Aldrich Justin Ong's Reaction to Corporate Social Responsibility and the Philippine Experience

From the article, I observed that the Corporate Social Responsibility plays an important role in our society today, it is like the conscience working inside the mind of the company that reminds them to make sure that they are operating in a healthy manner; healthy in a way that it does not only earn a profit but is also concerned about its environment and making sure that it is abiding strictly by rules intended to protect the welfare of the community. I think that the principle behind the “Golden Rule” and “Karma” applies.

As we can see, landslides, ozone depletion, pollution, floods, accidents, illnesses and other devastating phenomena are strong evidence that shows how destructive the consequences of unscrupulous acts of human beings are. It is indeed true that everything that one does has its corresponding consequences; it is just a matter of action and reaction just like the principle of “Karma”. Good deeds will come with pleasing results and bad deeds will result an undesirable outcome.

However, it is unfortunate for us to see that currently, we are suffering from companies that are still not abiding by the principles of Corporation Social Responsibility, like what happened to the recent landslide that occurred in Southern Leyte. Loggers just kept on cutting trees without replacing them by planting new ones. Of course, the soil will tend to be more vulnerable to landslides because the trees that provided support were already gone! Since they’re the ones cutting the trees, they should know the consequences of their actions. Therefore, to ensure that they’re being responsible, they should know the allowable number of trees that they should cut and they should also take the responsibility of planting new ones to compensate for the trees that they took from the place. However, I surmise it is evident that they did not take the appropriate actions because of what happened.

Another example would be the “struggle of the indigenous people of Ecuador”, it was said that between 1971 and 1992, an oil company “Texaco”, has already extracted approximately 1.4 billion barrels in Amazon, moreover, it is also approximated that 16.8 million gallons of waste were discharged in Amazon River without follow-up treatment and monitoring. These substances were said to contain a toxic substance namely: “benzene” and “lead” that affect the mental development of children and destroy the nearby water source of indigenous people.

The reason why the company did not comply with the proper disposal of wastes is because it is more expensive than just dumping them directly into the streams and jungle. But then, they suffered more when the people filed a case against them. If only they just did the right thing, their company would surely flourish and not only would they enjoy obtaining oil from Ecuador, they would also be able to help Ecuador progress. It would have been a win-win situation and not a win-lose situation. However, because the company was blinded by their thirst for profit, the end result was tragic.

These events are just few examples of what can happen when we do not act responsibly. It would be better if companies and the government would learn from these experiences so that they can do something about it.

It was also mentioned in the article that the application of CSR was voluntary; but I think that the government needs to implement strict mandatory rules when it comes to the responsibilities of the companies to the environment, because our life depends on our environment. Whatever happens to the environment affects everybody.