Manila Water Company: Manila Water releases 3rd Sustainability Report

Manila Water releases 3rd Sustainability Report

Posted: Wednesday May 23, 2007

Almost ten years since it took over the operations of the East Zone of Metro Manila, Ayala-led water and wastewater service provider Manila Water Company has demonstrated that it has perfectly aligned its social and environmental commitments with its business goals.

The past ten years brought about a dramatic improvement in the quality of lives of the residents of the east concession area, particularly those living in the low-income communities. Its flagship program, Tubig Para Sa Barangay (Water for the Community), achieved a major milestone in 2006 when it has reached out to more than one million low-income customers. Similarly, the initiatives on addressing wastewater and sanitation helped mitigate the environmental impacts of untreated wastewater. Also, Manila Water’s other environmental advocacies such as watershed management and groundwater protection have helped protect resources vital to ensure the sustainability of water supply.

The company’s corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSER) programs have shown Manila Water’s strong commitment to sustainable development. These various programs have benefited more customers, fostered better partnerships, and contributed to significant improvements in the environment and both in the local and national economies. The company’s 2006 performance on its social and environmental initiatives is essentially captured in the Annual Sustainability Report which was recently released.

“We are very proud of our Sustainability Report as this is the only report of its kind in the Philippines which meets the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI), the internationally-accepted index of CSER reporting. We are glad that we have pioneered the production of this report which demonstrates that social and environmental programs are very strategic in our business operations”, says Manila Water President Antonino T. Aquino. Manila Water is the only company in the Philippines which is listed in the GRI database of countries which reports its CSER performance annually. The report shows the company’s sustainability vision, policy and commitment as well as the framework for ensuring business sustainability. Manila Water has four pillars to ensure its commitment to sustainable development: (1) helping build communities, which includes its flagship Water for the Community Program, (2) protecting the environment, which lists all its environmental advocacies led by wastewater and sanitation, (3) safeguarding health and safety, which highlights its quality programs as well as ensuring service continuity in times of disasters, and (4) contributing to national and local economies, which details livelihood and cooperative development programs for promoting greater participation of communities into the Manila Water Supply chain.

Besides completing nearly 600 Tubig Para Sa Barangay projects in a span of nine years, Manila Water has also initiated water and sanitation programs geared towards service institutions which are commonly patronized by the urban poor such as schools, hospitals, markets, jails and orphanages. Manila Water also launched a livelihood program harnessing neighborhood cooperatives to provide industry-related services and products.

Please click here to download the Sustainability Report: SusDev2006 (1,379kb).