After building one of the country’s foremost conglomerates, this business leader and one of Asia’s top altruists is setting his sights on affordable education and housing for the poor
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao

Most chief executive officers in the Philippines consider making money the end all and be all of their existence. But there are those who are getting converted to the idea that they should be more involved in the many social ills plaguing the country, which is still struggling to become one of the fastest-growing economies in the region.

Fortunately, there are also leaders of Philippine companies who can do both – run a successful, profitable enterprise while contributing to the improvement in the lives of fellow Filipinos.
Ramon R. Del Rosario Jr., chief executive officer of the 52-year-old Phinma group of companies, is one of those leaders.

Under Del Rosario’s direction, the Phinma group shifted to a new portfolio of businesses – from cement manufacturing to education and affordable housing, among others, and has been earning a tidy profit along the way.

Continue Reading

The Century Properties founder persevered and hit the big time
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao

Jose E.B. Antonio, chairman of the Century Properties group, the largest privately held real estate development company in the Philippines, is not one to let failures stop him from achieving his goals.

Antonio says that he had invested in a number of small businesses – all of which did not perform as he expected – before he finally hit the big time with Century Properties. “I went through a stage when my small business ventures failed. These happened in the eighties before I went into real estate, at a time when the Philippine economy was spiraling down. Everyone was flying out of the country and people converted their pesos to dollars. So practically, all my business initiatives became unsuccessful. But what other people label or call a failure, I have learned, is just God’s way of pointing you in a new direction. So for me there are no mistakes, only new discoveries and new opportunities,” he says.

Continue Reading

The chairman and chief executive of Plantersbank built one of the most successful banks in the country and a lasting legacy
By Lynda C. Corpuz

He considers himself fortunate not to have experienced a major disappointment or setback in his career, but Ambassador Jesus P. Tambunting admits though he has made a lot of mistakes. “But I consider all of them part of my lifelong journey as ‘banker for SMEs’ (small and medium enterprises),” Tambuting says. “What is important (though) is to recognize your mistake, learn from it, and move on,” he stresses.

And on he moved to strike on his own, when in December 1972, Tambunting took over the Bulacan Development Bank with the plan of relocating it to the Makati financial center and transforming it into a commercial bank catering to large corporate accounts. But the plan changed and marked the turning point in Tambunting’s banking career.

Continue Reading

If you have built your riches and want to leave a legacy, consider putting up a charity under your name
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao

You’ve reached the pinnacle of your career. You’ve massed tens, if not hundreds, of millions in personal wealth. Now it’s time to give back more – a lot more – to society. You can, of course, do a Buffet and give your money to an existing foundation. However, if you want to be more of a hands-on philanthropist, and you want your giving to outlast you (and enjoy tax deductions), why not set up your own?

Foundations are defined as organizations or institutions that are established primarily by an endowment fund and their purpose is to distribute grant money to volunteer organizations, non-government organizations, cooperatives, people’s organizations or even individuals.

They get their money primarily through contributions from benefactors as well as their own livelihood programs. Corporate foundations, meanwhile, get funds from the mother corporation that sets aside a percentage of their income for foundation work.

The Association of Foundations, which is the umbrella organization of all kinds of foundations in the Philippines – from the philanthropic to the corporate – states that foundations play a significant role in national development because they complement the work of the government in delivering social services to the poor.

These foundations include those that were set up by prominent figures in the business sector who have passed away. These include the Enrique Zobel Foundation, Aurelio Periquet Foundation, Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, and Jaime V. Ongpin Foundation, to name a few.

Putting up foundations has become the way for them to continue their good work long after their death. And while it is true that some put up foundations as a tax shelter – since donations to foundations are tax deductible to some extent – they were put up for a much greater purpose.

Most are involved in education, and the rest in community organizing, environment, health and nutrition, and enterprise development or livelihood. Others have also evolved to include policy advocacy in their work, as they realized that delivery of social services is not enough to have a lasting impact.

The League of Corporate Foundations, for instance, which groups the country’s largest corporate foundations, is fighting for greater corporate social responsibility in the private sector. LCF also has its own programs, such as the 57-75 movement for education and the CSR Institute, where individuals and representatives of corporations can learn more about how CSR can be successfully integrated in the running of a corporation.

Fake foundations
Organizations with the word “foundation” in their corporate name have long been regarded suspiciously by Filipinos, as what comes to mind are groups that are put up with the sole purpose of doing more than just earn a profit.

That incident brought home the point that not all foundations are created equal and there are those that do take advantage of the good reputation of others to scam others of their money or contributions.

Rules were predictably amended and today, the Securities and Exchange Commission requires that organizations must have a capitalization of P1 million to have the right to use the term “foundation” in their name.

Otherwise, non-profit organizations or non-government organizations need to shell out only P100,000, according to the Association of Foundations, which has been in operation for 36 years.

The idea behind the higher capitalization for the foundation is to make it harder for groups to become foundations so that what would be left are legitimate foundations working on different causes – mainly poverty alleviation – that potential donors and benefactors can help.

The foundation or NGO has to submit to the SEC a notarized certificate of bank deposit to be registered, along with the articles of incorporation that will spell out their primary purpose, the source of funds, and proposed use of those funds.

The SEC Web site (www.sec.gov.ph) features downloadable forms, online registration and reservation of corporate names, rules, and regulations. NGOs and foundations can also check if their proposed name has already been taken and even how much they have to pay in registration fees.

Another precautionary measure put in place to check against fake foundations is the need to be accredited by the Philippine Council for NGO Certification.  PCNC (www.pcnc.com.ph) is a private, voluntary, non-profit group whose main function is to certify NGOs or foundations as meeting established criteria for financial management and accountability in the serve of underprivileged Filipinos.

These were set up by six of the country’s largest NGOs that believed that they should check their ranks and rid their group of bad eggs. The group has been authorized by the Department of Finance to certify NGOs and foundations as qualified to seek funds.

Foundations have to be in operation for at least two years before they can seek accreditation with the PCNC. The accreditation assures potential donors that the foundation they are looking to contribute to is legitimate and has passed standards, such as financial controls and project completion.

GK's Tony Meloto

By Antonio “Tony” Meloto

Let us always value our greatest asset and wealth: the Filipinos. We have lost our greatest treasure because we have forgotten majority of our fellowmen, as poverty brutalized our people. If you believe in turning the poor into our assets, like how we are helping them through Gawad Kalinga (means to “to give care”), then share with us the goal of building a prosperous first world nation through the following:

Expand your market. We at Gawad Kalinga share the value of Microsoft founder Bill Gates (which he cited at his Harvard University commencement speech in 2007): Bridge social inequity to add to the business profit. Wealthy Filipino families here have started to discover that it is to their advantage to donate lands and build communities, like what the Concepcions, Del Rosarios, Hilados, Dimayugas, Laurels, and Lopezes, to cite a few, do – all helping and believing in what Gawad Kalinga advocates for the poor.

Migrate from philanthropy to stewardship. If you want to help, think about nation-building. At Gawad Kalinga, from our people to our sponsors, we are not building houses as a temporary solution – we remove the ugly structures that result in peace and order and trigger economic activities. Like in Murcia, Negros Occidental, the local government bought five hectares of land at P200,000 per hectare. When Gawad Kalinga built 250 homes, the land value now is at P2 million per hectare. This is the first time we see in the Philippines a large scale donation of land made for the poor.

Create templates for development. For instance, around 400 major corporations have already partnered with Gawad Kalinga building homes for the homeless, putting up livelihood, and creating sustainable communities. Even rival businesses like Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever; Smart and Globe; and Petron and Shell, partnered with us. Their likes united because they see partnering with Gawad Kalinga not as a charity, but as a work of nation-building. They chose to help a cause that doesn’t necessarily appeal to their pocket and they have gone beyond conventional CSR (corporate social responsibility). They are also putting in their people’s expertise, to also let trigger their interest, realize their talent, and achieve potential for their greatness.

Choose to help one with the most impact. Like those corporations and wealthy families, if you want to help, pick an organization or a cause that have the highest credibility and attract the most people, like from the academe, businesses, and other non-government organizations (NGOs) here and abroad, as credibility will what also make an activity massive and sustainable. If you choose to help Gawad Kalinga, you will see and feel the impact of your contribution, because what we’re doing is visible, quantifiable, and replicable.

Help a group that attracts diversity. We also attract collective response, like how rival corporations, NGOs, among others, are partnering with us to realize our cause. You can’t achieve the highest impact unless you are willing to work with other experts as well as humanitarian and philanthropic groups. That is how we work in Gawad Kalinga. We do that and we also want our business partners prosper, the political leaders to love this country, build a first world Philippines, and raise a first class Filipino who honors the nation and God.

ANTONIO MELOTO is the founder and executive director of the Gawad Kalinga Development Foundation, with vision for the Philippines to be a slum-free, squatter-free nation. Together with its partners, Gawad Kalinga is now in the process of transforming poverty stricken areas with the goal of building 700,000 homes in 7,000 in 7 years (2003-2010), and is in over 900 communities all over the Philippines and in other developing countries. In 2006, Gawad Kalinga and Meloto received the 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, the first from the Asian Nobel Prize to bestow such to both an individual and an organization.