BUSINESS ETHICS FOR NATION BUILDING AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

 BUSINESS ETHICS FOR NATION BUILDING AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Land Bank of the Philippines Code of Conduct Month

7 January 2013

On May 10,  2010, in what many believe was  a minor miracle, the Filipino people elected a reluctant candidate. President Benigno S. Aquino III became the President of the Philippines. Some of us think the miracle was the precise timing of the death of his mother, the  saintly Cory Aquino; the sudden, overwhelming realization of our people that there have been government officials who served with integrity; and the withdrawal of Mar Roxas to make way for Noynoy Aquino.

The miracle continues in President Aquino himself. He has changed the course of history and continues to do so. In his inaugural speech on July 1, 2010, he outlined his social contract with all of us.

He made a ringing promise – wala nang wang-wang – that resonated with each and every one of us. It was the most applauded statement in his entire speech, because it captured in those four words, the root of many of the problems that beset our country. Those four simple Pilipino words  spoke volumes. Those four Pilipino words encapsulated the principles he would live by as our President. Those four Pilipino words can guide us in our code of conduct

Wang-wang depicted power; position; prestige. It also depicted arrogance; a “me-first” attitude; “I’m more important than all of you”; “san tabi muna kayo diyan”. It was a symbol of a society that had forgotten the principles of democracy; of equality; of service; of those having less in life being given more attention. It was a symbol of the abuse of power and pelf that has become a social cancer, gnawing at the heart and soul of the country.

Everything the President has done since has flowed from  that simple promise.

The antithesis of wang-wang is good governance, and he has made that his single most important cause.  He declared war against corruption, a social evil that has become so ingrained in our society that very few people thought he would succeed. But these past two and a half years have seen a sea-change in the attitudes of our people.

Two dramatic events have demonstrated how corruption has become such a mind-setamong our government officials that they no longer realized they had destroyed their own lives and possibly those of their families. The investigation into the so-called “pabaon” of tens and hundreds of millions of pesos to top officials of the military showed, in the clearest of terms, how the government coffers could be raided with impunity. The image presented by a witness of huge vaults bulging with cash, to be dispensed  by a simple controller, was mind-boggling. It  symbolized the worst form of pillage, of arrogance, of evil. It resulted in one man committing suicide, possibly to atone for his sins, as the Japanese used to do, and possibly to spare his family from the pain and the shame of being investigated as well. 

The impeachment of Chief Justice Corona showed another insidious practice in the country – the total disregard for rules and regulations by those in power. As in the case of Al Capone, the Philippine government used the tools of accounting to show that a person’s net worth was not supported by his or her income tax returns, or in the case of Corona, by his SALN. Because of these cases, people  could no longer complain  that the government only runs after the “small fish”. The Chief Justice is after all  Number three in the government, right after the President and Vice President.

Perhaps less dramatic has been the continuing saga of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, but it is instructive nonetheless that even the highest official of the land can be investigated and arrested.

These cases, together with the unrelenting drive of Commissioner Kim Henares against tax evaders, have shown that yes, it can be done. It needs political will and a strong moral compass that will guide one in everything we do.

The President’s relentless campaign against corruption and for good governance has resulted in  an unprecedented economic boom that has our stock exchange soaring, various industries like the BPO, real estate, and tourism sizzling; and indications of a brain gain – overseas Filipinos coming home.

But many problems remain. The President has called for “inclusive growth” to ensure that the benefits of economic development will improve the lives of those who need it most – the families at the base and at the very bottom of the pyramid. He has also made a clarion call for each and every one of us to help him achieve these goals. How do we respond?

First we have to start with ourselves. We must live the enduring values of honesty,diligence, and excellence in our own personal lives. If we don’t, we cannot do so in our professional lives. Do we tell the truth? Do we pay our taxes properly? Do we follow traffic rules? Do we raise our children in these eternal values? 

What about at the Land Bank? You who work at the Land Bank are in  a unique time andplace to be a strong partner of the President in ensuring that these goals – of inclusive growth and of good governance – are achieved and, more important, sustained beyond 2016.

What role  can each and every one of you play in this great adventure that the President has set out for us? Perhaps the best way is to do what he does. The President can be our role model in determining our Code of Conduct as servants of the people.

·       Land Bank as  a GOCC must show best practice in business ethics

·       Follow “matuwid na daan”; zero tolerance for corruption

·       Achieve highest levels of service orientation to clients

·       Focus on its niche as the bank that grows the agriculture sector  of the country

·       Importance of food security

·       Serve those at the base of the pyramid

A.     ZERO TOLERANCE FOR CORRUPTION

The President has shown that yes, it can be done. We CAN root out corruption. But yes, it will take some time to reach a state when good governance is the norm. We must  start with ourselves. Each one of us, especially those of you who hold higher positions in the bank, must be paragons of virtue, shining examples of integrity so that we can inspire everyone around us to do so themselves. Good governance  must become so ingrained in each official and staff of the Land Bank that it becomes  a way of life. It becomes part of the corporate culture.

My late husband Francis made a big to-do about this at the Sandiganbayan.  Once appointed by President Cory Aquino he immediately sent word to his relatives and friends that they should not approach him for any case pending in the Sandiganbayan. When one family dared come to our house, he did not even allow them to get out of their car. He went out to meet them and to tell them not to even try. Sometimes it is good to make a clear statement on the matter so that people already know that you cannot be “approached”.

B.     IT CANNOT BE A QUIET CAMPAIGN – People have to see and hear, be aware, be vigilant. It is a WAR, and we have to arm ourselves with the equipment to win. Systems and processes must be tightened to make corruption difficult, without unduly burdening those we serve with bureaucracy. There must be constant reminders to comport ourselves at  the highest levels of integrity. Posters, suggestion boxes, incentives for whistleblowers etc can be utilized for the campaign.

C.     A CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE AND SERVICE

You at the Land Bank have a fantastic opportunity to make a significant impact on the lives of the 50M Filipinos who labor in the agricultural sector. You have the financial resources, a whole host of talent and expertise within your ranks. You also have the geographic reach to serve those who may still live at the margins of society.

Every day you should be thinking about how best to serve the farmers, those who till the land for whom this bank was established. It is not enough for the bank to make money. Your success should be measured in the lives you have improved; in the agri-based enterprises you have helped grow; in the improved productivity of our farmlands; in the support services you have put in place in the remotest farms in the country.

D.     BE BOLD; BE INNOVATIVE

President Aquino would not have succeeded in his campaign against corruption if he had merely taken little steps to curb it. He had to be bold. To take on big issues; to take on important people; to show that no one is above the law.

In your line of work, you can be bold in reaching out to your farmer-constituents instead of waiting for them to come to you with their problems or their dreams. Go out into the field, talk to them, listen to them, let them guide you in your strategic planning sessions. What is it they need? What are their aspirations? How can you help them solve their problems and achieve their dreams? The branches that serve the CCT beneficiaries can be at the forefront of this effort. Innovate product offerings, adjust price points, develop new approaches to  serving your constituency.

E.     FIND THE SWEET SPOT – DOING GOOD AND DOING WELL – SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

At the risk of being politically incorrect, I believe that the Land Bank can and should be a Social Enterprise. With all the talent and resources at your command, the bank can focus on service perhaps even more than profit. 

Despite the great economic numbers that our country now enjoys, many challenges remain. These are especially true in the rural areas, where the Land Bank should be operating. That is where your rubber should meet the road.

The problems remain:

•   High Incidence of Poverty  
•   Challenges in public education, public health
•   Lack of basic services in rural areas; inadequate infrastructure
•   High unemployment and underemployment rates
•   Limited access to credit

One way is for Land Bank to pilot programs for the farmers and farming communities that are strategic, scalable, and sustainable.

My family was subject to land reform way back in the 1960’s. As the youngest of our family, I was not personally involved in the farm and was glad when they property was turned over to those who till the land. However, I have always wondered whether lives of our tenants actually improved over the past 50 years. Sadly, when we visited one of the communities last week, I was deeply disappointed to see that they still lived in nipa huts; they were still living a hand-to-mouth existence. 

THE LAND BACK SHOULD BECOME A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE – find your way to the double or triple bottom line. Your success should be in the measured in the number of farmers who are no longer poor; who can send their children to school; who can bring their families to a doctor; who can start his own business; who can retire in relative comfort. Even if it takes the P9B in profit to do so, it will make a significant impact not only on the farmer’s families but on the entire country as well. it may take a lot of advocacy, it may shake the tree or rock the boat, but it is the only way it can truly say that it serves the countryside. 

The Land Bank can be the role model for good governance and by the power of its example in serving the poor and disadvantaged at the bottom of the pyramid. If all the GOCCs were to then follow your example, then the dream of President Aquino, which is the dream of every Filipino, will live on beyond his term. It is you who are in government who can help ensure that the reforms started by President Aquino will be sustained. GOOD GOVERNANCE; DRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE; PASSION FOR SERVICE. 

The challenge is there before you. The power is in your hands. May the Holy Spirit guide you, inspire you, protect you and bless you.

Mamamayang Liberal - First Anniversary

This speech (originally in Filipino) was delivered by Vicky Garchitorena, Vice President for the Women's Sector of the Liberal Party, at Balay, Quezon City, on November 30, 2012.

The day of November 30, 2011 is comparable to a dawn—a symbol of the doors of the Liberal Party opening to the basic sectors. The launch of Mamamayang Liberal (Liberal Citizens) on Andres Bonifacio day is significant, as he is a hero from our ranks. One of the basic sectors we are launching is the women's sector. This is in accordance with the law called Magna Carta of Women which states the equality of women with men in all aspects of their lives—family, business, politics and all of our acts in society.

We as the Women's Sector are committed to do everything we can to improve the level of life of women in all corners of the Philippines; brighten the level of women's organizations, and teach to all the skills for life, such as financial literacy, skills training, microfinance, and business.

We are also pleased to launch the program for the development of our leadership skills and our knowledge of the formation and operation of development projects so we can contribute to President Aquino's directive in the Bottom-Up Budgeting process.

With your help, with our unified action, we believe it possible that the women's sector, with the ranks of workers, urban poor, farmers and fishermen, and the youth, can push for real reform of our political system.

In this way, our sector will participate in the promotion of a political system where the most fit, deserving, responsible, and able can run our society. In this way, we expand the choice of candidates to not only those who are well-known or those who can afford to pour money into the election. In this way, we strengthen the Liberal Party to resume, continue the reforms initiated by President Aquino. In this way, we all sectors of society can take part in the continuous development of our nation.

We call upon all present today, all of our partners in the Liberal Party, to come together in commitment to our ideals and our actions. We are calling on those in government to deliver, to the lowest level of our sector, the basic services needed to fully participate in the life of our country. We call upon the businesswomen and men, to be true to their employees and to be generous to those in need of their help. We call upon our fellow NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) and POs (Political Organizations), to add their political education in helping our sector.

The progress that we are experiencing today brightens with the continued pursuit of President Aquino and his administration against corruption. It is therefore clear that for development to be scaled up and sustained, we need good governance, what we are calling "daang matuwid" (the "straight path"). In turn, good governance needs good people—those whom Jesse Robredo called "good and sensible" to serve as elected and appointed government officials. This means we need a strong and robust political system that will ensure that good men and women from all sectors of society can be identified, nurtured, encouraged, and assisted in joining the electoral process.

This is the dream of the women's sector of the Liberal Party. This is the dream of the women's sector of the Liberal Party—to develop and empower women from all walks of life so that they too can have a voice, so that they too can have a seat at the table where decisions on the life of their family, their community, their city, and their country are made.

Today, it is just a dream. Tomorrow, we will make that dream come true.

Today, it is just a dream. Expect that tomorrow, these, our dreams will come to life—with all of your help and with the guidance of the Lord.

Long live the Mamamayang Liberal!
(Translated from the original text into English by Carlos Garchitorena, courtesy of Google Translate.)

MAGNA CARTA of WOMEN R.A. 9710 by UNV Philippines

MAGNA CARTA for WOMEN R.A. 9710 from UNV Philippines


Please also see the .pdf from the Office of the President on Magna Carta for Women R.A. 9710 http://www.bwsc.dole.gov.ph/bwscweb/files/ra9710_with_irr.pdf

Mamamayang Liberal - First Anniversary

Talumpati ni Vicky Garchitorena, Bise Presidente para sa Sektor ng Mga Kababaihan ng Liberal Party, sa Balay, Quezon City, sa Nobyembre 30, 2012

Ang araw ng November 30, 2011 ay maihahambing sa isang bukang liwayway – simbolo ng pagbubukas ng pintuan ng Partido Liberal sa mga basic sectors. Napakmakabuluhan na nailunsad ang Mamamayang Liberal sa araw ni Andres Bonifacio, isang bayani na galing sa hanay natin. Isa sa mga batayang sector na inilunsad ay ang sektor ng kababaihan. Ito ay alinsunod sa batas na tinatawag na Magna Carta of Women na nagsasaad ng pagkakapantay-pantay ng mga kababaihan sa mga kalalakihan sa lahat ng aspeto ng kanilang buhay – sa pamilya, sa negosyo, sa pulitika at sa lahat ng kinikilusan natin sa lipunan. 

Kami po bilang Women’s Sector ay nangangako na gagawin namin ang lahat ng aming makakaya upang paunlarin ang antas ng kabuhayan ng mga kababaihan sa lahat ng sulok ng Pilipinas; patingkarin ang antas ng mga women’s organizations; at maturuan ang lahat ng mga kakayahang pangkabuhayan, tulad ng financial literacy, skills training, microfinance, at pag-nenegosyo. 

Maglulunsad din po tayo ng mga programa upang madevelop ang ating leadership skills at ang ating kaalaman sa pagbubuo at pagpapatakbo ng mga development projects upang makilahok sa utos ng Pangulong Aquino sa Bottom-Up Budgeting process. 

Sa tulong po ninyong lahat, sa sama-sama nating pagkilos, kami ay naniniwala na posible na ang sektor ng kababaihan, kasama ang mga hanay ng manggagawa, mga marilatang taga-lungsod, mga magsasaka at mangingisda, at ang mga kabataan, ay maisusulong natin ang tunay na reporma sa sistema ng ating pulitika. 

Sa ganitong paraan, ang mga sektor natin ay makikibahagi sa pagsulong ng isang political system kung saan ang mga karapat-dapat, ang mga may kaukulang talino at ang mga matitino ay siyang magpapatakbo ng ating lipunan. Sa ganitong paraan, mapapalawak natin ang hanay ng mga kandidato hindi lamang yung mga may pangalan o yung mga may kayang magbuhos ng salapi. Sa ganitong paraan, mapalalakas natin ang Partido Liberal upang maituloy-tuloy ang mga reporma na inumpisahan ni Pangulong Aquino. Sa ganitong paraan, magkakatulung-tulong ang lahat ng mga sektor ng lipunan upang tuloy-tuloy na ang pag-unlad ng ating bayan.

Kami ay nananawagan sa lahat ng mga naririto, sa lahat ng ating mga kasama sa Partido Liberal, tayo’y magka-isa sa ating mga paninindigan, sa ating mga mithiin at sa ating mga pagkilos. Kami ay nanawagan sa mga nasa gobyerno, na puspusang ibaba sa ating mga sektor ang mga basic services na kailangan nila upang lubusang makilahok sa buhay ng ating bayan. Kami ay nananawagan sa mga negosyante, na maging tapat sa kanilang mga empleyado at maging bukas-palad sa mga nangangailangan ng kanilang tulong. Kami ay nananawagan sa aming mga kahanay na mga NGO (Non-Government Organization) at PO (Political Organization), na idagdag ang political education sa kanilang mga pagtulong sa aming mga sektor. 

Ang kaunlaran ng ating bayan na nalalasap natin nayon ay tumitingkad dahil sa patuloy na pagtugis ni Pangulong Aquino at ang kanyang pamahalaan laban sa katiwalian. It is therefore clear that for development to be scaled up and sustained, we need good governance, yung tinatawag natin na “matuwid na daan.” In turn, good governance needs good people—those whom Jesse Robredo called “magaling at matino” to serve government as elected and appointed officials. This means we need a strong and robust political system that will ensure that good men and women from all sectors of society can be identified, nurtured, encouraged and assisted to join the electoral process.  

Ito ang pangarap ng sektor ng mga kababaihan ng Partido Liberal.  This is the dream of the women’s sector of the Liberal Party—to develop and empower women from all walks of life so that they too can have a voice, so that they too can have a seat at the table where decisions on the life of their family, their community, their city and their country are made.  

Today, it is just a dream. Tomorrow, we will make that dream come true. 

Ngayon, panaginip pa lamang ito. Asahan po ninyo na bukas, itong aming panaginip ay mabibigyan ng buhay – sa tulong ninyong lahat at patnubay ng Panginoon. 

Mabuhay ang Mamamayang Liberal!

The Golden Years - 50th Anniversary of Ayala Foundation Inc.

 Ayala Foundation at 50 - the Golden Years

By

Vicky P. Garchitorena

50^th Anniversary of AyalaFoundation Inc.

March 23, 2011

Thank you so very much, Jaime, for your very kind words. It is really I who should thank you, for having  given me the opportunity to work with the foundation.  These past 22 years have been the best years of my life, primarily because you, Jaime, and Fernando have allowed me to spread my wings and to fly as high as I can,  with your full and unstinting support  and friendship.

I must say that,  in addition to the three factors your mentioned—passion, commitment, and partnership—the foundation’s successes  have  been due in large measure to the inspiring and empowering leadership that the three of you have gifted us with. We have also been blessed with a constant and continuing harvest of foundation executives and staff who have given so generously of themselves. Each one of them and their teams  have imbued the foundation with that rare quality of a dynamic institution where each one has found his or her individual passion. I was also fortunate in having met Mrs. McMicking, whose gentle ways, quiet generosity, and graciousness captured my imagination as a role model for us at the foundation.

I almost cannot believe that  my journey at the foundation has spanned 22 years, almost half of its existence.  

Parang kahapon lamang.

It seems like only yesterday when I met Jaime Augusto and Fernando for breakfast at the coffee shop of the Mandarin Hotel in July 1989. As we talked about their vision for the foundation, it quickly became clear to me that I had found my home.

From my first day at work, our Chairman and Vice Chairmen were deeply involved in charting the course of the foundation. They supported our ideas, innovations and initiatives, not only with funding but, more importantly, with their presence, their interest, their insights, their support, and their encouragement.

Together, we began a  journey to transform the foundation into one of the most dynamic, strategic, pioneering development institutions in the country. From a P3 million budget in 1989, it is now at a level of about P300 million a year. From a staff of about 25, we are now at about 140.

The museum at that time was opened to visitors only by appointment. Today it is a gleaming “crown jewel” in  Greenbelt, attracting about 100,000 visitors a year and hosting exciting events almost every week, from cutting edge exhibitions in the visual arts to jazz, to lectures on design, Philippine history, and culture. Its collection has been augmented by purchases and loans of exquisite pieces, capped by the stunning gold collection that, experts say, may necessitate a review of our country’s  history.

The managers and staff were then housed in the museum and in the Makati Stock Exchange Building, but they might as well have lived on either side of the Pacific Ocean - art and culture on one side and social development on the other. They did not really know each other and had no idea of what each group was doing. Over the years, we have developed a strong team of dedicated individuals who respect each other, and eagerly seek ways of working together to enrich and sustain each program.

TRANSFORMATION AND EVOLUTION

How did we achieve it?

Our first major decision was to rename the foundation – from Filipinas Foundation to Ayala Foundation. This move positioned the foundation as the concrete expression of the Ayala Group’s corporate social responsibility. At the same time, it allowed the companies to use CSR as a strategic management tool, then a very novel  idea and a far cry from the prevailing conservative notion of one’s left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing.

So the first order of the day was to find the best solutions to the social problems that beset the companies. For Ayala Land, it was the need to develop a good relocation program for informal settlers on their properties. The prevailing solutions then were to file ejection cases, which could take forever, or to use the military, which would have been a PR nightmare and did not conform to our values. Together with Ayala Land,  we developed the Integrated Community Development Program. Our social workers undertook painstaking social preparation visits with the relocatees, explaining the process and what they could  expect. The families were  given a small lot with a starter home in a developed property not far from schools, markets, and jobs. In addition, one member of each family was offered skills training that can be parlayed into a job or a loan to set up micro-enterprise. Also, their formal and informal leaders were trained to  manage their homeowners’ association,  youth club,  mother’s circle, and cooperative,  so that we leave behind a legacy of an empowered community. The program was then considered a best practice in relocation.

EDUCATION AT ITS CORE

However, we kept true to the initial vision of our founders that education was the key to improving the quality of life of every Filipino and through them, to the full and equitable development of the country.

As the needs of the country had evolved, we transformed our  programs  from voc-tech scholarships to a number of strategic educational initiatives to improve the quality of education in our public school system, where 90% of our children and youth are enrolled. Among them:

CENTEX, which runs two public schools in Tondo and Batangas offering very bright children of very poor families the very best quality education. It was conceived as a laboratory school to determine what interventions can be introduced to the public education system to improve the quality of education. About 1,000 children are enrolled in the two schools at any one time, and our first batch of kindergarten students are entering their third year in college. DepEd Sec Armin Luistro , who recently visited CENTEX Tondo without prior notice to the principal, sent a text message to us saying how impressed he was, “not just by the facilities and programs but most importantly, by the teachers’ competence and dedication. Such a great school needs to be duplicated, perhaps at a lower cost.”

GILAS, a Multisectoral Social Consortium convened by the foundation, together with DepEd, CITC, corporations, business associations and funding agencies to put computer labs with internet access in all our public high schools.

With funding  support from the members of the consortium, legislators, as well as the Filipino diaspora in the US and matching funds from local governments, GILAS has to date connected more than 3,000 public high schools to the internet. It is transforming a whole generation of Filipinos into computer and internet literate adults capable of competing  in the workforce, whether here or abroad.

GILAS is arguably the largest private-sector led nationwide program in education which has had a significant impact on the sector it focused on. The government has since announced, first that it will sustain the computer labs with monthly allocations; and lately, that DepEd will finish the program by June this year.

It is also, we believe,  a best practice in Public-Private Partnership for Development and an example of how competitors in the business arena can rise above their commercial interests to work together for a national good.  In fact, it was cited in the Philippine Government Report on the Millennium Development Goals as a best practice in global partnerships.

Text2Teach is also a technology based delivery system for learning videos on science, math and English for Grades 4, 5, and 6. It is coupled with intensive teacher training to maximize the power of the videos.. With initial funding from Nokia, Globe and  other companies, it has improved the NAT scores  in about 400 under-resourced elementary schools.  I am delighted to announce that  we have reached an agreement with Nokia, Pearson Foundation, Globe, and DepEd to bring the project to 850 more schools starting this June.

To reach out to minority groups, the Education and Livelihood Skills Alliance aims to improve the quality of education in public schools in Muslim Mindanao. With funding from USAID, the alliance train teachers, PTAs, and Local School Boards to work together on the project.

MyLibrary is a new program launched by the Filipinas Heritage Library last year in partnership with Chevron, to address the paucity of public libraries. It aims to refurbish public libraries to make them safe, attractive places with current reference materials and interesting story books to engage one’s imagination. In addition,  the librarian and teachers are trained to start  and sustain a reading campaign to make our children independent readers and lifelong learners.

But even with the success of these educational initiatives , we realize that we cannot be monitoring and sustaining all of them. We have therefore decided to launch a new program called Enabling Education Communities. It is a program to harness the power of multisectoral partnerships at the local level to prioritize the education of our children. An Education Summit is held to get a commitment from: the parents to make sure their children stay in school; the DepEd to deliver good quality education; the local government to offer leadership and resources; and the business community and civil society to support these efforts.

Beyond academic excellence, the Ayala Young Leaders Program was launched 13 years ago to develop values-based servant leaders for the future. It has since become one of the most prestigious youth leadership programs in the country.  Its alumni now undertake their  own social development programs through their 23 chapters. And, in response to persistent requests from universities to train more student leaders, we have developed a campus based and  community based leadership program that follows the format of the annual Ayala Young Leaders Congress.

ENVIRONMENT

Ayala Foundation’s most successful environmental program is its Solid Waste Management program. It was piloted in a few Ayala-owned buildings with funding from the UNDP to educate building owners, administrators, and workers in the principles of segregation and recycling to reduce the amount of waste that has to go to our landfills. Today, the vast majority of buildings, mall tenants, residential condominiums, and subdivisions in Ayala developments have integrated the principles of SWM into their operations. Hundreds of tons of waste material are recycled into useful products; saving millions of pesos in trucking fees and giving additional income to livelihood groups in the communities around the developments.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The most significant and innovative program of the foundation in entrepreneurship is our Technology Business Incubator Program. With funding from the World Bank and through a strong partnership with the University of the Philippines and a large number of researchers, scientists, and venture capitalists, TBI has assisted tech start-ups; run tech boot camps; hosted forums on innovative technologies; and harnessed venture capitalists to invest in struggling technology-based enterprises.

The program has focused attention on an area that before then has been largely ignored – the needs of budding entrepreneurs for practical training and hand-holding in the challenging arena of technology.

DIASPORA PHILANTHROPY

Possibly the best example of the foundation’s ability to blaze new trails is our entry into the realm of diaspora philanthropy. Ayala Foundation USA was started in the year 2000 with the thought that perhaps some of the overseas Filipinos were already in a position to go beyond sustaining their families to giving back to the cities and towns where they grew up.

Despite the huge challenges of practically flying blind in a country as big as the United States, we found highly respected, successful Filipino Americans to serve on our board as well as thousands of FilAms who were just searching for ways of giving back to the country of their birth. Over the past ten years, AFUSA was able to generate about $10.5 million from about 7,000 donors.

Late last year, we successfully turned the foundation over to its natural stakeholders – the Filipino Americans themselves - who now lead the Philippine Development Foundation. Its focus will be on how to create a strong and robust science and technology sector as the impetus for accelerating economic growth and improving our global competitiveness.

MANGYANS ANCESTRAL LAND TITLE

One of the programs we are proudest of is our partnership with the Mangyans of Mindoro through the initiative of Jaime and Bea. Through scholarships, there are now a number of Mangyan college and voc-tech graduates working in the community. But their greatest success is in obtaining their Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title over more than 5,000 hectares of land. The challenge is now to harness the wisdom of the elders together with the modern skills of those who have been formally educated in order to oversee the sustainable development of their ancestral domain.

THE AYALA BRAND

Our 50th  anniversary logo includes the three words - ENVISION, EMPOWER, EXCEL

These words echo the values that drive the Ayala Brand. Indeed, we at the Foundation are ever conscious that we too must operate at the same levels of innovation, excellence and good governance that the Ayala Group has come to be known for.

So Ayala Foundation,  under the leadership of our Board of Trustees, has played an important part in:

(1)   The launch of the Ayala Group-wide  Social Initiatives focused on the three Es of

Education, Entrepreneurship and the Environment

(2)   The mandate given to all the companies to integrate their corporate social responsibility into the very core of their operations and to find that sweet spot where the public good especially for those at the base of the pyramid, is served in a sustainable and profitable manner;

(3)   The commitment to embed  the principles of sustainable development into their business models and to report on this effort through the first- ever conglomerate-wide Sustainability Report in the country.

On the part of the foundation, and as we look forward to the next 50 years, we are looking at three other words to guide us: STRATEGIC, SCALABLE, SUSTAINABLE. These will be the types of programs that we will focus on:

(4)    Strategic programs that make a permanent improvement in the lives of the individuals and communities we seek to serve.

(5)   Scalable programs that can be replicated nationwide to ensure that all Filipinos can  benefit from them.

(6)   Sustainable  programs that will continue beyond us.

THE NEXT 50 YEARS OF AYALA FOUNDATION

As our Chairman has said earlier, these goals can be achieved only by bringing together all the values that have guided us for the past 50 years –

- The passion to serve the poor and underprivileged

- The commitment to find the best solutions to the most complex and difficult social problems that beset them

-        The humility to ask help from others who share with us our vision for our country and our people, so that in strong bonds of partnership, patriotism, and friendship, we can achieve the lofty goals we set for ourselves.

Tonight, we recommit ourselves to those ideals:

-To envision a future that embraces all Filipinos

-To empower our community partners to shape their own future

-To excel in everything we do in the service of the country and our people

Through strategic, scalable, and sustainable programs that will live on beyond any one of us in this room tonight.

On behalf of our trustees, officers, and staff, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for joining us in this celebration of our enduring partnership. We look forward to working with you all in the next 50 years!

Mabuhay and God bless you all!