BISHOPS-BUSINESSMEN’S CONFERENCE For Human Development

39th GENERAL ASSEMBLY & ANNUAL MEETING

INCLUSIVE GROWTH THROUGHTOTAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT and

SOCIAL JUSTICE

NATIONAL CO-CHAIRMAN’S REPORTMENELEO J. CARLOS JR.

July 13, 2015POPE PIUS XII CATHOLIC CENTER

U.N. AVENUE, PACO, MANILA

National Excom Action Program

for 2015-2016:1. Pursue Inclusive Growth.2. Promote good governance.3.Promote establishment

of new and revitalize old BBC Chapters in various dioceses in consultation with the local bishops.

Roundtable Discussion on Inclusive GrowthMarch 19, 2015, Villa San Miguel

hosted by His Eminence Luis Antonio Cardinal G. Tagle

The discussion focused on three levels:

1. Level of principles from the Catholic social teachings of the Church

2. Level of policies to operationalize the principles

3. Level of individual engagements to concretize and give flesh to efforts to bring about inclusive growth.

Quoting from the Pastoral Letter of the US Bishops in 1986, titled “Economic Justice for All”,

“All decisions on economics must be ethically judged and evaluated in the light of what they do for the poor, what they do to the poor, and what they enable the poor to do for themselves. The fundamental criterion for all economic decisions, policies, and institutions is this: they must be at the service of all people, especially the poor.”

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON INCLUSIVE GROWTH

Roundtable Discussion on Inclusive Growth

Recommendations ranged from a Call to Church, Business and government, i.e.1. Need for a more involved Church to continue

to act as a catalyst/fiscalizer in dialogues.2. Need for business to have a long-term vision

including the poor that goes beyond what business is currently engaged in.

3. Respond to the call of Pope Francis to go out into the periphery beyond one’s comfort zone.

4. Government should protect public interest foremost, and

5. Foster collaboration and best practices that promote inclusive growth.

The Challenge to the Business Community

In February 1971 – 35 bishops and 30 businessmen established the Bishops- Businessmen’s Conference for Human Development (BBC)Consensus Statement:

To commit themselves to pursue total human development where the material needs of people are provided while justice and Christian love are made to prevail in the national community.

There was, in the words of the Statement:• exploitation of the

many by man• unjust economic

relationships that engenders dependence of tenant to landlord and of employee to employer

• inequitable distribution of burdens and benefits

• graft and corruption

It seemed then that the country was faced with two false choices:1. liberal capitalism

– where man is a mere economic commodity and

2. communism – that generates hatred of man for man

The Challenge to the Business Community

• These challenges are as valid today as they were 44 years ago. •But technology and skills today have since become the most powerful economic resources for economic development. This makes training and education one of the most important tools to help our people out of the poverty trap.•Community development is essential to provide a humanizing effect on every individual of that community, and the church should be ever present to provide the moral and ethical dimensions of human development .

Cluster on Labor and Employment

Bishop Antonio R. TobiasMeneleo J. Carlos, Jr.

Antonio Isidro C. AsperCo-ChairmenUPDATES FROM PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS:

Quezon City Public Employment Service Office (QC-PESO)• Job fairs• Workers Hiring for Infrastructure (WHIP)• Skills Registration System• Anti-illegal Recruitment (AIR) Program

Cluster on Labor and Employment

Payatas Scavengers Homeowners Association (PSHAI)• Road construction to facilitate Meralco

line installation• Bag-making project for women in

coordination with Alagang Kapatid Foundation

• Construction of water tanks and research on biogas and solar energy

• Chapel• Php1.4M loan balance from Caritas Manila

Cluster on Labor and Employment

Diocese of Novaliches – Labor MinistryPrograms: Research and Information Program; Education and Training Program; Networking, Advocacy and Consultancy Program; and other services. Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)TESDA is currently giving training and education for kasambahays as mandated by the Kasambahay Law. TESDA Training Centers provide training assessments where successful takers can avail of free starter kits to jumpstart their business.

Committee on Social JusticeBishop Broderick S. Pabillo & Christian S. Monsod

Co-Chairmen

BBC Social Justice Committee engaged in the following activities the past year.Continued support for the farmers in their land issues, particularly the farmers of Porac, Iloilo, Quezon, Palawan, Batangas, Aurora, Negros Occidental and Mindanao.Support farmers who come to Manila to lobby for the long overdue passage of the bill extending the NOC (HB 4296), and the bill setting up the Agrarian Reform Commission to investigate circumventions on CARP (HB 4375).

Committee on Social Justice • Participated in Presidential task force to clarify issues

regarding the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), representing the Peace Council and the Friends of Peace

• Participated in calling for greater government transparency on the Mamasapano Case.

• Questioned the appropriateness of the Smartmatic technology and the PCOS for our 2016 Elections.

• Discussed the issues of climate change through (a) the Climate Change Congress of the

Philippines, and (b) the Public-Private Climate Change Committee of the National Agricultural and Fisheries Council of the Department of Agriculture.

Pastoral Management Committee

• The Pastoral Management Committee in coordination with the CBCP Pension Plan tapped the services of the Sycip, Gorres & Velayo (Ernst & Young) for the conduct of a Financial Management Training for the Arch/Diocesan Financial Administrators (ADFAP) Convention last June 16-19, 2015 in Dumaguete City.

• SGV Senior Director for the Transaction Services Ann Mayeen Magno made a presentation on “Management Accounting” and the “Seven Deadly Sins of Church Accounting”.

• Abp. Du sought BBC’s assistance to help address some of the concerns of the CBCP Treasury:1. need for BBC technical assistance in coming up with an

actuarial study for the CBCP; and2. need to raise funds to cover the planned increase of the

Pension Plan benefits of bishops and priests.

Committee On Responsible Parenthood and All Natural Family Planning

Early January, BBC organized meeting with DOH Sec. Janet Garin & Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. and other government officials where BBC-RPANFP presented its vision, how it can be involved in implementing provisions of the Responsible Parenthood and All Natural Family Planning Law.

Sec. Garin, created a Technical Working Group to implement the Law. Ms. Sabsy Palanca and Mr. George Pimentel now sit in the TWG as representatives of BBC as co-chairs of our new committee on responsible parenthood

George Pimentel heads & will speak later on the Network for Responsible Parenthood-All Natural Family Planning which meets the bishops to explain its mission and solicit their support in promoting RP and ANFP in their dioceses.

RETRAINING ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT MONITORING

BBC provided a 3-day retraining seminar to Volunteer Observers of the Bids and Awards Committees on Government Procurement Monitoring in Bacolod Diocesan Social Action Center, with the blessings of Bishop Vicente Navarra and the support of the Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF).

This is in support of current government campaign to make government procurement more transparent and accountable.

NAMFREL Bantay ng Bayan Award for BBC 

BBC received NAMFREL’s 2014 Bantay ng Bayan (Sentinels of the People) Awards last November 10, 2014 during NAMFREL’s year-long celebration of its 30th Anniversary which read:“for spearheading a multi-sectoral effort to mobilize volunteers for NAMFREL nationwide; holding regular fora and dialogues where important national issues were discussed, at a time when it was dangerous to do so; for its pioneering efforts in the promotion of social responsibility, alleviation of poverty, active political involvement of citizenry through dialogues and volunteerism; and for their promotion of transparency in government processes”.

REQUIESCAT IN PACE

In November 2014, BBC mourned the loss of one of its pillars, former Senator and former BBC National Co-Chairman, Vicente T. Paterno.

CONTINUED VALUABLE PARTNERSHIP

•Your National Excom has focused on inclusive growth through human development and social justice.•While other countries have met their Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty, we have failed. •We Bishops and Businessmen must focus more closely on the urgent needs of our poor and call on all our members to activate and join us in these efforts to alleviate their pain and suffering. Let us not allow our poor to suffer any longer.

WE NEED YOUTHANK YOU!