Making business sense of social responsibility

Calfurn Manufacturing Phils, Inc. is committed to becoming the Philippines’ best furniture manufacturer and exporter in terms of volume and value, product design and diversity, efficiency and productivity, customer preference, employees’ welfare, and contributions to the community. In this quest, Calfurn has invested not only in the latest technology for furniture making and human resource development but, more importantly, in the development of the community and the environment, a very admirable move in the face of the disaster that struck Central Luzon in 1991–the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.

In 1992, Calfurn, together with its sister company the AWECA Group, put up the AWECA Agro-Forest Industries Corp. to plant timber and/or non-timber species to improve forest cover and ecological balance. This was Calfurn’s answer to the province’s call for assistance, a year after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo that wreaked havoc on the lives and properties of the people in Central Luzon. A holder of an Industrial Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) No. 3, the company manages an approximate area of 5,000 hectares located in Capas, Tarlac. Ten years after the dream was conceptualized and brought to fruition, the AWECA Group boasts of 40,778,496 trees composed of rattan, eucalyptus, a. mangiums, g-melina, ipil-ipil, mahogany, teak, mango, cashew, langka, tamarind, bamboo, narra, a. auri and agoho species. Although Calfurn is not yet sourcing its wood requirements from AWECA because the trees are not yet mature, Calfurn hopes to do so in the next two years, answering the company’s need to provide sustainable resources for the company’s material requirements.

Calfurn has, likewise, taken to heart the management of the surrounding communities inhabited by the Aetas. The People’s Organization, a multi-purpose cooperative that has become part of the implementation of the IFMA activities, provides livelihood and basic necessities such as health care to the communities around the area. Other projects initiated by Calfurn through the AWECA Group are the Sagip Kalikasan Project aimed at spearheading tree-planting activities and encouraging other organizations to do the same, and the establishment of the Malino Livelihood Village, located in Malino, San Fernando. The land on which Calfurn’s facilities and buildings are located has also been planted with 80,000 trees including g-melina, Philippine and African teak, eucalyptus and Australian aurey. Likewise, it has invested in two more plantations in Tarlac devoted solely to rattan and g-melina.

The company’s conscious efforts to preserve the environment earned for them the "Most Outstanding Countryside Investor for Large Scale Industries" from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) in 2000; the " Most Outstanding Countryside Developer Award" from the Department of Trade and Industry in 2002 and, most recently, the coveted Golden Shell Award for manufacturing Excellence and a Countryside Development Citation from the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) last November 29 at Malacañang.

Calfurn and AWECA’s commitment to reforestation is definitely admirable. To quote the Regional Technical Evaluation Team of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), "The over-all performance field of AWECA in establishing 2,810 hectares of new plantation is very satisfactory and exemplary in nature and can be considered as a model for IFMA projects not only in the province of Tarlac, but in the whole Region 3. In addition to this, AWECA is the only company that has religiously complied with the terms and conditions stipulated in the lease agreement."

Calfurn can be justly proud of its achievements. The company hopes to expand its operations and contribute to the development of a "total community" where the well-being of the people and the community is prioritized.