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• Improvement of business ethics is a common concern of everybody
• It is imperative that all parties involved - manufacturers, sellers, consumers, government and relevant organizations - must participate in improving business ethics
• Unless there is a concerted effort on the part of everybody, we cannot effectively remind businessmen and professionals of their ethical responsibility to each other, to their customers and clients
• Unethical practices are ever present
• Even people who have not yet been victims of these practices are vaguely aware that they exist and agree that something must be done to rid the world of them
• Integrity Initiative


  A private sector-led campaign aiming to strengthen ethical standards in business, organized in 2010 after the Philippines received a grant from Siemens
• Integrity Initiative


  • It is a multisectoral campaign that seeks to institutionalize integrity standards among various sectors of society - business, government, judiciary, academe, youth, civil society, church and media
  • Led by the private sector, it aims to help in diminishing, if not fully eradicating, the vicious cycle of corruption in the Philippines
• The Integrity Initiative hopes to build trust in government, a more equitable society and fair market conditions, which will result in improved competitiveness and increased business confidence, more domestic and foreign investments, and more employment generated for Filipinos
• Integrity Initiative activities


  1. Consultations

  2. Roundtable discussions

  3. Public forums involving business leaders, compliance officers, corporate governance experts, academics and practitioners
• An "Integrity Compliance Handbook" containing key documents and toolkits was published for organizations to promote ethical business practices
• Since 2010, MBC and ECCP have been joined by various organizations and industry associations in taking an active role in promoting honesty and transparency in Philippine business
• Corporate values


  The values and ethics of the organization need to be explicitly managed as they can affect the organization's market perception and value
• Code of conduct


  A formal expression of the organization's values and ethics, guiding directors, senior executives and other staff
• A code of conduct should promote responsibility and accountability for reporting and investigating unethical practices, and ensure compliance with legal and other obligations to stakeholders
• Unified Code of Conduct for Business (Integrity Initiative)


  It harmonizes existing ethical standards among businesses operating in the Philippines, and formally communicates the signatories' commitment to upholding high standards of ethics
• Key elements of the Unified Code of Conduct for Business

  • Top management leading by example
  • Instilling a culture of integrity among employees
  • Clear communication on gifts, entertainment, and contributions
  • Ensuring accurate financial records and tax compliance
  • Vetting third-party suppliers and intermediaries
  • Continuous alignment of operations to the code's principles
• The Bishops-Businessmen's Conference Philippines also issued a Code of Ethics for the Philippine Business
• The Code of Ethics seeks to express the principles of business practices accepted and professed by Philippine business at its best, and apply them to current and changing needs
• The Code is intended to be influential rather than coercive, with the hope that individual entities will consciously adopt and embrace it as a statement of principles
• Code


  General intended to be influential rather than coercive, where individual entities consciously adopt and embrace it as a statement of principles and are unwilling to incur the sanction of adverse public opinion through failure to live up to the Code
• The modern manager must be a strategist for human development, and the business of business is to build an enterprise oriented to the development of man
• Business


  • An integral element of the social order, with the primary purpose of meeting society's human needs by providing goods and services as efficiently as possible
• Entities business has relationships with

  • Those who work in the enterprise
  • Those who own and provide financial resources
  • Those who supply it with materials and services
  • Those who buy its products or services
  • The government
  • The wider public whose lives are affected by the business activity
• The interests of all those members of society must be taken into account in formulating business policy
• Conflict and tension can be themselves being constructive, but the aim of business must always be to reconcile opposing interests in a balance of justice and mutual concern
• Contributors to the performance of the business enterprise

  • Owners
  • Management
  • Work force
  • Suppliers
  • Subcontractors
  • Customers
  • Government
• The human resources have a unique quality and should be employed in a manner consistent with personal dignity
• The individual should be given opportunity to use and develop his faculties in his work, and his contribution to the success of the enterprise should be properly recognized and rewarded
• Profit


  A fundamental incentive, necessary for the maintenance and growth of the enterprise, for raising the quality of life, and for helping meet the broader needs of society
• Competition and incentives are essential for the maintenance and continuing improvement of the quality of goods and services for growth and for technological progress
• To guard against unfair forms of competition, a consistent standard of business behavior must be established and observed
• Any right or authority enjoyed by or entrusted to business presupposes, and is justified by, corresponding duties, responsibilities and performance
• Business policy should consider not only the interest of the owners of the business, but also the interest of those affected by the activities of the business
• Principles for the conduct of business towards employees

  • Recognize the right of employees to a fair and improving standard of living, irrespective of race, sex, age and creed
  • Provide fair recruitment practice that affords equal opportunity to all qualified job-seekers
  • Provide job security, adequate compensation for employees in cases of separation and retirement, and opportunities for fringe benefits
  • Provide a safe and healthy atmosphere in the work environment conducive to the physical and moral well-being and growth of the employees
  • Provide conditions in which human potentials and relationships can be developed at all levels of the work force, with a view to providing therein a sense of purpose and achievement
  • Provide participative elements so that the knowledge, experience and creativity of all who work in the enterprise may contribute to the decision-making process
• Principles for the conduct of business towards customers

  • Strive after a quality that will enable them to serve their purpose efficiently and effectively
  • Avoid anything that would be detrimental to the health, safety or growth of the proper user or beneficiary of such goods and services
  • Seek to apply or make use of the discoveries and inventions of science with adaptations that will improve their products or services, thereby benefitting customers/users and increasing their number
• Principles for the conduct of business towards customers in marketing

  • Deliver the product or service in the quality, quantity, and time agreed upon, and at a reasonable price, and avoid the creation of artificial shortages, price manipulation, and like practices
  • Establish an after-sales and complaints service commensurate with the kind of product or service supplied and the price paid
  • Ensure that all mass media, promotional, and packaging communications be informative and true, and take into account the precepts of morality and the sound cultural values of the community, and manifest for human dignity
• Principles for the conduct of business towards suppliers

  • Ensure that the terms of all contracts be clearly stated and unambiguous, and honored in full unless terminated or modified by mutual consent
  • Avoid abuse of economic power in dealing with a smaller concern, and ensure that terms of payment be strictly and fully observed
  • Avoid encouraging any supplier to commit his resources for apparently long-term purposes unless there are reasonable guarantees that the orders will not be terminated arbitrarily
• Principles for the conduct of business towards owners and other providers of capital


  • Provide an adequate rate of return to those contributing capital to the enterprise and ensure the security of their investment
  • Use their financial resources to provide goods and services responsibly and efficiently
  • Furnish the owners and other providers of capital with such information as they may reasonably require, provided that it does not adversely affect the security or efficiency of the business
  • Pursue the specific objectives of the owners and other providers of capital provided these do not run contrary to any of the principles stated herein
• Principles for the conduct of business towards local and national government

  • Participate in the discussion of proposed legislation and / or its implementation affecting sectoral, regional, national and international interests
  • Propose sound policies in the use of human and material resources
• Principles for the conduct of business towards society in general


  • Take regular stock of their response to the basic needs of society and thus ensure that these needs are taken into account in all policy-making decisions
  • Ensure that the way they deploy their resources benefits society in general and does not conflict with the needs and reasonable aspirations of the communities in the area where they operate
  • Pay proper regard to the environmental and social consequences of their business activity, with special attention to the duty of renewing resources where possible and minimizing waste and pollution, and not sacrifice safety or efficiency in the interest of short-term profitability
  • Make contributions as their resources will allow, to research, development and application of indigenous technology, and to the financing of social development projects
  • Consider the human and social costs of mechanization and technology
  • Establish a policy allowing employees, within reasonable limits, to contribute to the public and community services during the work time
  • Establish a policy regarding conflicts of interest based on the principle that decisions should be made in the best interest of the business enterprise, and decision makers should be on their guard against allowing personal consideration to distort their judgment
  • Not tolerate any form of illegal data-gathering or any form of inducement that tends to distort normal commercial judgment