Great Speeches: Reaction to Keynote Speaker's Speech

(Pleasantries)

Thank you very much for inviting us to be part of this forum.

PCCI stands committed to pioneer sustainable initiatives through our various local chambers to ensure that the problems of population management and poverty incidence will be addressed especially in the rural areas of the country.

It is true that business plays a vital role in contributing to the upliftment of the quality of life of individuals especially the low-middle income families and SME workers. Over the years, we have seen the plight of people who are in the midst of poverty and growing number of needs for their families. As a result of this, a number of social problems arises – criminality, street children, child labor, among others, are just some of the social constraints that we are confronted with in the various communities where businesses operate.

In this view, corporate social responsibility has emerged as a function of business. But CSR doesn’t stop in providing temporary relief in the lives of the less fortunate but providing a sustainable means for these individuals and families to develop their full potentials as actors in economic development.

I agree on PRISM’s goal of increasing productivity of workers vis-à-vis population management. By doing so, as I mentioned earlier, we are able to develop the full potentials of individuals to contribute to the economic growth and development of the country.

Coming from this perspective, we at PCCI as the largest business organization in the country and the recognized voice of Philippine business has come up strong with our platform of advocacy on population management.

Population management makes perfect business sense. It is in this context that our population management advocacy is premised at. PCCI’s population management advocacy and activities are anchored on the general understanding of the development challenges of the high population growth rate in the country as it impacts the sustainability of business.

Our thrust is to act as a conduit in bringing forward the necessary information to help individuals and couples come up with an informed decision and exercise their freedom of choice in managing their families.

Moreso, to effectively articulate our vision into doable programs we are adopting a three-pronged approach to effectively engage our local chambers in implementing specific projects that will cater to the needs of their SMEs and their workers. These approaches consist of advocacy, partnership with NGOs and establishment of service clinics.

These I do believe go hand in hand with the ideals expressed by Cris in articulating PRISM’s vision of seeing business-led interventions on population management.

But our appreciation of population management as to the role of business doesn’t end here. Having a vital function in administering population management activities, we look at the bigger picture that defines our emerging role in this intensive program of advocacy.

This is the reason why as part of our workprogram, we will also be looking at emerging issues on reproductive health such as HIV/AIDS prevalence in the workplace, the alarming high infant and maternal mortality rates, and the underdeveloped healthcare infrastructure in the country. All these call for enhanced interventions that only the private sector can provide supplementing all other programs of government.

We welcome PRISM’s entry to the population management advocacy and service delivery spectrum. Your ideals concretely link the planned interventions we in PCCI have in mind.

It is in this regard that I wish to inform you that we are ready and committed to work hand in hand in ensuring that the efforts we have started years back will not stall and continue to flourish especially in communities where private sector support is most needed.

Once again, thank you very much for this opportunity and good morning to all.