BY RUFINO T. MAGBANUA |
Upon the invitation of Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) Chair Paul G. Dominguez, ABCI President Robertino E. Pizarro attended the annual meeting of PBSP Mindanao on September 8, 2014 at SMX Convention Center in Davao City.
Pizarro was accompanied by Juan Paolo P. Pizarro, plantation Operations Manager of ABERDI.
During the meeting, PBSP launched the Inclusive Agribusiness Program for Mindanao, geared to incorporate stakeholders within the company value chains as suppliers, consumers, employees and distributors to create shared value.
Currently, PBSP is working with various agribusiness companies involved in rubber, coffee, cacao, oil palm, and seaweeds to enhance their inclusive business models and improve income and productivity of farmers in Mindanao.
Pizarro lauded the inclusive agribusiness initiative of the PBSP, saying that the program comes in time as the government seeks to transform Mindanao from the “Land of Promise to the Land of Promises Fulfilled.”
The program has outlined clear strategic imperatives towards harnessing the resources of Mindanao for the common good.
PBSP introduced its current undertaking to advocate inclusive business and to draw support from the organization’s member companies, non-member companies, civil society organizations and government officials.
The program upholds PBSP’s Inclusive Business Imperative (IBI) campaign in Mindanao, aiming to particularly address poverty, job generation and the need for climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.
Pizarro commended PBSP’s efforts for inclusiveness, equitability and meaningful progress, “one that has enabled countless Filipinos to live more dignified and productive lives.”
“Instead of viewing communities as mere locations for factories or markets for their products, PBSP and its partners sought to develop those communities into partners towards development—whether through PBSP’s flagship program for tuberculosis control, for example, or the construction of public school classrooms through your initiative, or even the sustained promotion of corporate social responsibility in all of your activities,” he said.
The priority industries of PBSP’s inclusive agribusiness program include coffee, cacao, corn, palm oil and rubber.
Meanwhile, Dominguez inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Mindanao Development Authority chair Lualhati Antonino for a collaboration to implement PBSP’s initiatives and programs that aim to achieve inclusive business growth for the Mindanaoans.