MAKATI CITY, Philippines (UCAN) -- An organization of business leaders and Catholic bishops recently certified diocesan operations, two schools and a law firm for being true to their mission, and promoting values and ethics in the workplace.

Representatives of Novaliches diocese, Mary the Queen Academy of Pampanga (MQAP), Don Bosco Center of Studies, Masteral Program in Religious Education, and Kapunan Lotilla Flores Garcia and Castillo Law Offices received Institutional Spirituality Quotient (ISQ) certificates.

The ISQ movement of the Bishops-Businessmen's Conference for Human Development (BBC) promotes values, ethics and good governance in the workplace.

Around 60 people attended the assembly on July 4 at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City southeast of Manila during which the certificates were issued.

At the event, Fe Cadaguit, who headed the MQAP rating team, reported the school improved its policies "less than two months" after her team gave recommendations in March.

She told UCA News maintenance personnel used to live beside a room that stores an electric generator and transformer. After the ISQ team visited, it pointed out to management the safety and health hazards workers were exposed to, and the school moved the workers' quarters.

A janitor who used to help the school in exchange for board and lodging inside the MQAP compound was also given full-time status and a salary as suggested by evaluators, Cadaguit added.

The ISQ team noted that students in grades five and six, who carry more books than those in lower grades, now occupy classrooms on the ground floor after the school moved pupils carrying lighter bags to higher floors.

Teresa David-Carlos, president of the academy in Pampanga province, 60 kilometers northwest of Manila, said ISQ helped the school administration realize it can "best" contribute to society by producing graduates who are "good Christians."

The school's stated aim is to "mold its students' character, competence, and intellect; create a community of students, faculty and parents working harmoniously as one family; and foster the highest regard for social consciousness and selfless service to others, in the ways of God."

Bishop Antonio Tobias of Novaliches, who represented his diocese, said he hesitated to accept the certification, knowing the diocese needs time "to grow" more in institutional spirituality.

His diocese was established in 2003 from areas covered by Manila archdiocese until then. It covers the northern parts of Quezon and Kalookan Cities, respectively northeast of north of the capital. BBC executive director Isabelita Palanca noted "pro-environment" programs among positive features of the diocese.

The institutions were evaluated using the workbook ISQ: Living One's Values in the Workplace, which Palanca developed.

She told UCA News that ISQ evaluators examine whether an institution's policies, systems, structures and programs apply values it articulates in its statement of vision, mission and objectives. She said factors considered include "treating employees well, giving quality services to clients and maintaining good relationships with competitors."

Bishops and businessmen established the BBC in 1971 to promote "total human development" of Filipinos. The conference currently includes female leaders in business and economics, educators and other professionals who work for social progress with corporations and institutions.

Since it began its ISQ movement in 2005, the BBC has certified seven institutions. Filipinos consider some aspects evaluated in ISQ as part of "corporate social responsibility," Social Weather Stations (SWS), an independent non-profit research institution and BBC corporate member, found in a 2005 survey.

Its president, Mahar Mangahas, in his 2006 report on the SWS Occasional Paper Judging Companies' Performance: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Philippines, noted that exercise of this responsibility is a significant means of helping a company in the Philippines improve profitability.

He reported that 51 percent of the 1,200 adults surveyed around the country listed initiatives to protect employees' health and safety among company programs they consider important. Providing employees "job security" was important to 43 percent of respondents while ensuring that "operations respect human rights" and "employees are treated fairly" were each rated as important company programs by 37 percent of the respondents. Forty-four percent of the respondents consider a company's social programs as "very important in deciding to buy its products," Mangahas wrote.

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