opinion Ayala Corporation’s Saludo sa Serbisyo

Thousands of Philippine Coast Guard officers and staff now have access to Saludo sa Serbisyo, Ayala Corporation’s comprehensive and sustainable needsbased program for the community’s uniformed service personnel.

Launched in 2018, Saludo sa Serbisyo also covers personnel in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police and Bureau of Fire Protection.

The program offers the following services: housing assistance, financial education, employment for retired personnel, livelihood training, health and wellness, cooperative development, product discounts, equipment donation, internet connectivity and scholarship for dependents.

BPI Foundation provides the financial wellness sessions which cover the basics of savings and budgeting, credit management, fundamentals of investing, and avoidance of fraud and scams.

Last February 2, Ayala Corporation and the Philippine Coast Guard signed their Memorandum of Understanding continuing the parties’ partnership.

Ayala Chairman Jaime

Augusto Zobel de Ayala (JAZA) affirmed: “Over the years, Saludo sa Serbisyo assisted families in availing of their first home, their first car, and even their first business. As we continue our partnership moving forward, we remain committed to further ramp up our engagement with the Philippine Coast Guard.”

For his part, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Artemio Abu, said: “The Philippine Guard has been looking after our countrymen , and it is truly comforting that there are organizations in the private sector willing to look after our Philippine Coast Guard personnel.”

The MOU was signed by Commandant Abu for PCG and by Ayala Public Affairs Group Head Rene Almendras and Chief Legal Officer Solomon Hermosura for Ayala. JAZA, Ayala Security and Crisis Management Head Emmanuel Bautista (a former Armed Forces Chief of Staff) and PCG officers at the PCG headquarters in Manila witnessed the event.

Food for thought

“In an uncertain global economy, what will it take for a company to drive a business that is anchored and be agile for competitiveness? How will corporate leaders design and execute business models, organization structures and management teams that are able to contribute back to society and enhance profits?”

These are the some of the questions posed during the inaugural Company of Good Singapore Summit 2023 sponsored by Singapore’s National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre early last month.

Among the speakers were Ayala Corporation’s Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (JAZA), Temasek Holdings Executive Director and CEO Dilham Pillay Sandrasegara, and Singapore Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong.

JAZA’s response:

“The whole idea of corporate purpose is absolutely linked to longevity. My belief was: If as an institution we did not become more relevant to the changing nature of the country, if we do not align ourselves to the developmental needs, if we do not address the pain points, then as an institution we would not build trust in the society we live in.”

He shared how the Ayala group shifted from philanthropy to integrating

God can test our faith

a broader and deeper sense of social responsibility into its business principles and models, as evinced in products and services that are more inclusive, accessible, and meaningful.

JAZA also spoke on the importance of multisector collaboration, addressing the ‘social’ in ESG and the kind of leadership needed to build “companies of good”.

“These two words – relevance and trust – would be the driving forces in my sphere of influence, JAZA said. “If we are to be stewards of our institutions over the long term, we must be looked at as an institution that is trusted. And that means not just by obeying the laws, it must mean that you are also part of the fabric of what makes civil society as a whole work – and a contributor to that, not adjunct to it, just there to make a return on investment that is divorced from a contribution.”

THINK A MINUTE

JHAN TIAFAU HURST and psychological health for the rest of his life. A study by Harvard University showed that men who when they were babies and young boys did not have close, loving care from their mothers, had more than twice as many serious illnesses as men who did have a secure, loving relationship with their mother when they were small. A baby should be born with a sign around his neck that warns: “Caution! Handle with Care! Love me! Protect me! Your heart is my home!”

The mother is also the gatekeeper between the children and their father. She can either build the fatherson relationship or she can destroy it. Boys are born with a natural desire to be like their dad. But they will not respect and follow him if their mother criticizes him and makes him

WE should not be surprised by this phenomenon. Rather, we should welcome such eventuality, for it can only produce a greater good in us. We are reminded of this fact of life in that gospel episode where a Syrophoenician woman begged Christ to drive the demon away from her daughter. (cfr. Mk 7,24-30)

At first, Christ refused the importuning of the poor woman, giving her a response that was a bit insulting. “Let the children be fed first,” he said. “For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”

But the woman persisted, even making a reasoning that left Christ very impressed. “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps,” she replied. With those words, we can say that Christ could not help but do what the woman asked. And the daughter was healed.

We have to be ready when we receive such tests of our faith from God. Like that woman, we should just persist, for God cannot stay long in being indifferent to our needs. He always listens and comes to our aid.

For this, we need to develop a certain toughness in our faith and piety. We should avoid being oversensitive to what we may perceive as God’s indifference to our needs. We have to follow the toughness not only of that woman but also and most especially of Christ himself, who gave himself entirely by dying on the cross if only to save us. We need to train ourselves in this kind of toughness that would enable us to take on anything in our life. What we have to avoid is the phenomenon now described in the British slang of the word “snowflake.” As described by some people, a snowflake “is a term used to describe an overly sensitive person who thinks the world revolves around them.”

Such person “gasps in horror when he hears an opinion he does not like, and believes he has a right to be protected from anything unpalatable.” He is “self-obsessed and fragile, easily offended, or unable to deal with opposing opinions.”

When we truly follow Christ, we take the initiative to approach and be friendly with everybody, regardless of who or how they are. We would not be easily scandalized by whatever defects, failures, offenses or sins others may have. In fact, these conditions would draw our attention and affection for them more.

In other words, we do not wait for other people to show some signs that they deserve to be loved or cared for by us. Our constant attitude is to love everyone automatically, showing keen interest in everyone and eagerness to help in any way.

This does not mean that we do away with the difference between good and evil, truth and falsehood, what is moral and immoral. We should not condone evil, but we have to learn how to deal with evil in all its forms in a charitable way. Evil is defanged by goodness, not by another evil, as in going into hatred, anger, revenge, indifference, etc. Whatever malice there is can always be overcome by the goodness of God’s mercy as shown by Christ who asked for forgiveness even for those who crucified him.