The substance of CSR

The key to alleviating poverty is to implement plans at the local level. United Nations (UN) Representative to the Philippines Nileema Noble pointed this out recently, when she lauded the government’s efforts to meet Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in reducing poverty through job creation and enterprise.

"This country has not only adapted to and adopted the MDG goals but more importantly, has translated them into plans of action at the local level. That is very important as we translate the frameworks of action into delivery of social services on the ground," Noble said.

She said the Philippines would reach MDG goals in such critical areas as reducing poverty by half, meeting the dietary and energy requirements of its people, gender equality, education, child mortality, HIV/Aids, malaria, and access to safe drinking water. But she pointed out that nutrition, reducing hunger, maternal health and mortality and addressing elementary survival rates, elementary participation rates and access to reproductive health were areas that needed improvement.

As it turns out, geothermal power producer Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC) has been a major partner in alleviating poverty in the country. This company takes corporate social responsibility (CSR) very seriously. It has invested close to a billion pesos in its CSR initiatives since 1987, improving the lives of half a million poor geothermal stakeholders in Leyte, Albay/Sorsogon, Negros and North Cotabato.

In doing so, PNOC-EDC has contributed heavily in meeting MDG goals to reduce poverty by half, meet the dietary and energy requirements of our people and improve access to education. In such areas where the Philippines has been found to be lagging – such as nutrition, reducing hunger, and addressing elementary survival and participation rates, PNOC-EDC has even delivered as well.

PNOC-EDC’s main geothermal field is in Leyte, which is the world’s largest wet steam geothermal production field. In this province, Ormoc City and upland Kananga town are direct beneficiaries of this indigenous resource, not only in terms of electricity or royalty fees. There, hundreds of senior citizens and youth have benefited from medical missions that have spanned more than 30 barangays in Ormoc and Kananga. Aside from refresher seminars conducted for barangay health workers and barangay nutritionists, barangay health centers in these two localities have received medical equipment and supplies such as stethoscopes, sphygmomanometers, thermometers and weighing scales.

Support projects for public elementary and secondary schools in the two localities include school reading sessions, books and school supplies distribution, high school scholarships, upgrading of school facilities, career guidance seminars, and the company’s "Schools for Excellence" centerpiece project.

Three times during the school year, PNOC-EDC employees volunteer to facilitate lively reading sessions, attended by some 1,800 public elementary pupils. Alongside the reading project, PNOC-EDC distributes books and school supplies to students of Tongonan-Ormoc, Tongonan-Kananga, Lim-ao, Milagro, and Cambantog elementary schools. These books and school supplies mostly come from personal funds of PNOC-EDC employees and friends, as well as from institutional donors such as the Asia Foundation. Meanwhile, scholarships have been granted to some 170 students from Dolores, Lim-ao and Kananga national high schools. The scholarship covers tuition fees, uniforms and a P2,000 annual stipend for each scholar.

PNOC-EDC shoulders the "hardware" component of the "Schools for Excellence" project being piloted in the Tongonan-Ormoc and Tongonan-Kananga elementary schools. This includes the construction of classrooms, playgrounds, feeding centers, libraries, speech laboratories, computer rooms, audio-visual rooms, home economics rooms, and industrial arts rooms. The company also bankrolls odds and ends such as electrical and piped water connections, instructional materials and school supplies, and even miscellaneous fees of students. Close to 700 pupils gain from this initiative.

Every summer since 2004, PNOC-EDC scholars participate in the week-long Energy Camp, a brain child of company president Paul Aquino. Dubbed as the "ultimate" summer learning experience, the Energy Camp fosters environmental awareness and experiential learning through recreational programs that campers enjoy.

(To be continued)

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Birds are used as indicators for overall biological diversity and based on the study of birds, Haribon has identified 117 Important Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) in the country.

Tonight, November 23, the Haribon Forum will discuss migratory birds and the wonderful experience of bird watching in the country. The Philippines belongs to the East Asian Australasian flyway. According to Ms. Cristi Nozawa of Birdlife International Asia Division, a flyway covers the entire range of a migratory water bird from the place it breeds to the places it spends winter (wintering area). These birds make "stop overs" along the way which are also considered feeding areas. Popular sites are the Candaba Swamps in Luzon and the Olango and Liguasan Marshes in Visayas and Mindanao. During the months of October to January, bird watchers all over the country are in a frenzy over this annual phenomenon. Thousands upon thousands of birds flock these wintering areas providing boundless pleasure to spectators.

The Haribon Forum will be held tonight at 6 at Meralco Mini-theater, Meralco Compound, Ortigas Ave. Pasig City. Speakers will be Alain del Pascua of Kaakbay-CDI on Candaba Bird Site, Blas Tabaranza Jr. of Haribon on Bird Migration and Lydia Robledo of the Wild Bird Club Philippines on the joys of bird-watching.

To sustain the forum, Haribon charges a small fee of P20 for students and P50 for professionals/non-students.

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