My Thoughts @ 23

Today, we presented our Service Learning activity video to the class. It has been 6 weeks from now, but I can still remember the experience and the learning stays on me forever. To recall, last February 25, we went to CARD-MRI Development Institute (CMDI) in Bay, Laguna to establish our Honesty Store. To give you an idea of how are service learning experience was, below is our group's final video presentation compiled by our group mate Emmie:



The concept was borrowed from the honesty store in Batanes, where there is only a box for buyers to insert the payment, and there is no guard or cashier looking in the store. There is also no camera, so it will only be the buyer's conscience that’s going to call his/her attention for not paying. It is indeed a test of honesty each time a person buys.

When we established the honesty store, our main goal is to inspire others to be honest. We want the students to appreciate honesty and make it as a personal value. However, upon interacting with the CARD MRI students, we found out that they are doing community immersions, and the funds that they’ll be getting from the honesty store will not be put into their own needs but to the needs of the community. They will use it to fund their community immersions. Thus, instead of inspiring, we are actually the ones been inspired.

Until know, I cannot forget how inspiring these students are. Imagine, those students came out from poor families, they walk to the school everyday, and they don’t have that much excess money for themselves, and yet they still chose to help. They find ways in order to fund their community activities. I just can’t imagine how selfless they are, because they actually use the income from honesty for their own needs like books, school supplies, etc… And I think, this is actually the true meaning of social responsibility. They don’t just help out of their excess resources, instead they really look for a way to sustain their community programs despite of the limited resources they have.

Moreover, they are students. They have lessons, assignments, and other school related things to do. And actually, as an MBA student, one of the struggles I have is that I have limited time. It’s because aside from school, I still have a day job. But upon knowing the students, since they came from poor families, they have households to do and sometimes they have to help their parents in selling or doing business. Despite of the school and home responsibilities they have, they still find time to execute their community activities. For their community activities, they facilitate feeding programs, read along program for the children, and seminars for women.

In class, we are taught by Ms. Pia Manalastas that CSR is not just a short time charity work; it should be something that is part of the daily operation and should be sustainable. This is actually what I witnessed in our honesty store. The profits that the students will get from honesty store will then be used to fund their community activities, making it a cycle of operation since honesty store is a sustainable source of funds. The store will be managed by the students, and in order to make the operation of honesty store sustainable, once they graduated, it will be passed on to the next batch. Our group share some techniques on how to manage their inventories and how to promote their store to other students, so that their store will last long and earn more.

Today that our Business Ethics and CSR class has officially ended, I can say that I really learned a lot, and my experience with our service learning project is something that I will value the most. It brought me through a lot of realizations within me, and on how social responsibility operates in the society. I realized that as long as there is a strong drive for us to help, we can always find ways on how to do so. 

Today, I presented my project proposal in the class. We are required to come out with our CSR project for our company.  I work in ING bank under Financial Markets Operations, and of the things I noted was that we are printing a lot of papers for our end of day. So my project proposal is to go paperless. 

To briefly explain my project, here's the quick background about it. My project plans to automate and make the manual end of day checking procedure of my team paperless. At our present process, we are manually printing our end of day (EOD) reports, which contains all the transactions processed for the day, and will verify if payments for the trades settling for the day have been sent already or not. 

These EOD checks will ensure that all the trades have been executed correctly, and that there are no pending or delayed payments to our clients. The risk of pre-settlement and settlement failure is minimized through this check. 

However, since FM Asia Onshore provides service to different Asian branches, we have to print end of day reports for all of these branches which include Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei, Beijing, Seoul, Manila, and Tokyo. With this current procedure, hundreds of pages are printed every day, making heavy usage of paper supplies and high printing costs for energy and ink usage. It is also time consuming to print and go to the printer and wait for pages to be completely printed. Manual checking is also prone to human errors and time consuming as well. There is also a problem in terms of space where these print outs will be stored for record keeping.

What are the benefits of this project?

1. Minimizes the Paper Consumption

ING believes that managing environmental impact is a key to achieving the goal of being truly sustainable. As part of ING, our team should also participate in minimizing our environmental damages to the society. Given that we are heavily uses paper on our daily operation, we should try to minimize it as possible and as soon as we can. Statistically, a rough average of 24 trees is needed to produce a ton of non-recycled printing papers (Conservatree Org, 2006). 1 ton of paper is equivalent to 400 reams or 200,000 sheets of paper. If we are to compute, for our team’s EOD check, every year we are using around 30,000 ( = 300 days x 100 paper) pages of paper which implies that 3 to 4 trees each year has been downed for this process alone.

By making the process paperless, we are contributing to sustainability as we are minimizing our global environmental footprint. At the same time, we are also decreasing the cost of using paper.  Therefore, with this initiative we are not just benefitting the society, but also benefitting ourselves in terms of minimized cost.

2. Decreases Energy Consumption and Printing Costs

As mentioned in the corporate website of ING, we are aware that “the modern world depends on energy for everyday needs ranging from food production to the transport of goods and people, to heating and lighting. Not wasting it is as important as how it’s generated.” (ING, 2015) By implementing this initiative, we minimize our energy consumption, which therefore adheres to our stand in the notion of energy. We are going to save energy from not printing, and at the same time our printing costs will be minimized. Lesser ink and lesser electricity costs will be met.

3. Saves Storage Spaces and Easier Record Keeping

One problem with too much print outs is that we ran out of spaces to store these files. Several storages will be filled out with these papers, and if we are to continue with this process for more years, we would need to rent a warehouse to store these, which entails higher costs for the storage, and it will be hard for us to look for the previous report files we had. Operating in the field of financial services, we are internally and externally audited from time to time, which means that we really need to keep our previous files for references. By implementing this initiative, it will be easier for us to look for the previous reports we had, since it will just be done through a mouse click on a designated computer document folder. Plus, there is nothing to worry about physical storage spaces.

4. Saves Time and Minimizes Employee Effort

It is sometimes exhausting for employees to go back and fort to the printer. It takes time to go to the printer and wait for the reports to be printed. Aside from that, manual checking by the naked eyes of employees is being done. As we all know, humans are prone to errors and might missed to check some of the trades especially that we are operating globally and there are thousands of trades executed among different types of products. 

As part of ING, I believe that our team should participate in minimizing our environmental damages to the society. Given that we heavily uses paper on our daily operation, we should try to minimize it as possible and as soon as we can. Our small effort will contribute to our global stand in the society, and will be a big help to sustain the environment. As of now, my project is still ongoing and I'm hoping that it will be fully implemented soon, so that we can minimize our carbon footprint and make our process more environmental friendly. 

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Works Cited:

Today, our group reported about the Marcopper Mining Case. To give you a short background about the case, below is the summary of who Marcopper is, and what happen.

Marcopper Mining Corporation explores, develops and operates mining sites which produces copper, silver and gold. It is co-owned (40%) and managed by Placer Dome, a Canadian company. Moreover, it is considered the largest employer in Marinduque and created most of the infrastructure on the island. It also makes up most of Marinduque’s revenue, and its mines produce 20% of the country’s copper supply.

Unfortunately, despite the economic benefits it brought to Marinduque, Marcopper has its tremendous environmental damages. On March 24, 1996, the plug that sealed the Tapian pit tunnel (the tunnel that serves as tailings dam) to the Boac River had cracked and this released 2-3 million tons of mine waste into the river. In effect, flash floods isolated villages, agricultural fields were inundated, and drinking water was contaminated. Moreover, fish, shrimp and other sources of foods were killed. The Boac River which used to be their main source of livelihood was then declared dead.

After the disaster, Marcopper and Placer Dome stopped its mining operations. It was found out that Marcopper already knew of the leaks in the drainage tunnel back in 1995, as it sought the help of a geotechnical consultant to plug the leaks. The Bureau of Mines, who monitored Marcopper’s compliance with the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), made no report of this. Moreover, the government tried to cover up its negligence and asserted that environmental laws were dutifully enforced throughout the years. The DENR Undersecretary who approved the ECC even denied that he knew of the Taipan drainage tunnel.

As we can see, at the end, it seems that DENR wants to wash itself away from the fault. But, who issued the ECC for Marcopper to use Tapian pit? Who is supposedly be checking those mining operations? For me, DENR should admit their faults, and do something about it. It is their accountability to protect the environmental claims of the Philippines. That is why in our case analysis, we decided to analyze in the perspective of the DENR. What should the DENR do in order to prevent his kind of issues?

Our group concluded that the DENR in cooperation with the government should implement higher DENR standards for mining operations and shut down companies that do not comply. We want to give emphasis to shut down non-compliant mining companies, as this will immediately give justice to the citizens who are badly affected by their bad practices. If we are to prolong the bad operation of mining companies, then the damage to environment becomes heavier which could lead to another mining disaster.

Last 2015, we had another mining disaster, the Philex mining disaster. Indeed, history repeats itself. It seems that we have not learned from the Marcopper case. For me, the root cause of this is really the implementation of law and the lack of action from DENR. They should not be just issuing ECC without being cautious. They should check and monitor the compliance of mining companies.

In my opinion, the existing law has its own drawbacks and loopholes. In Philippine Mining Act of 1995, Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) exists. MPSA is an agreement where the government grants to the contractor the exclusive right to conduct mining operations within a contract area and shares in the gross output. In other words, the government gets a percentage from the income of mining companies, and this is aside from the usual tax imposed to the company. Therefore, I actually believe that one of the reasons why previously mining companies where not ordered shutdown, is that there is a potential loss of government’s income from it. Aside from that, the process of issuing ECCs is also prone to under-the-table negotiations and corruption. We witnessed how corrupt our government is, and I can’t help but doubt their services.

Lately, our current DENR secretary, Gina Lopez, orders many mining companies who fail to comply with environmental requirements to shut down and immediately stop operating. I agree with her initiative. Although, companies are protesting that this is unfair for them as they are not subjected to due process and that potential income will be lost, and even their workers will lose jobs and income. But, at the end of the day, humans will always need natural resources, and how are we going to sustain it when we keep on abusing it? Just imagine, what if suddenly our water sources at home suddenly become contaminated with mining tailings? Is income still important to us, when we don’t even have a clean water to drink?

Just to give you a short background, ING (International Netherlands Group) is a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering banking services. Our company offers retail and wholesale banking services to customers in over 40 countries. We have a broad customer base, comprising individuals, families, small businesses, large corporations, institutions and governments.

In the Philippines, we are part of ING Business Shared Services (IBSS), which is a young, dynamic and innovative organization that works with ING’s global businesses to optimize the delivery of banking services. We provide support and service to the different global branches of ING. We are committed to ensure accurate and efficient delivery of ING’s financial products across all of its clients globally.

As a financial institution, ING’s role is to support and encourage economic, social and environmental progress, leading to a better quality of life. In terms of economic progress, our financial market products play a vital role in this. Government or corporation requires funds to finance its operations and long-term investments. To do this, these institutions will raise money through buying and selling in the financial markets. And that’s where ING takes place. We provide banking/funds for different needs of the growing society.

ING is also a signatory to the UN Global Compact in 2006. We were committed to contribute in achieving the former Millennium Development Goals and current Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We indirectly contribute to many SDGs through the clients and specific projects we finance (such as providing funds for government projects) and the financial services we offer.

Our primary focus is on the goals on promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth (goal 8) and sustainable consumption and production (goal 12). It’s because as a bank, we are committed to empower our customers and accelerate sustainability within our company as well as with our customers and in society.

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Now, when I was browsing through our corporate website, I discovered a lot of stories and news on how ING participated on minimizing environmental footprint and how it helped for the projects that promoted the betterment of society. One of my favorite stories is about the Dakota Access pipeline loan. Dakota pipeline is actually an ongoing issue as many protesters think it could harm sacred burial sites and contaminate drinking water in the area where Native American tribes, Standing Rock, lives. (For full story, you may visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/39420698).

Image from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/39420698

ING, which is one of the lenders, has withdrawn its participation in providing loans for this government’s approved construction of Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States. This pipeline project will run from the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota to southern Illinois, crossing beneath the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, and will badly affect the Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation where the Standing Rock Sioux tribal is established. The Standing Rock tribe argues that the pipeline will constitute a threat to the region's clean water and to ancient burial grounds.

Given that the tribes are raising their concerns, and many people will be badly affected by the said project, our company ING declines to participate in the project, despite the huge amount of profits it may get from financing the project. ING is actually the first from a group of 17 banks to dissociate from financing the project.

“We are heartened that ING has made the conscience decision to remove itself from a project that tramples on the rights of sovereign nations,” the Standing Rock Sioux tribal chairman, Dave Archambault, said in an article in The Guardian Newspaper.

There are a lot of stories that will show how social responsible ING is. It includes different renewable energy projects, supporting poor economies, animal rights, and many internal company initiatives on how it minimizes the company’s environmental footprint. You may visit https://www.ing.com/ING-in-Society/Sustainability.htm to discover more about these stories.

Here in the Philippines, ING is also doing a lot of CSR programs. My favorite is the Orange Bike Project:

Image taken from: http://www.worldvision.org.ph/press-center/aeta-children-receive-orange-bikes

In cooperation with World Vision Philippines and World Bicycle Relief, ING launched the Orange Bike Project. The goal of the project is to provide bicycles to the children who live far from the school. As we all know, in some provinces, children find it hard to go to school because of the distance and the lack of mode to transportation. With the bikes donated by ING, the children can get to their school faster and safer, thus improving their school attendance and academic performance.

Last October 2013, the first  ING Orange Bike project was launched in the towns of San Isidro and Cordon in Isabela province, where children had to walk at least five kilometers to go to school. Then last 2014, with the help of World Vision Philippines, ING Bank distributed 590 bikes to four high schools in Zambales in the municipalities of Cabangan, and Botolan, the province’s largest town. Recognizing  the significance of the project, Department of Education (DepED) secretary, Br. Armin A. Luistro said, “This will not only help them get to school but also provides a way to teach road safety and environmentalism.” (Subic Bay News, 2014)

For me,this project is really a big help for those children who are far from the school. It gives them an easier way of going to school. Aside from that, bikes are environment friendly, so in that way, environmentalism is also promoted.

While doing this project, I can say that our company is doing great in terms of CSR. As one of the financial giants globally, we understand our value and impact to the society. We operate not only for the sake of gaining profits, but also for our mission to contribute to the success of the global society. We strongly believe in sustainable development, and that preserving the environment and supporting the betterment of the society will lead us to a further success. As learned in the class, CSR should be part of how the company operates, and that’s how ING do business. In our daily operation, we are always mindful of our social responsibility, and that could be the reason why we are recognized globally. Our efforts in making the society better have paid us well in terms of public trust and good company reputation.

Today, in our class, one of the cases discussed was about the CSR in Lamoiyan corporation. Honestly, I have no idea with who Lamoiyan is, it was only in the class where I found out that they are the manufacturer of Hapee toothpaste. I am familiar with Hapee; I see it on groceries and sari-sari stores everywhere in the Philippines. Their endorsers are quite big as well. However, I still prefer other brand to use, because my family sticks to that brand ever since the toothpaste world has begun.

Anyway, one of the notable things about Lamoiyan is employing deaf people in their company. As we all know, it’s hard to get a job when one of your senses is impaired, especially in our economy when there’s a lot of normal people looking for a job. Now, with this kind of initiative, opportunities are given out to hearing impaired people and of course, this is really a good initiative. As stated in UN under article 1 of human rights, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, which should implies that as long as we are qualified regardless of whether we are impaired or not, we should have equal rights for job opportunities. And this is what Lamoiyan promotes, the equality between normal and impaired people.

As I said, I’m not really familiar with Lamoiyan Corporation, which makes me believe that the company is relatively small as compared to other toothpaste manufacturers. Now, my reflection is this: If small companies can do initiatives like that, then bigger companies have no excuse not to take part in hiring these impaired people. Obviously, Hapee is not the number one toothpaste brand in our country, but the company was still able to sustain this initiative. Although they have other products like Dazz dishwashing liquid, Licealiz shampoo…etc. Among all those product Hapee is the most popular one, which does not even make it to number one or two in terms of competitiveness.

I think that if all companies will be hiring impaired people, depending on the nature of job, our labor force will be more diverse, opening opportunities to different people with different abilities. It’s like giving equal chances among all. According to Lamoiyan owner, Dr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro which is a graduate of De La Salle University, deaf employees are actually the best. In an interview in ABS-CBN news, he said, "If it’s just manual (referring to the job), if it’s just using the hands or the eyes, they’re as good as you and me—in fact, they’re more focused because of their handicap.”

I remember when I was working in JP Morgan Chase in Taguig, one of our colleague is lame, suffering from Polio. Having a polio does not hinder him from doing a job well done, since the job only requires computer operational tasks and walking or running is not really a requirement. I believe hiring impaired people does not really make any disadvantages to the companies as long as they are fitted to work on the nature of the job.

Recently, I've read an article about Southstar Drugstore who's hiring PWDs as employees. These employees who are initially hired under probationary will have a chance to become permanent employees once they passed the evaluation process. Majority of these PWDs are distributed along different branches of the drugstore in Manila, while others are in the main office. According to the drugstore, this is not for a charity cause, they are really open to hiring PWDs, and said that these employees will be treated just like other employees. 

For me, the initiative of Southstar Drugstore is really helpful for the disabled. They are actually hiring people with autism which is usually viewed by the society as mentally disabled making them appear as if they are not capable of doing any job. Of course, now that a company is accepting them, it just proves that they are capable of having a job, just like an ordinary person. Furthermore, this initiative indeed promote equality between PWDs and normal person. 

Another benefit of hiring PWDs in the company is that they stay in the company. On an HR perspective, employee retention is one of the top goals since hiring new workers is costly for the company. Millennials nowadays are labeled as job hoppers since they tend to switch jobs from time to time (and I am a bit guilty with it). But for the impaired people, since only few companies are looking for them, there is a greater probability that they will stay long in the company. 

In terms of employment costs for the impaired, companies spend money for charity programs such as donating to the poor, hosting charity events, sponsorship, etc... Instead of giving them assistance through this charity programs, which is also costly, why not give them a stable job? This is a more permanent solution in terms of supporting their daily needs. Feeding programs will definitely feed the handicaps for a day, but providing those jobs will definitely feed them for years, making them more stable and independent. And I believe that this is really the true meaning of CSR. It’s the ability to include social responsibility in the daily operation of the company, making it a truly sustainable CSR program, dedicated to make contributions for the betterment of the society. 

Today, in our Business ethics class, we discuss about the meaning of Corporate Social Responsibility.  In the class, we define CSR as how the company takes into consideration its impact to society and environment as it runs its business. We don’t just look CSR as an act of charity. Therefore, CSR is more dependent on company’s daily operations and its employees’ practices. It’s more than just a onetime charity event wherein company just help and feed others for a day. I should be something that is sustainable. The company should analyze its operations, and think of a way to further improve and benefit the society.

We are also presented with the pyramid of CSR. In this pyramid, starting from the base, we have:

1. Economic Responsibilities – This is actually the base foundation, the responsibility of the company to make profit. It’s because how will the company sustain its operation if there are no profits generated? Thus, it is necessary for a company to earn profit and become financial stable.

2. Legal Responsibilities – This responsibility entails adherence to the government rules and regulations. Companies are governed by the government to ensure the protection of its citizens and that the company’s operation is not illegal. Without this, the company will become free to do anything which could lead to abuse of its people and harmful products.

3. Ethical Responsibilities – This refers to the responsibility of companies to be ethical. CSR will not exist if the company and its employees are unethical. Companies should always do what is right and just. They should not cause harm.

4. Philanthropic Responsibilities – This is the top of the CSR Pyramid, which simply implies that this is really the requirement for a company to be considered socially responsible. These responsibilities include contributing to the society, protecting the environment, and helping the society to achieve an improved life.

Moreover in a more modern version of CSR pyramid, sustainability is added. CSR should be sustainable, meaning it should last and continue to be practiced in the long run. In other words, it is not temporary.

One of the examples discuss in class is the operation of Lamoiyan company. Lamoiyan, which is known for manufacturing Hapee toothpaste, is open to hire deaf-mute employees. In fact, 30% of their workforce consists of these people with disabilities. This is actually inspiring because the company is giving opportunities to the disabled, eliminating the usual job discrimination among these kinds of people. This, of course has a great impact to society in terms promoting equality, and this is what true CSR is. We include CSR on the daily operation of the business. It’s not just about charity.

On the contrary to CSR, our case study for today is about the fall of Enron. Enron is used to be one of the top performing and largest company in the US. Its fall started out when it was discovered that they are hiding details on their financial statement. They did not include on their books some of their liabilities, and there are unearned income that has been recorded already as their income. The company also pays money to their external auditors so that these activities will remain hidden. They also have a bad practice of eliminating underperforming employees, and retaining only the best performers. This can actually promote unhealthy competition among peers instead of teamwork. When their unethical practices were discovered, the company started to fall and later on filed bankruptcy. The executives of the company were even put to jail.

This case is indeed a learning experience for both the company and the government. After this incident, government has implemented stricter business policies and accounting principles has been revised. This has a huge effect to all companies, given that they would need to abide now on stricter rules. Other companies should mark this as a bad example, and should do the opposite. There should be transparency and integrity in making the financial statements. External auditors should not be accepting any bribes from its clients.

I agree with the conclusion of the group reporters in the class, wherein in order for Enron to bring back what was lost, they would need to establish new ways of processes and hire new employees. For me, there should be a better compliance and controls team with regards to their financial accounting and activities.  They should also promote ethical values among their employees. Company’s operation is highly dependent on the type of people it has. There should be no conflict of interest between the two parties.

All in all, I realized that doing good business requires good business ethics and CSR. Values are such important things in running the business. If negative values such as greed are planted in the minds of employees, then it will just be like Enron, at the end it falls down.

Upon arrival, one of our group mates, Neil Polinag, give us a short background about CARD MRI since he is part of this company. According to him, CARD MRI is a microfinance and social development institution which provides assistance towards the economically challenged families in rural areas, and promotes empowerment to women, particularly mothers, in the society. This group issues loans to mothers of the poor families, so that they can use it for their small time businesses and be able to provide for their families. They actually prefer to provide loans to women, since they believed that women are more family oriented than men. They also provide business training in order for the poor families to have their own small businesses. Aside from granting loans and providing business by microfinance, CARD MRI has now established a school for BS Entrepreneurship program and plans to have BS Accountancy as well in the future. Their college degree programs are accredited by CHED. These programs and services that CARD MRI offers are the result of its passion driven goal of uplifting the poor.

After knowing the background of the company, I realized that it is really possible to set up a company that uplifts the marginalized sector of the society, and at the same time be able to sustain the business. I actually searched in the internet how CARD MRI started, and I discovered that their mother company, CARD has an initial capital of only 20 pesos and a typewriter. From then the company grew out of several donations from different local and international organizations during the time of Cory Aquino wherein a lot of NGOs where established and the society is in the midst of rebuilding the Philippines out of dictatorship. 

Up to this date CARD MRI delivers microfinance and financial services. But, they are now providing additional programs and services for the poor like microinsurance, livelihood, health, environmental, agricultural, and educational and other community development programs.

The Actual Service Learning

After the introduction of the company by Neil, we then proceed to planning the Honesty Store concept and operation. Since our program will be run by the officers of Block 7 BS Entrepreneurship students, we designated responsibility to each class officers. We also recorded the things that we donated, because we plan to go back and see where our goods gone through. We plan to evaluate if honesty was really practiced and see if the business is earning. Right after planning and organizing our thoughts, we now proceed to meet these college officers.

These students have already started their honesty store, but their problem is that they are lack in items to sell. That’s why we decided to support their idea and give them the supplies they needed to run this business. Aside from the earnings they can get out of this store, they are actually promoting the value of honesty by this kind of initiative. Honesty is one of the values that is hard to maintain, but through this kind of initiative wherein honesty will be practiced each time students buy, we are hoping that honesty will be planted in their hearts and become one of their personal core value.

We spend time to meet the students and interview their experience in maintaining the store. It actually amazed me that they already have separation of duties and proper recording of inventory and expenses. As young as they are, they already know the basics of maintaining a business. They already have an assigned person for buying goods, counting inventory, and keeping the money.

However, they actually encountered a problem in dishonesty. On their first week of operation, someone has stolen their jar of money. Around 700 pesos was lost by this incident. After encountering that problem, they decided that instead of an open jar, they make a big wooden box with a caption "God is our security guard", that has a lock to prevent further stealing to happen. On a positive side, given that they have lost around 700 pesos initially, now that they are on the third week of operation, their profits are enough already to cover that loss. That really amazes us because in a span of two weeks they were able to recover what was lost. So we ask them how, and their response is that some people are paying in excess. Some customers pay higher than their designated item’s price. The students count this as “donation” in their balance records.   That really amazes me because there are a lot of other stores within the area, but the people choose to buy in honesty store and even pays on a higher price.

Aside from that, I’m actually inspired by the students, not only because of the idea and the earnings, but also because the money they earned from the honesty store is also spent on a good use. They are using it for their community immersion or NSTP program. They are doing feeding programs, read along program for the children, and seminars for women. Initially, I thought that these earnings were used for their education and other necessities, but I’m wrong. It is being spent to help other people. They are selling for a cause.

A photo collage of the students' community immersion.

Yesterday in our business ethics class, we discussed about ethics on consumer production and marketing. It’s really an interesting discussion, because as consumers, it’s really our concern to ensure that the products we buy are safe and durable. That’s why we have trusted brands and preferred products to buy in the market. And if a product we buy is defective or caused us injuries, we appeal to the manufacturer because that is our consumer rights. However, the question is where do the consumer's duty to protect their own interests end and the manufacturer's duty to protect consumers' interests begin? It’s because sometimes we, as consumers, are the cause of our own injuries by using the product incorrectly or irrationally. That is why some producers include in their product labels some safety warnings so that consumers would be aware of a potential harm it can bring.

However, I believe that it is the moral duty of the producers to ensure that their products are safe. It’s because, as mentioned also in the class, it is only the producer who has a full knowledge on its own product. Like for example, in the recent Samsung Galaxy Note 7 issue wherein its batteries are exploding, even if they say that the reason for explosion could be the overcharging of the consumers, it is still Samsung’s fault. It’s because they are the one who manufactured it, they should have tested their products in different conditions before releasing to the public. The public only knows how to use the product but does not exactly care and know how it has been manufactured. That’s why for me, for situations like that, it should be the manufacturer that should be responsible. It’s actually a good decision that Samsung has started recalling and reissuing new phones for those who bought Samsung Note 7, because that’s the ethical thing to do. Even if it’s only the battery that’s causing the explosion, it is still Samsung’s fault, since they’re the ones who manufactured it. After all, the buyers bought it because it’s “Samsung” and not because of a good battery.

Similar to the Samsung scenario is the Ford vs Firestone Case - the case study we discussed in class. In this case, the product Ford Explorer is causing road accidents, and Ford and Firestone are pointing each other as liable for the case. Ford is blaming Firestone, saying that the cause of accidents is due to its tires. On the other hand, Firestone defends it by saying that the poor design of Ford Explorer is the one to blame. Moreover, the government also fails to do its role of protecting the welfare of its citizens by not reacting immediately and just let accidents to take place. Now, the big question is that who is really liable for the accidents?

For me, it is not actually important whose fault is this, since all of them have their own lapses and should respond immediately to the damages they made. But, if I were choose among the three, it will be Ford who is liable for this. People did not buy the Explorer because of the good tires, they bought it as “Ford” Explorer. The whole manufacturing process of the car is designed by Ford, they are also the one who chose Firestone as tire supplier. They should have performed testing of the product before releasing it to public. Although, I understand that Firestone has committed an error with their tires and that the government fails to respond fast, Ford should have ensured the quality and safety of its product.

Then, since I’m part of the interrogating group for this case study, we also analyze this case and below is our group’s recommended course of action:

Instead of blaming Firestone for the accidents, Ford should have recalled their defective units and started the issuance of an improved Explorer that has passed high quality and safety standards. The company should have taken the responsibility for the accidents that happened since they are the ones in charge of controlling the process of manufacturing the Explorer. On the other hand, Firestone should redesign their tires and ensure that it is fit for the Ford Explorer. The two companies should do their product testing and maintain open communication with each other since both their reputations are at risk.

In addition to that, the government should also impose safety standards for car manufacturers and investigate immediately when accidents happen. Prevention is better than cure. In order to prevent future accidents to happen, the government should imposed policies and pay attention to the quality and standards of the products produced by manufacturers.

Businesses should also work together with government, and follow all the imposed policies and requirements. Not just because they might be sued, but because their reputations are at risk and the perception of its buyers are dependent on the quality of the product they produce. Public trust is the key to success in business. That is why, good ethics means good business.

Today in our Business Ethics class, we discussed about the role of government’s intervention in the society. Pro free market supporters believe that a market that is free from government intervention best protects individual rights and freedom. They do believe that supply will automatically meet demand and that government only interrupts the efficient movement of market. On the other hand, anti-free market people argue that the free market system promotes injustice and that free market will only work in markets with pure competition.

For me, I actually agree with the proponents of anti-free market. Government is made in order to protect each individual’s right, and if we omit the government in the market, suppliers will tend to abuse consumers since they are most concern only with profits. Best example is the zoning restriction of the government, wherein they designate residential areas free from commercial or agricultural use. If we are to think of it, considering that businessmen have full freedom with no government restrictions, we might have a farming land in the center of a business district or a smelly poultry beside our house, and that is ethically inappropriate.

In order to assess further in the class, we take Brian’s Franchise as our case study for this topic.

Brian is an expert in planting and farming marijuana indoor. During that time, marijuana production has been a huge hit to US consumers, becoming the largest crop at that time. Brian decided to drop out school and start focusing in his marijuana indoor business. However, given its negative and addictive effects to consumers, the government imposed Campaign Against marijuana Planting (CAMP) and Green Merchant. Brian was then forced to sell his business and move to Amsterdam.

In that case, we can see that the government affects Brian’s marijuana business. Proponents of free market can argue that the government did not protect Brian’s right to establish a business he likes. However, this is for the betterment of the society. It is unethical to sell something that has a negative impact to its consumers.

For me, the best alternative course of action is for Brian to establish a new crop business, and leave marijuana in the hands of the government. Usage of marijuana should only be available for research and medicinal purposes. If marijuana has proven effective for health issues, it should be strictly supplied only to those who really need it and the government should determine its procedures in selling, since this product is prone to be sold in black market. Government should establish restrictions since it is its primary duty to protect the welfare of the society.

Photo taken from: www.careerchange.co.nz

One of the things discussed in our Business Ethics class is about career planning. Career planning is important because it enables us to assess all factors in our life and identify what factors should we focus on, which is our goals.  In the class, in order to decide for our goals, it is recommended that we evaluate ourselves using SWOT analysis – we determine our strengths and weaknesses to know what are the possible opportunities and threats for ourselves.  After we decided what goals we are taking in, we then determine what steps should we take and gather all the resources we need. As part of class requirement, we are then asked to make a 25 year life plan.

Reflecting on the discussion we had in the class, I now came up with my goal in mind:

25 years from now, I want to be a mentor. Assuming that I already achieve a lot of knowledge in investment through my work experience, it’s now time to share my knowledge to others. Financial literacy to low income groups is one of the things that I want to contribute to society.   

But while having those plans in mind, I need to determine first my Mission. A mission statement is a declaration of what a person needs to be doing. Even if we divert and shift to another plan, our mission will always be our guide in our choices. Stated below my own personal mission:

Personal Mission Statement

As a Lasallian business leader, my mission is to enhance my knowledge and skills that God has given me, and to be a well-rounded person, capable of providing assistance to the poor, mentoring others, and spreading kindness to everyone. 

As stated in the class, personal mission statement is where we affirm and declare what we were uniquely created to do with our life.  My mission statement will serve as a constant reminder for myself of what my purpose in life is. This will motivate me whenever I encounter difficulties in achieving my goals, and will help me in every decision I make.

Along with our Mission is our Vision. Vision serves to give us a glimpse of what we want ourselves to become in the future. Below is my vision for myself:

Personal Vision Statement

To be a good mentor and leader to others through academic excellence and financial skills that I will acquire through time; and to be a leader of good value, respecting each individual regardless of who they are, in order to inspire others, spread Christianity, and make Jesus be known and loved.

After determining our Mission and Vision, our goals will be the intended fulfillment of it. On our 25 year life plan, we determine our goals and specific timelines for each of these categories: Artistic, Attitude, Career, Education, Family, Financial, Physical, Pleasure, Public Service, and Social.

By the time I finished writing my year plan, I actually realized that things are a lot simpler than what I’ve thought. I clearly stated to myself the timeline and the opportunities that I would take in the future. Although I know that, writing it down is a lot simpler than actually doing it, at least I now know what to do in the future and it is good to have a sense of direction on how I’m going to live my life.