I consider it an amazing opportunity to hear the keynote speech of former DepEd Secretary Brother Armin Luistro FSC during the recently concluded 5th National Business and Management Conference held in Avenue Hotel in Naga City. The conference was jointly organized by the Center for Business Research and Development, the Central Bicol State University of Agriculture and the Philippine Academy of Management.
Br. Armin, who is now president of the Philippine Business for Social Progress and De La Salle Philippines, spoke about the role of business and academe in helping achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which was crafted by member-countries of the United Nations in 2015. In a nutshell, the SDGs are focused on ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring prosperity for every living person in this globe.
During his talk, Brother Armin posed several questions related to business’ and academia’s response to the 17 SDGs, questions that provoked the audience, including me. Let me share with you the questions that struck me the most. His initial questions really made me think: “If the economy grew by 6.9 percent, where is the growth going? Why is poverty still a flat line? What does this [growth] mean to the grassroots? President Duterte boasts of an improving economy, but it seems that the ordinary Juan is still poor. Where is the ‘disconnect’?”
He also hinted at how business schools might have failed to prepare a generation of business leaders to deal with issues concerning ethics and social responsibility. He said a lot of business schools craft vision-mission statements aimed at developing business leaders concerned with alleviating poverty, yet despite the ideals of the university, graduates are “eaten up by the system” and end up being solely concerned with money and profit. He also decried the lack of collaboration between industry and academe, the latter often stuck with ‘over-analyzing’ data rather than taking action to address pressing societal concerns.
Sadly, the lack of collaboration is not only between sectors but also among government agencies. While discussing the SDG of equal access to water, Brother Armin mentioned that there are actually 36 different agencies all over the country that have something to do with providing access to clean and safe water, yet these agencies do not collaborate to ensure that every household actually has adequate water supply. But why is it that many areas in the provinces still do not have access to water? This is unfortunate given that the average rainfall during the typhoon season, if properly collected, is actually enough for the needs of 104 million Filipinos. Given that a basic service like “providing access to water to every Filipino family” confounds our government agencies, how can we make progress in achieving the other UN SDGs? It seems that we still have a long way to go in ensuring that growth and development trickles down to the grassroots.
We can go on and on asking questions, but as I always say to my students: The quality of the answer lies not only in the question we ask. Instead of simply asking the question “What is the problem?” let us shift our mindset and ask “How can I add value in providing solution to this problem?” Let us take action because, at the end of it all, we only have one planet in which to live, one country to love, and one society in which to thrive.
Alvin Neil Gutierrez is a Doctor of Business Administration student of the Ramon V. Del Rosario College of Business of De La Salle University (DLSU). He took up his Masters in Human Resource Management as an AUSAID scholar from the University of Sydney Business School. He is also an Assistant Professor in the DLSU Marketing Management Department, where he teaches Basic Marketing, Marketing Insight, Product Management, Personal Selling and Sales Force Management, and Strategic Human Resource Management.
The views expressed above are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty and its administrators.