More than lip service

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Unfortunately, some Philippine corporations merely pay lip service to corporate social responsibility (CSR).

After all, implementing CSR projects, voluntary at the moment, meant money. Unless the proposed CSR Act is passed into law, there are no real economic benefits, like tax benefits, for companies implementing CSR projects.

As defined by UNESCO, CSR refers to the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society, making companies socially accountable to themselves, stakeholders and the public. It involves practices and policies intended to have a positive influence beyond legal obligations and profit maximization.

But for the San Miguel Group and its tireless leader, Ramon S. Ang or RSA — whose boundless energy and sharp thinking would easily beat that of a 50-year-old — CSR has become part of what and who they are, even if this means spending billions of pesos a year for it.

Take the case of SMC’s ongoing river clean-up program.

The program, which is still ongoing, has so far removed more than 9.12 million metric tons of silt, solid waste and other debris from major waterways since 2020 at no cost to government.

The figure includes more than 1.04 million metric tons recently cleared from four river systems under maintenance operations aligned with the government’s Oplan Kontra Baha program. The work covered 24.29 kilometers of waterways along the Tullahan River, San Juan River, Laguna rivers and the Bulacan river system.

Since 2020, SMC has completed clean-up works across 10 major river systems, including the Bulacan, Pampanga, Pasig, Tullahan, San Juan, Navotas and Laguna River systems, covering a total of 188.48 km of waterways. It has restored the Pampanga River to its normal depth and has cleared all waterways surrounding Laguna Lake.

RSA says that improved water flow and quality have already been observed in rivers covered by the program, but long-term results will depend on sustained upkeep and public cooperation.

By dredging and removing garbage and silt from clogged rivers, SMC’s Better River PH program, a brainchild of RSA who keeps thinking of ways of how to solve the country’s problems, not only restores natural water flow and deepens channels, it also allows floodwaters to subside more quickly after heavy rains and has significantly mitigated flooding in low-lying areas

Naysayers claim that SMC is simply safeguarding its own interests, especially in areas around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport which it operates and is rehabilitating as well as the New Manila International Airport (NMIA) in Bulacan which will soon serve as a far better alternative to NAIA. Although this may be a part of it, there are no direct economic benefits to the company in spending at least P1 billion to dredge Tullahan and Pasig Rivers for instance, not to mention the billions it has spent so far on other river systems and the P1 to P2 billion SMC spends every year to clean up rivers and water systems.

In fact, SMC is extending its waterways clean up to as far as Cebu. Last November, RSA assured the President that Cebu will no longer suffer from flooding once SMC completes its extensive cleanup of the province’s waterways within a year.

SMC will deploy heavy equipment and personnel to support the clean-up of eight waterways across Cebu City, Mandaue, Talisay, Liloan and Consolacion. It will apply the same large-scale approach used under its Better Rivers PH initiative to help restore Cebu rivers’ natural depth, improve flow and ease flooding in low-lying communities, all provided at no cost to the government.

Cebu, according to one report, has received P26 billion in flood control funding from 2016 to 2025 yet on Nov. 4, raging floodwaters turned Cebu’s streets into rivers and homes were swallowed whole due to Typhoon Tinio.

SMC will attempt to solve a problem, without government money, that not even P26 billion in public funds could resolve. That’s ambitious and heroic if I may say so.

But as SMC employees, stockholders and other stakeholders say, the better the country is, the better for the company.

But wait, there’s more.

In taking CSR to new heights, RSA revealed just last Wednesday over lunch that he will organize friends to take on the country’s flood control problem.

Again, at no cost to the government. Compare that with the estimated P42.3 to P118.5 billion a year (P197 billion stolen every year according to IBON data) that the country has lost from flood control corruption since 2023.

The Navotas landfill fire

According to reports, weeks after a massive fire erupted at the Navotas Sanitary Landfill (NSLF), the blaze remains far from fully extinguished. According to the Bureau of Fire Protection, the fire, first reported last April 10, continues to burn beneath layers of waste across this sprawling dumpsite covering 41 hectares with 33 hectares affected.

The NSLF was operated by Philippine Ecology Systems Corp. (Phileco), a subsidiary of RMR Capital chaired by businessman Reghis Romero II. It served as one of Metro Manila’s primary waste disposal sites for over 20 years. Both Phileco’s city franchise and environmental compliance certificate (ECC) expired on Aug. 25, 2025, but was allowed to continue accepting waste until December 2025. Phileco was also required under a government-supervised plan to close the facility properly.

Under Phileco’s ECC and as required by the Solid Waste Management Act, Phileco was legally obligated to implement a comprehensive Safe Closure and Rehabilitation Plan (SCRP) which includes covering the entire site with soil, setting up long-term environmental monitoring, installing impermeable caps and gas collection systems.

Phileco had one year to implement the SCRP from the time it was formally directed by the DENR to submit a comprehensive abandonment plan and SCRP.

But the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) noted that only a small fraction of the 41-hectare site was covered by Phileco with soil and that gas ventilation pipes that had previously been installed at the site were missing, apparently pulled out when Phileco left.

San Miguel Aerocity Inc. (SMAI) acquired the Navotas land, not the landfill operations, by expropriation as part of the right of way for the NMIA project. It entered the property pursuant to a writ of possession issued by the court only last February, three years after it should have. When SMAI filed its motion to implement the writ of possession last Jan. 28, it acknowledged Phileco’s SCRP obligation and committed to granting Phileco at least a six-month grace period to remain and implement the plan.

But despite the six-month grace period, Phileco abandoned the property without completing the SCRP. Phileco wanted to withdraw its submitted SCRP but DENR denied the request last April 14.

The fire broke out on April 10 even before SMAI could commence any construction on the expropriated Navotas land and at a time when Phileco should have finished its SCRP. A fire that could have been avoided had Phileco covered the land with soil.

Last Wednesday, RSA said that he would just take care of covering up the landfill with soil, removing some of the garbage to level out the property, even if it is not legally obligated to do so. That should put out the fire easily and prevent it from happening again, considering all the methane created due to the decomposition of organic waste trapped without the gas ventilation pipes which are essential to releasing methane and other gases and preventing explosion hazards.

More of SMC and RSA’s efforts to build a better country in tomorrow’s column.

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