. Under our CSR development program, we think that social development is going to create more impact when individuals make a personal social-responsibility commitment to help society and make CSR a lifestyle of citizenship, sustainability and social responsibility,” Yap told the BusinessMirror in an exclusive interview in San Juan City.
BCYF envisions to have helped at least 100 social enterprises reach at least P50 million (nearly $1 million) in capitalization by 2027.
Programs
THE seeds of Yap’s engagement along the lines of CSR are credited to his father, Catalino D. Yap Sr.
According to the BCYF web site, the elder Yap was a moving force behind the First Philippine
Conference on Research in CSR while writing a proposal on how the Royal Pontifical University of Santo Tomas “might be able to get more involved in CSR, particularly CSR research.”
Upon establishing the BCYF in 1993 in honor of the elder Yap, the group created programs for the practice of CSR: the Volunteer Development Program (VDP) and the CSR Development Program (CSR DP). The latter is the other component of BCYF’s Social Development Model. Through the VDP, BCYF believes that harnessing the volunteerism spirit of individuals will lead to the develop-ment of a conscious lifestyle of citizenship, sustainability and social responsibility.
Meanwhile, the CSR DP aims to make social development a part of the individuals lifestyle through making a “Personal Social Responsibility Commitment to help society and Make CSR a Lifestyle.” This is what BCYF defines CSR 3.0
The BYCF also believes in the importance of inclusive growth in society.
It has established the Social Development Areas (SDAs) to help areas where a “social development intervention”—such as social enterprise, social business and policy work, among others—will produce a significant impact on the area’s economy within the next 10 years.
The development of social enterprises in the country is a good response to promote inclusive growth in the country where 25 percent of population is living below the poverty line.
Driver of change
ELMER Lenzen, founder and CEO of Macondo Publishing GmbH, said CSR 3.0 is the future that will become one of the drivers of change in society. Macondo Publishing is behind the CSR Academy and the Global Compact International Yearbook.
“CSR 3.0 describes one possible —and desirable—future: a sustainable change in the underlying conditions, a new understanding of economy and value creation,” Lenzen said in his essay, titled “Where does CSR begin? Where does it end?” “It also represents a new understanding of social responsibility and participation.”
According to Lenzen, CSR 3.0 “would require a redefinition and rethinking of the relationship of the state, the economic system and civil society.”
Lenzen said under CSR 3.0, companies will be more active in carrying out the tasks assigned to them. Instead of companies simply being subject to regulations, he said business organizations will be crafting the regulations themselves.
“CSR 3.0 is concerned with themes in society that influence business activities in a broader and indirect sense, such as human rights and education inside and outside the company.”
Instead of bureaucrats and politicians, he sees a group of other actors that will be more active in shared responsibility.
Nevertheless, Lenzen warned that the approach is going to be a source of conflict if companies start to develop an influence on state functions, such as education, health and immigration and conflict resolution.
“In sum, CSR 3.0 deals with subjects that are highly topical, complex and often controversial,” he said adding that with these, pursuing CSR 3.0 is not going to be a walk in the park. “Great challenges call for great efforts.”
The macro view
BENEFICIARIES of whatever good companies exude are more than a few as government data reveals Filipinos are getting poorer.
In its latest report, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said five of the nine basic sectors identified in Republic Act (RA) 8425 have higher poverty incidence than the general population.
Among the nine basic sectors, the PSA reported farmers, fishermen and children belonging to families with income below the official poverty threshold or poor families posted the highest poverty incidences in 2015 at 34.3 percent, 34.0 percent and 31.4 percent, respectively. The PSA said these sectors placed consistently as the top 3 sectors with the highest poverty incidence in 2006, 2009 and 2012.
Furthermore, five of the nine basic sectors consisting of farmers, fishermen, children, self-employed and unpaid family workers, and women, belonging to marginalized families, reported higher poverty incidence than the general population estimated at 21.6 percent in 2015. The PSA estimates poverty incidence for the 14 basic sectors identified in RA 8425, or the Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act, using the income and sectoral data from the merged Family Income and Expenditure Survey and the Labor Force Survey.
To be continued
Image credits: Nonie Reyes