THE ALTURAS GROUP of Companies has never shied away from social responsibility since it started serving the Boholanos some decades back. In fact, it will continue giving back to the people all the blessings it has received through the years by continuously fulfilling its corporate social responsibility to the community, says Nora Pahang, its Human Resources (HR) Head. Last Friday was once such occasion wherein Pahang, together with Gov. Edgar M. Chatto and Provincial Social Welfare Officer Mita Tecson, distributed the first batch of its assistance to earthquake victims, numbering 148. Their list has a total of 320 individuals so Pahang said that there would still be additional batches after this; though she clarified that their company would go on helping as long as there are still people in need.

“The total amount of assistance to be given away is P30M; of which only P1M comes from the Alturas Group,” says Pahang. The rest came from their suppliers and donors some of which they do not even know, she added meaningfully. Pahang said that all their company did was open an account for the quake victims at the Philippine National Bank and amazingly, donations just kept coming in. The amount is the result of a three-month accumulated deposits from donors, which they started right after the October 15 earthquake.

The Alturas HR Head recounted to Gov. Chatto and the recipients how she and her team roamed around the province, sometimes even on foot, just to reach far-flung barangays to personally see and assess the damage and said that what she saw really touched her to the core because of the extent of the devastation which left much of the province in rubbles. “Good that Alturas has a visionary leader who is able to see things before they happen and is committed to help anyway he can to ease the people's burden,” she said, referring to Mar Uy, the company President. Pahang spoke about how their company began its philanthropic work twenty years ago when it started to give out scholarships to deserving students and housing opportunities to worthy families, many of whom were not even their employees nor relatives of those working for them.

To date, the Alturas Group has a total of more or less 10,000 employees but still, it continues to search for avenues to be able to continue helping the Boholanos; and it's quite amazing how other companies, even those from other countries, would like to chip in and help their cause. Come March 18, representatives of a multi-national corporation would be coming over to Bohol and meet personally with them to talk about the giving of more assistance to the people. This group, she says, is looking for the poorest community in the province where it could lend a hand in relieving them of their burdens. Gov. Chatto clarified that the P5,000 financial assistance given last Friday by the Alturas group to deserving Provincial Government employees might not be the last they could get for they would still be qualified for those which would either be coming from the national government or from international organizations and the private sector as long as they are able to meet the requirements for beneficiaries. (jlv/EDCom)