PBSP-Visayas OKs Projects Worth P112M

PBSP-Visayas OKs Projects Worth P112M
By Malou M. Mozo
Manila Bulletin
March 19, 2012

CEBU CITY, Cebu — The Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) Visayas’ Executive Committee said it has approved some P112 million worth of projects in the last two years, even as its head in the region said more projects are expected to be established this year with its partner companies, groups and donor agencies.

The PBSP is the largest corporate-led social development foundation in the country. Committed to poverty reduction, it is the first of its kind in Asia, leading in the promotion and practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Jose Antonio Aboitiz, who chairs PBSP’s Visayas executive committee reported during PBSP’s recent annual membership meeting that programs in 2010 and 2011 in the Visayas valued at P112 million were focused on livelihood, enterprise, environment, education and health programs, as well as business advisory for micro, small and medium enterprises.

Said projects were established in Cebu, Bohol, Iloilo, Guimaraas, Leyte, Northern Samar and Southern Leyte provinces.

“PBSP positions itself as your organization of choice, as we have concrete programs and business solutions that bridge the gap between profitability and environmental sustainability and complement your business requirements with resources that our assisted communities can ably provide,” Aboitiz said during PBSP’s recently concluded 24th annual membership meeting.

“Corporate-community partnerships work along the value chain of companies. They help communities become suppliers of services or semi-processed goods to help fill the gaps of a company’s supply chain,” Aboitiz added, noting that corporate citizenship is “the DNA in PBSP’s business sector involvement.”

Among the many successful corporate-community partnerships forged by PBSP is that with a farming community that has benefitted from PBSP’s bridging it with Bohol-based Jojie’s Bakeshop, makers of peanut delicacies for which Bohol is known for.

Other success stories include a group of out-of-school boys, who now service upholstery orders from globally-famous furniture designer Kenneth Cobonpue’s furniture-making company.

Meanwhile, PBSP executive director Rafael Lopa said that while the PBSP is one of the Philippine’s largest business-backed non-government organizations, close collaboration by all of its stakeholders is needed to achieve the organization’s objectives and the changes in society it wishes to effect.

“Your collective-giving has capacitated PBSP to absorb the management of huge grants from multi-lateral donor agencies,” said Lopa. “|Most notable are funding from USAid and the Global Fund for TB (tuberculosis) Control. He added that, currently, PBSP manages 40 percent of the total TB Control budget in the country.

He further announced that PBSP is finalizing big grants for classroom construction in public schools to aid in addressing the 66,000-classrooms backlog in the country.