Corporate Social Responsibility In The Philippines

There has been an increase of awareness of socio-economic implications and environmental impacts in the Philippines. Currently the Philippine government is working hard and implementing policies and roles in search of a sustainable future. This paper will analyze the framework to what extent is corporate social responsibility related to the Philippines’s institutional and cultural context. The Philippine government went through stages to create a framework policy to implement CSR of institutional and cultural perspectives to corporations in the Philippines. The first stage is internalization and modernization under the environmental impact system statement adopted by the government in 1981 by President Marcos (The Official Gazett , 1981).

ASEAN’s mission is to promote greater awareness of the development of South East Asian countries through promoting contribution to evolve the development of corporate strategy, promote mutual assistance, equitable economic development and alleviation of poverty (Dr. Filemon A. Uriarte, 2008). ASEAN uses the framework of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The European Union defines corporate social responsibility (CSR) as –“A concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis (EUROPEAN COMMISSION , 2011).” As of this meaning the European Union clarifies by the social responsibility of an organization for the impacts of its decisions and activities on society and the environment through transparent and ethical behavior that is consistent with sustainable development and the welfare of society. This is in compliance with applicable laws and consistent with international norms of behavior (Hohnen, 2007). Many corporations follow the definition of CSR to incorporate it with their business development (European Comission, 2015). Companies need to understand the policies and agreement with in a country’s environmental society. This is very critical in order to build trust and proper

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the Philippines focuses on the concept of the Tagalog word “Bayanihan”. Bayanihan is the Filipino word for cooperation and collaboration. If directly translated it means to have Great Spirit of communal effort in achieving a particular goal and objective without anything in return, but just as a good deed (Fojas, 2015). The origin of “Bayanihan” is where the village would help moving a full house together from one location to another to help fellow villagers (refer to figure 1). The Philippines dominant religion is Roman Catholicism and the strong presence of the Catholic Church influences and is a valued instrument to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Philippines. The Philippines are top in the Asia Pacific region to be proud in adopting the Roman Catholicism (Central Intelegence Agency, 2015). Since Spain has pioneered to the Philippines by explorer Miguel Lopez de Legaspi in 1565, Philippines have been introduced to the religion and has related to their own original beliefs (Fojas, 2015). Referring to graph 1 according to the Religion of Philippines Institute, 80% of Philippines population is dominated by the Catholic religion (Asia Society Organization, 2014). Major history events also have a great impact on Filipino society to this very day. As a result of the