In the name of charity

It is not easy to be generous with one’s time and hard-earned cash. For employees of Manila Electric Co., however, it is during these financially trying times that their generous spirit manifests most.

This remarkable quality caught the attention of a Japanese scholar who gave a lecture about Meralco’s corporate social responsibility efforts in a seminar held recently in Japan.

The seminar, entitled "Private Sector and Development", was sponsored by the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development, which is one of the non-profit educational organizations founded by the Japanese government and Japanese business associations. It focused on the roles of private sectors in developing countries. Various activities concerning corporate social responsibilities of business corporations were also discussed.

While conducting research and interviews in preparation for her lecture, Mari Kondo, an associate professor at the Asian Institute of Management, was surprised to learn that Meralco employees – from those in the rank and file to those holding managerial positions – volunteer to have automatic deductions in their monthly salaries in order to raise funds for charity. The funds are usually spent for dental and medical missions, relief operations and gift giving during Christmas. This practice was started way back in the 1970’s and has become a tradition among Meralco employees.

"It’s amazing," said Kondo. "Imagine, the employees themselves saying, ‘Take a portion of my salary so I can help others." And they’re doing that even when there is a financial crisis. That’s really amazing."

According to Kondo, the actual involvement of employees and executives in Meralco’s CSR efforts is one of the things that would set it apart from other companies in other countries practicing responsible corporate citizenship.

"In some cases, CSR is integrated with the marketing functions or other corporate functions. But for Meralco, it is actually part of corporate strategy," Kondo observed.

Leonisa de la Llana, Meralco’s vice president for corporate services under which the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Office falls, explained that it was an explicit instruction of the chairman, Manuel M. Lopez, that CSR become a major component of Meralco’s corporate policy.

"He would say that giving is not merely writing checks. For it to be truly meaningful, we have to give our own time and personal involvement in CSR projects," de la Llana said.

Certainly, it is not unusual to find Meralco employees and executives playing games with street children, handing out medicines and relief goods, planting trees, or giving free computer lessons to public school teachers. These are done outside of working hours and they don’t receive extra pay or credit during performance reviews. All these are done purely in the spirit of volunteerism.

"Our goal is really to help in nation building – that is why we are giving a lot of attention to education-related projects. By participating in these projects, we also develop our own people to become good corporate citizens. They learn to interact with different communities and, by doing so, they also become more sensitive to our customers’ needs," de la Llana explained.

Apart from its regular CSR projects – teacher education project, solid waste management project, book donations and other outreach programs – Meralco has lined up additional activities to commemorate its centennial this year. These include the granting of 100 scholarships, "adopting" 100 public schools and adopting 100 charities.

From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, the power distributor also embarked on a massive electrification and streetlight modernization program in depressed areas in Metro Manila and in nearby provinces within Meralco’s franchise area. The projects – called Depressed Area Electrification Program and Rural Electrification Program – were cooperative effort between Meralco and various government agencies including National Housing Authority, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and local government units.

This project was Meralco’s response to studies showing that only 70% of households in depressed areas in Metro Manila has access to electricity, way below the 92% average electrification rate for the entire Meralco franchise. In rural areas, the electrification rate is much lower at 60%.

To date, Meralco has spent more than P1.5 billion to energize close to 500,000 households in these communities, surpassing its own target of 340,000 households. It has also installed and upgraded more than 85,000 streetlights in its franchise areas.

Lack of adequate electricity often compromise the peace and order situation in a particular community and hinders economic development. The cost of electricity also increases because households are too far away from electric facilities and transformers frequently overload to illegal connections.

With the success of Meralco’s electrification programs, recipient communities have been able to enjoy higher standards of living, giving residents more dignity in their daily lives. It has also helped in the general improvement of the peace and order situation in these areas.