You and a friend are leisurely walking along Magsaysay Drive (or Boardwalk if you prefer), on a nice early evening, taking on the sights, talking about the weather. Suddenly, a young beggar approached you asking for money—to buy food, she said. What would you do?
Knowing that she’s probably doing this all day, every day, would you shoo her away? Try to contact the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)? Or give her a few pesos?
By the same token, when environmental disasters affect people in squatter areas who shouldn’t be there in the first place, would you help?
These are but a couple of the many instances wherein people and organizations, during our daily lives, will act according to our own beliefs and values—positively or negatively, for or against. And this is not limited to us here; it’s the same the world over, even in a superpower like the United States.
In there, between Democrats and Republicans, the former is for, well, basically distribution of wealth from the rich to the poor thereby creating a welfare state. On the other hand, the Republicans’ attitude is towards fewer entitlements to the poor and advocating more self-reliance by creating more business.
Oh, that’s just rationalizing meanness said the Democrats; naïveté of a good but stupid heart, countered the Republicans.1 Whatever it is, it’s consistent everywhere.
But as can be deduced, both sides of the coin have their own pros and cons. One is not much better than the other. What remains is knowing who you are and where you stand.
And so we segue to what the Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce is.
Obviously, we are a business organization first and foremost. This is the reason why we work with government agencies to try to create a better business atmosphere. This is also why we fight overreaching regulations—to ease the conduct of doing business. This is why we conduct mixers and networking nights—to try to encourage business partnerships between members. This is why we conduct trainings and seminars—to keep us up-to-date. But, as a chamber of commerce, these are givens.
What about our civic responsibilities?
Consider, in October alone, apart from member donations, the Subic Chamber donated quite a chunk of our income for the relief of poor people affected by the recent flooding. Just today, the Chamber Board decided that we should do more by creating a disaster rescue group and donate rescue equipment for its use. On October 17, we have conducted our Annual Blood Drive where the donations will eventually go to those who cannot afford blood when they need it. In a few weeks from now, we are going to donate toys to the less fortunate children during our annual Toys for Tots program. Such is the extent of our social programs.
But should we have allotted our money, time, and effort for all these to further boost business instead? Wouldn’t that mean eventually providing more jobs to the poor anyway?
We could, but that’s not who we are. True, we are a business organization and not a charitable institution. But we are a natural. We know that we will barely make a dent on our civic actions, but we will do it anyway...
It’s the stupidity of our good hearts. But I’ll take that as a compliment anytime.
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