The City Council, during last Monday’s regular session, approved on first reding a proposed ordinance institutionalizing the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Appreciation Day in the city every 30th day of October and appropriating funds for the said purpose.
Under the proposed ordinance authored by Councilor Vladimir Cayabas, institutionalizing the CSR Appreciation Day in the city will strengthen the local government’s partnership with the business sector, private institutions, companies, corporations and civic organizations.
Further, the proposed measure will strongly encourage all CSR providers to invest in community development projects aligned with their core values and in support to the developmental directions of the city.
The ordinance covers all legally registered private companies, corporations, business enterprises, institutions and civic organizations doing their voluntary services as their CSR in the city that have created significant impact to the community.
Moreover, the proposal seeks to appreciate and recognize the voluntary initiatives and outstanding CSR activities while encouraging private companies, corporations, business enterprises, institutions and civic organizations in the city or those that are located outside the city but extending or planning to provide voluntary services or assistance to the city as part of their corporate social responsibility.
The ordinance mandates the creation of a working body which shall be known as CSR Appreciation Day Committee that will be tasked to implement and promote the primary purpose of the aforesaid program. It shall be chaired by the City Administrator with the Chairperson of the City Council Committee on Special Events as vice chairperson and to be composed of one representative from the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club (BCBC), one representative from the City Tourism Office, one representative from the Public Information office, one representative from the Liga ng mga Barangay–Baguio City chapter, one representative from the Baguio Employees Association, one representative from the Baguio City Police Office and one representative from an accredited religious sector.
The CSR Appreciation Day committee shall hold and conduct their meetings as necessary to be called by the chairperson.
Among the prescribed functions of the committee are to take the lead in promoting the primary purpose of the ordinance; formulate programs or activities for the CSR Appreciation Day; come up with a system of assessing the collective success rate and impact of all CSR-related activities, programs and projects in the city; recommend to the city council policies or legislations which may further strengthen the intention and purpose of the proposed measure and perform such other related functions for the full realization of the ordinance.
The ordinance stipulated that an annual appropriation of not more than PhP100,000 shall be charged against the local government’s fund under the City Administrator’s Office or special events budget subject to the regular accounting rules and government auditing system for the realization of the said measure. By Dexter A. See
