Fostering corporate partnerships in the light of sustainable practices and processes, the Finance Office of Saint Louis University (SLU) spearheaded the first SLU Suppliers Summit– on 12 February 2024 held at the Fr. Francis Gevers Hall, Diego Silang Building, SLU Main Campus– under the Sustainable Advocacies through Vendor-Supplier Engagement (SAVE) Program.
Themed “Journeying Together Towards Sustainability: A Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative,” the summit focused on providing the University’s invaluable partner companies and organizations an avenue to network and to further develop their businesses in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) rooted on sustainability and social responsibility.
“Our communities are interconnected — the environmental, social, and economic— because acknowledging this will usher us in coming up with holistic, sustainable, and unified initiatives towards our common home,” Fr. Gilbert B. Sales, CICM, PhD, stated during his opening remarks, setting the tone for strengthening quality systems and collaborations.
Marking the beginning of the summit, the first keynote speaker, Mr. Cyr G. Bagayao, Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer II of the City Government of Baguio, tackled the significance of incorporating the SDGs in advancing the suppliers’ businesses and its relation to the AmBisyon Natin 2040 initiative by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) where all sectors of society, whether public or private, direct their efforts “towards creating opportunities for Filipinos to enjoy a matatag, maginhawa at panatag na buhay.” Alo under this initiative, the government, in particular, “must use its tools of fiscal, monetary and regulatory policies to steer the development path in all dimensions: economic, human and physical capital, institutional, social and cultural.”
In his talk, Mr. Bagayao reminded the body that addressing the suppliers’ needs should not compromise the needs of the future, thus emphasizing the urgency of SDG integration in molding business policies. He also mentioned that collaboration with the government is vital to achieving the target goals and values.
The second keynote speaker, Dr. Jimmy G. Catanes, Education Supervisor II of the Commission on Higher Education-Cordillera Administrative Region (CHED-CAR), centered on Sustainable Partnerships and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In his discussion, Dr. Catanes stressed that in the art and science of implementing participatory CSR projects, SLU achieved its rank among the top schools globally due to its suppliers’ support and shared values. “Sustainable partnerships are the vibrant threads that put together companies, organizations, and institutions,” Dr. Catanes remarked, “collaboration is the game. You can not stand alone.”
Promoting shared goals and transparency, Dr. Joselito C. Gutierrez, the Executive Assistant to the SLU President and key executive of the SLU SDG Binnadang Center, then presented SLU’s UN SDG and Laudato Si Activities of AY 2023-2024, including the partnership goals with suppliers.
The afternoon session was marked with the third keynote talk on “Laudato Si’ Encyclical of Pope Francis: On Care for our Common Home” by Rev. Fr. James Dexter R. Tanquis, OAR, Master of the Postulants of Casiciaco Recoletos Seminary, Inc. This emphasized on the lessons and impact of Pope Francis’s Encyclical toward corporate responsibility and environmental commitment, and the other way around.
A workshop also commenced that focused on finding solutions to strengthen and address the participants’ business challenges, which was followed by a presentation of plans for partnerships by the suppliers.
The Suppliers Summit ended with a closing remarks by Ms. Delia C. Latawan, the University Assistant Treasurer and the summit’s key organizer.
Ms. Latawan stated that the summit is an appreciation for the University’s partner-companies. Through the facilitators, the event also fostered “collaboration between and among the suppliers and SLU,” she remarked. Further, the summit became a platform for SLU to discover areas to improve on and immerse in.
The Supplier Summit is directly aligned with SDG 17 Partnership for the Goals. As Ms. Latawan emphasized, “when aligning one activity to an SDG, there is an opportunity to further integrate it with other activities and SDGs,” which is the unparalleled benefit of collaboration and shared goals towards sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
Networking proceeded after the program. (University Information Office, co-written by Sarah Navalta, Kaye Leah, and Atty. Johanne Macob)
