Beyond the CSR acronym

Run, smile, learn, witness life

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 10 percent of our population in the Philippines is composed of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs).
“Imagine that. Ten percent,” Clark Development Corporation (CDC) President Benigno N. Ricafort said. He seemed perplexed by the statistics.

“That’s about 9 million PWDs from the more than 80 million Filipinos living with us today,” he added.
Ricafort, who has embedded the practice Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR in the mindset of each CDC employee, pushed the CDC beyond its mandate to transform this former United States military installation into a magnet for investments and development.
Thanks to the vision of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who helped transform
this Freeport into one of the top investment destinations in the Southeast Asian region, the last 10 years saw a robust growth in and around the Clark .
The President’s vision became a reality, nay, a legacy as the CDC focused on development thrusts, particularly on infrastructure development, which was
Clark ’s magnet for international and local investors.
Aside from world-class infrastructure, the CDC also has the Clark CSR programs
as another legacy – a legacy that aims to improve the quality of life of PWDs and other indigent people of Pampanga.
“This is another legacy that I want for Clark – the CDC’s care and commitment to pursue sound and meaningful CSR programs that are beneficial to surrounding communities in the province of Pampanga ,” Ricafort said.
“It’s not enough that we live our day to day lives worrying and complaining about a variety of woes when just outside the four walls of our homes could be a neighbor who is in dire need of an artificial leg, or perhaps the old lady at the sari-sari store by the corner may have poor vision because she is suffering from cataract,” Ricafort said.
According to Ricafort, there are many Filipinos whose living conditions “are far worse than ours. Far worse than the trivial wretchedness we keep ranting about every day.”
It is for this reason, Ricafort stressed, that the CDC forged ties with the Kapampangan Development Foundation (KDF) to provide H.E.L.P. – Health, Education, and Livelihood for Pampanga.
“In Clark, we have put our acts together and stopped complaining… We’ve decided to HELP,” Ricafort said. The CDC, Kapampangan Development Foundation (KDF) and their various partners in service have decided to HELP.
Ricafort noted that the CDC and the KDF’s goal is to return to Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) the “dignity of being able to live a productive life amidst their disabilities by restoring their physical capabilities whether they are amputees, cataract patients, or afflicted with harelip and other facial deformities.”
Included in the HELP program is the Walking Free Pampanga mission: “To distribute for free an estimated 500 artificial legs and 1,000 wheelchairs by the end of 2012 to the poor and deserving physically disabled Kapampangans who cannot walk without the help of relatives, crutches and wheelchairs.”
Ricafort furthered that the HELP program, by far, has catered to 1,185 Filipinos who are suffering from different afflictions from 2008 to 2010.
From 2008 to 2009, beneficiaries for prosthesis have totaled 187; for the same period, wheelchair recipients reached 172, Ricafort said.
He added that from 2008 to 2010, 283 harelip and cleft palate patients received free surgery; while for the same period, cataract and Pterygium surgery was pegged at 543 for a total of 1,075 beneficiaries.
“But all of this could not have been achieved without the help of our selfless and indefatigable partners,” Ricafort stressed.
Among the other achievements of the CDC-KDF partnership is the establishment of the Clark Prosthesis Laboratory and Training Center (CPLTC) – a facility that caters to indigent amputees.
Its proximity to surrounding Pampanga communities has helped the poor who need prostheses save on transportation expenses since they do not have to travel to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila.
Ricafort said since the PGH caters to indigent amputees nationwide, it can only accommodate to a select few.
“But amputees in Pampanga do not have to wait in line at the PGH because the prosthesis center here in Clark can address their needs immediately,” Ricafort stressed.
Another achievement, according to Ricafort, is a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) forged between the KDF and the Love for Life Foundation (LFLF) and the Datu-Angeles-David Memorial Foundation (DADMF) for the use and operation of the community-based hospital – Dr. Jesus A. Datu Medical Center (JADMC).
The hospital was built by the family of the late Dr. Jesus A. Datu for indigent people of Pampanga through the LFLF and the DADMF.
The JADMC will be the home-base of KDF in implementing the HELP programs such as maternal and child health care, pre-natal or post-natal services, birthing facility to reduce maternal and child mortality, and an eye center for indigents with
cataract or Pterygium.

Caption:
-- Ricafort talks on the CDC-KDF on Walking Free project at the prosthesis lab at Clark Polytechnic inside Clark Freeport Zone. (CDC-PRD photo)