Practice 'genuine' CSR , foundation tells firms

An industry group on Wednesday urged companies in the Philippines to practice "genuine" corporate social responsibility (CSR), not just projects aimed at getting tax breaks from government. There are no minimum requirements for staging CSR activities — there are only current industry practices that must be acknowledged by businesses, League of Corporate Foundations (LCF) president Edgardo Amistad told reporters in an interview at the sidelines of the CSR Expo 2011 launched Wednesday. Basically, companies should allot at least 3 percent of their annual net income to CSR activities, he said. "Of course, you can go beyond that — it's much better — but that's probably one benchmark that we can use," he added. Aside from cash benchmarks, he said companies may also gauge the work hours devoted to CSR activities, or what is referred to as "sweat equity." To render funds given to corporate foundations as tax-deductible, the organization must first be certified by the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC), said Amistad. "If you're PCNC-certified, you are considered an honest-to-goodness foundation. You are not a 'pseudo-foundation’ being used by corporations for tax gains alone," he said. Measuring CSR Amistad, also the president of the UCPB-CIIF Foundation Inc., explained that that the industry has yet to come up with guidelines in measuring the impact of CSR activities, but that some camps have started undertaking the task. "Quantifying financial return and impact is a bit complicated," he pointed out. "For example, one of our reforestation projects has been successful, and has won many awards. There is a positive effect, there is goodwill generated, but how much is that worth if you try to quantify it?" For some companies, however, return-on-investment for CSR activities comes in other, less tangible forms, such as retention of employees. Carla Limcaoco, director of the Philippine Transmarine Carriers Inc., shared during panel discussions that their CSR efforts gave the company a stable supply of manpower that can be fielded in the highly competitive marine transport industry. One CSR activity by the company is a center that responds to the needs of spouses of seafarers, especially when they are deployed abroad. "The ability to retain employees is very important to us. Following our CSR projects, we have seen as much as 85 percent retention rate," Limcaoco said. The company needs as many as 15,000 men and women to man their ships, and keeping all of them "is a big challenge," she added. — VS, GMA News