Rationale of the Study

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to the kind of things companies do

in their efforts to navigate these swirling currents of changing expectations, expectations
that have never loomed larger in the daily lives of companies, including oil and gas
companies. (Spence, 2010)
Corporate social responsibility can be traced as early as 1800s at the peak of the
industrial revolution where business communities show their concern towards society. It
is only during the 1950s that CSR took shape where a lot of companies donated to
charities. Companies then became aware of the business involvement in community
affairs and their issues. The concern of the businessmen were not only focused on their
profits but also to the challenges that the new era has bought on workers, their families
and their communities.1
The oil and gas companies in the Philippines can be traced back to the early 1900s. Back
then, it was based largely on the importation and sale of kerosene for household use. In
the sixties, oil companies started to build their own refineries to meet the countrys
growing fuel needs. During the 1970s, at the time when the Philippines was under martial
law, an oil crisis threatened the major industrial countries of the world and faced
petroleum shortages and high prices. As a response to the crisis, former President
Ferdinand Marcos created the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), a governmentowned and controlled corporation to supply oil to the country. The full deregulation of
1
http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199211593.00
1.0001/oxfordhb-9780199211593-e-002?mediaType=Article#oxfordhb9780199211593-div1-007

local oil companies happened in the nineties encouraging these companies to be more
effective and efficient, making the industry more competitive even up to the present time.
Oil and gas companies are necessary nowadays. With the steady increase of motor
vehicle owners, more and more companies are putting up gasoline station branches, one
of the major advantages that companies have benefitted due to deregulation. The effect of
this increasing demand in oil has caused a lot of damages to the environment and to the
people. With these harmful risks, oil and gas companies organize different corporate
social responsibility programs to compensate the society. Companies must adhere to
certifications based on voluntary sustainability to reduce these risks and it also builds a
positive company image to combat the industrys reputation of harming the environment.2
These programs are important in developing the innate nature of the people to help one
another and create the feeling of togetherness. CSR in the Philippines has evolved from
the concept of bayanihan which refers to the spirit of communal unity, work and
cooperation to achieve a particular goal3, presenting the Filipino culture and tradition in
another form.
In Metro Cebu, CSR programs of the gas and oil industry does not only focus on the
preservation of the environment but also for the welfare of the people around; and these
programs range from planting trees to building schools. These programs cover a larger
area since they are done by the company on a companywide basis rather than creating
different programs per gasoline station.
2 http://www.chinacsrproject.org/Uploads/%7BEA74A6EC-FCD4-4699-B0EDFE83A70F854D%7D_Costs%20and%20Benefits%20of%20CSR_20120615.pdf
3 https://themixedculture.com/2013/09/25/filipinos-bayanihan/

This study is conducted to have a deeper understanding of the CSR and the
reasons why companies undertake these programs. The study also covers the benefits that
the companies enjoy, both direct and indirect, by implementing these programs to the
community and how it creates an impact on them.