Aside from lectures on the various DEI programs of League of Corporate Foundations members conducted at the Dusit Thani hotel, the 2025 CSR Conference and Expo also featured the booths of LCF members at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati City from 1 to 3 July.
Foundation officials and volunteers were on hand at their respective interactive booths to share with the general public and prospective partners their education, environment, health and disaster resilience programs for marginalized communities.
Philip Francisco Dy, executive vice president of Metrobank Foundation Inc. (MBFI), revealed that its Roots to Shoots (RTS) project with Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc. is on its second year of implementation in Pasacao, Camarines Sur. The RTS, which is funded through a grant from MBFI, helps 245 families from fishing barangays engage in backyard gardening.
“We train parents to plant vegetables so that they can feed their children with healthy food, especially newborns, and help them to have a livelihood,” Dy said.
Aside from training mothers to plant vegetables, their food is augmented by giving them food packs for the 6-month duration of the RTS project that also involves Manila Water Foundation and World Vision Development Foundation Inc.
Another social project supported by MBFI is disaster response and preparedness.
“When there is a calamity, like a typhoon, we help our volunteers, including the Metrobank volunteers, our staff, give food packs, hot meals and sometimes hygiene kits to those affected by the disaster,” Dy said.
MBFI works with Good Neighbors Philippines in preparing Catanduanes fisherfolks from incoming typhoon.
Dy revealed that the foundation donated last month a boat trailer that the fishermen can use in quickly moving their banca to a shelter ahead of a typhoon to prevent them from getting damaged. Previously, the fishermen manually carry their bancas to a safe place but this method is burdensome and slow.
Meanwhile, Rudy P. Guiao Jr., CIO lead for Philippines and managing director for IT of global professional services company Accenture, presented to expo audience the Accenture Accessibility Center and how it helps hired persons with disability (PWD) work in the company.
Accenture volunteers demonstrated the ACC’s various technologies to help PWD workers perform their tasks, such as the bone conduction earphones, smart cane and large print computer keyboard.
According to Guiao, the ACC was conceptualized in the Philippines and adopted by other foreign branches of Accenture to promote DEI culture.