Entry #9 - Martial Paw

Have you seen the Care Bears before?  They always go on these adventures where they help people and they love doing it.  It is the fact that they WANT to help people, which makes the act almost as adorable as the Care Bears themselves.  Imagine if you had to help a person, not out of your own good will, but because the law said you had to? 

There was a bill or law that waiting to be approved (or already dismissed? I am not clear of the details) which states that all companies MUST HAVE CSR.  No matter how appealing this must sound to environmentalists or communities around corporate buildings/factories, I simply do not think that this bill/law should be passed.  Why? Because CSR is supposed to be done due to the goodness of a company’s heart.  It is to be done voluntarily.  You can’t force a person or require a person to give alms to a beggar.  With that same principle, you can’t force a company to doing good, if they don’t want to.

Even if this bill were to be passed. It wouldn't change a thing. Just like how some companies are able to avoid paying taxes, companies will find a way to circumvent the law anyway.  Existing companies who do not have any CSR programs will just get angry at the government and find a way to avoid doing this mandatory task.  Furthermore, companies who do implement these CSR programs due to the need, will have half-assed programs that might not really help anybody.  We have a saying in our high school barkada that might apply to this situation, “Pag ayaw, wag pilitin, baka pumayag pa.”

Companies that want to help the environment should be able to distinguish themselves from those who are forced to help the environment.  Besides, if our country is serious about helping the marginalized or protecting our resources, they would emphasize sustainable development for our country.  It may not be easy to do this, but if we are able to weed out corrupt officials like PNoy has promised, then it would become feasible to start planning this for our country.