Lopez Holdings Corporation

Corporate Directory | Sitemap | Mailing List | Legal Disclaimer

Business Mission

Business Excellence

History

Speeches

2010

Archive

May 20, 2002: FPHC Stockholders Meeting Send

May 20, 2002

FPHC Stockholders Meeting

"Promoting CSR through Business, Government, and Civil Society Collaboration"

Opening Plenary Speech Asian Forum On Corporate Social Responsibility
September 18, 2003, Bangkok, Thailand

Mr. Oscar Lopez
Chairman, Lopez Group of Companies

His Excellency Khun Anand Panyarachun, Former Prime Minister of Thailand, Senator Mechai Viravaidya and Mr. Ramon R. Del Rosario Jr., co-chairs of the conference, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

I thank you for the invitation to speak before this prestigious gathering of CSR champions.

The social problems facing us are tremendous, daunting and, for the faint-hearted, possibly threatening and demoralizing. At the very outset, let me immediately add my voice to the call for expanding collaboration among government, business and civil society towards decisive and effective responses to these problems.

Let me make it clear that I will speak as a chief executive officer and not as an academician, historian, or social activist.

I will give a brief enumeration of major Lopez Group businesses and their CSR activities as basis for my reflections on tri-sectoral collaboration.

The Lopez Group Portfolio

Our major businesses are:

1. The ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation This is the largest broadcast media corporation in the Philippines today. In addition, the Group has Sky Vision, Inc., the dominant cable TV provider in the country.

2. The First Philippine Holdings Corporation, the holding company for power & energy

3. The Manila Electric Company, the largest electricity distributor in the country;

4. The First Generation Holdings Corporation, the largest private Filipino power generation company, which operates as a subsidiary of first Holdings.

You will note that the above companies are heavily involved in infrastructure and utilities. These are services much needed by society and basic to social and economic development.

Lopez Group CSR

We have included in the Lopez CSR kit information on the various CSR involvements.

The CSR activities of the Lopez Group is anchored on Eugenio Lopez Sr.s business and social philosophy which was articulated in the course of his colorful and multifaceted business career but especially after he acquired the Manila Electric Co. from its American owners in 1962. He spoke of the social responsibilities of big business long before it became fashionable to do so and before CSR became an accepted practice among Philippine business companies.

In one of his major speeches to the business community in 1958, he said:

"We sincerely believe that a greater proportion of the earnings accrued from business should be returned to the people whether this be in the form of foundations, grants, scholarships, hospitals or any other form of social welfare benefits.