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A broader look at today’s business
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Sunday, August 3, 2025 Vol. 20 No. 294
EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS
BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR
(2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS
SUSTAINABILITY? NO LONGER JUST OPTIONAL IN WORKPLACE W n
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 12 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
By Justine Xyrah Garcia
ITH climate change threatening to disrupt worker productivity and business continuity, sustainability must no longer be treated as a peripheral initiative but as a core operational strategy, private sector leaders said on Tuesday.
During a panel discussion at the 46th National Conference of Employers, executives said sustainability must be embedded into company culture, business models, and risk frameworks—not treated as a token CSR effort or promotional campaign. “Sustainability must be found in your blood, in your sleep. When you wake up, it’s there or else, it will just scare the hell out of you,” asserted Eric Manalang, CEO of Manbrella Packaging Experts. Manalang added that companies must view sustainability as fundamental to long-term viability, particularly in a country that ranks among the most climatevulnerable globally. The Philippines retained its top spot in the 2024 World Risk Index, ranking first globally for the 16th consecutive year with a risk
“Sustainability must be found in your blood, in your sleep. When you wake up, it’s there or else, it will just scare the hell out of you.”—Eric Manalang, CEO of Manbrella Packaging Experts
score of 46.91 out of 100—reflecting the country’s high exposure to natural hazards and limited capacity to adapt. Facing around 20 typhoons annually, the archipelago’s susceptibility to extreme weather elevates threats to infrastructure, marine ecosystems, and livelihoods. With increasing temperatures and stronger typhoons, businesses
BUSINESS AS USUAL Fish vendors carry on with sales while wading through a flooded street in Malabon City as Typhoon Emong intensified seasonal monsoon rains on Friday, July 25, 2025. As the Philippines faces ever-stronger typhoons and worsening floods, private sector leaders warn that sustainability can no longer be an afterthought. At the 46th National Conference of Employers, they stressed that climate resilience must be part of everyday business strategy—just as these vendors adapt daily to climate realities. The country remains the most disaster-prone in the world, topping the 2024 World Risk Index for the 16th year in a row. AP/AARON FAVILA
The continuing challenges from the climate crisis and the pandemic have taught us that businesses must make sustainability integral to their workplace culture—or perish.
WorldRiskIndex 2024
Germany
Philippines
4.10
46.91
39.99
8.46
1.99
Haiti
55.03
Qatar
9.96
0.94 3.77
2.78
Mali
35.71
1.33 0.15
5.87 10.67
2,29 2.29
0.08 0,08
WorldRiskIndex
Exposure
very low
0.00
–
low
1.85
–
medium
3.21
–
high
5.88
–
very high
12.89
– 100.00
no data
65,61 65.61
Top 10 countries with highest risk
Vulnerability
1.84
very low
0.00
–
0.17
very low
3.20
low
0.18
–
0.56
5.87
medium
0.57
–
1.76
12.88
high
1.77
–
7.78
very high
7.79
– 100.00
no data
0.00
–
9.90
low
9.91
–
15.87
medium
15.88
–
24.43
high
24.44
–
33.01
very high
33.02
– 100.00
no data
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Philippines Indonesia India Colombia Mexico Myanmar Mozambique Russian Federation Bangladesh Pakistan
Top 10 countries with highest exposure 46.91 41.13 40.96 37.81 35.93 35.85 34.44 28.12 27.73 27.02
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
China Mexico Japan Philippines Indonesia United States of America India Colombia Australia Russian Federation
Top 10 countries with highest vulnerability 64.59 50.08 43.67 39.99 39.89 39.59 35.99 31.54 31.21 28.35
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Central African Republic South Sudan Chad Democratic Republic of Congo Somalia Afghanistan Niger Nigeria Ethiopia Yemen
73.86 72.39 71.82 71.04 71.02 67.77 66.48 65.88 65.69 65.64
Since 2022, the WorldRiskIndex and its elements will use fixed thresholds for the classification of countries to enable medium- and long-term trends analyses. These threshold values for the WorldRiskIndex and each dimension were calculated as the median of the quintiles form the results of the last 20 years. The aggregation of values across all levels of the WorldRiskIndex model is always based on unweighted geometric mean values. Data sources: IFHV’s own calculation based on CReSIS, EMDAT FAO, GFDRR, IHME, IDMC, JRC, IMF, ILO, UCDP, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNSIDR, WHO, Worldbank, WorldPop, WID; detailed information at www.WorldRiskReport.org.
© Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft 2024
‘When the world no longer watches, we do what must be done’
have been forced to adapt or risk falling behind. Kristina Pobre, Head of Sustainability at Arthaland, said the effects of climate change are already apparent in basic public services. “In 2024, because of all the storms as well as the extreme heat that we experienced that year, almost 30 percent of school, school days, teaching days, has been canceled,” she said. Pobre explained that this disruption could have long-term implications for human capital development as students will continue to miss their time to gain knowledge and skills. Climate events, she added, also affect food prices and household spending. “Just because of these storms.... They affect what type of
food we put on the table and how much it costs us,” she said. For the financial sector, integrating climate risk into lending is no longer optional. Niki Lizares, VP and Head of Sustainability at Security Bank, explained that the bank has adopted a sustainable finance framework that assesses borrowers on environmental and social metrics—not just financial health. “It was also a matter of building a sustainable finance framework … a way of classifying borrowers and projects according to newer parameters and, say, the impact of this project on the community,” she said. Lizares noted that project assessments now include ecosystem and community impacts, such as providing sanitized water or reha-
bilitating mangrove areas. “The value in environmental science, they call it the ecosystem value, is now included in that assessment. And this wasn’t there previously,” she said. At the workplace level, sustainability must be reinforced through company culture, not mandates alone. Jun Cabochan, CEO of Panday Bookshop, shared that during the pandemic, some of his employees voluntarily crafted protective gear for frontliners and provided transport through checkpoints—without being instructed to do so. “Every company has a culture, whether they like it or not. If it’s not written, it will be tacit and silent— but it will still be a culture. So you better … it’s a better choice to create a deliberate culture,” he said.
By Richard J. Gordon
many families trapped in their homes, even getting out through the chestto neck-deep flood is almost impossible—and eating a full meal has become a struggle. PRC staff and volunteers brave these conditions, PRC 6x6 trucks deliver the goods using rescue boats for house-to-house distribution to
deliver food packs—rice, sardines, corned beef, beef loaf, noodles, and coffee—ensuring that no one is left hungry or forgotten. I commend the dedication and commitment of PRC staff and volunteers who push through the flood and fatigue as we serve the most vulnerable.
Philippine Red Cross Chairman and CEO
T
WO weeks after the heavy rain and multiple cyclones that caused major flooding in different provinces, the Philippine Red Cross remains in Calumpit, Bulacan. The waters have not receded, and for
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 58.1860 n JAPAN 0.3861 n UK 76.8521 n HK 7.4131 n CHINA 8.0816 n SINGAPORE 44.8447 n AUSTRALIA 37.3903 n EU 66.4368 n KOREA 0.0418 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.5122 Source: BSP (August 1, 2025)