Insular Life: 100 Years of Helping Make Life Better

MANILA, Philippines – Far beyond simply giving that much-vaunted term CSR or Corporate Social Responsibility a face, an image, or a tagline, Insular Life has embraced it in full as a core program that embodies what it calls its Investments for the Future. 

A view towards this future not only becomes well defined but crystal clear when a corporation can look back at a hundred years of positive engagement in nation-building.

This centenarian in our midst — Insular Life — has long realized that as a 100% Filipino-owned institution whose longevity feeds from its long partnership with the Filipino people, it must not only exercise corporate social responsibility, but actually push it forward as a sterling initiative.

Under the Insular Life Foundation, Inc., its CSR arm, Insular Life seeks to make a difference in Philippine society through various ongoing programs that have served as models for other companies. 

Education has been at the forefront of these thrusts. From teaching young kids the value of savings to providing opportunities for out-of-school youth in GK Villages and promoting teaching as a profession, Insular Life Foundation Inc. has led the way in establishing far-reaching CSR programs.

What better way is there to contribute to the enhancement of life of the Filipino, after all, than by helping improve and provide access to quality public school education?

This has been the driving force behind Insular Foundation’s recognition of its responsibilities to the nation that it serves. Since 1962 when scholarship programs were first offered, over a thousand needy but deserving scholars have already received college and vocational education assistance.

"Helping make lives better" has been the abiding slogan for Insular Life Foundation, which was established the following year, in 1963, making it one of the country's first corporate foundations.

Since then, it has helped thousands of school children attain higher education and achieve a better life through scholarship grants for college and technician courses. It has also helped hundreds of teachers improve their knowledge and skills through in-service teacher training, and hundreds of principals to develop better interpersonal and managerial skills to run their schools.

It has been decades since Insular Life Foundation’s social initiatives were dedicated to the pursuit of its vision of social development. As a result, manifold programs have been established and continue to be implemented.

To motivate young achievers and open doors for higher education, the Insular Life Golden Eagle Award Incentive program benefits high school students in the form of Golden Eagle Award medals given to high school valedictorians.

Only the top 2,000 public and private high schools are qualified to participate in the program. All recipients are automatically qualified to vie for the ten slots of the Insular Life College Scholarship Grant at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, under the program of Bachelor of Science in Education. 

The scholarship covers tuition, miscellaneous fees, book allowance, board and lodging, and a stipend. Through this scholarship, the Foundation aims to encourage academically gifted individuals to pursue a teaching profession, so that they can in turn help improve the quality of the next generation of Filipinos.

In school year 2007-2008, Insular Life Foundation forged a tie-up with UP Diliman to support five underprivileged but bright students enrolled in Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and the Bachelor of Science in Education. This scholarship grant focuses on helping the youth gain the highest quality mathematics education. It covers full tuition and miscellaneous fees, book allowance, and a monthly stipend. 

Then there's the Adopt-A-School Program, which was instituted in response to a call from the Department of Education. Insular Life Foundation adopted two public schools in Muntinlupa, and has been helping them improve their instruction in science and technology.

The students at the Muntinlupa Itaas Elementary School (MIES) now learn the concepts of science and math through the DepEd-prescribed educational programs shown on Knowledge Channel. Three wide-screen TV sets and cabling facilities donated by the Foundation enable more students to take advantage of the learning opportunities that come with fresh technology.

The high school students and faculty of the Pedro Diaz High School-Buli Annex in Muntinlupa have in turn benefited from the computer laboratory the Foundation donated in 2001. With 25 brand-new personal computers, the computer laboratory became the springboard for Pedro Diaz High School to develop a business curriculum that eventually enabled the school to be accredited as the first Business High School in the Philippines.

To maximize the benefit of these facilities, even out-of-school-youths and unemployed adults in the community are given computer training so as to develop marketable skills.

These enhancements have gone hand in hand with the Foundation's Adopt-A-Scholar Program

In 2003, Insular Life employees adopted 100 elementary students from MIES. Each year, the employees provide their scholars with a one-year supply of school materials, school bags and books. By schoolyear 2008-2009, the first stage of the program was completed, with 100 students finishing their elementary schooling.  At the start of school year 2009- 2010, Insular Life employees once again renewed their commitment to 134 Grade One pupils at MIES and will see them through graduating from the elementary level.

It's been a two-way street as far as educational benefits go with regards the corporation's own labor force. Long in place has been the College Scholarship for Insular Life Employees’ Dependents.

With excellence as a recognized core virtue rooted deep in the company’s culture, this prime corporate value has been espoused among its employees, whose children are provided incentives to aspire for excellence.

Every year, children of Insular Life employees with at least a 90 percent average grade in their high school years can vie for five scholarship grants offered under The College Scholarship for Insular Life Employees Dependents.

To help establish a system-wide solution that will reverse the education crisis, Insular Life Foundation supports the "57-75" Campaign — a multi-sectoral, private initiative that proposes focused private sector intervention and school-community action toward system-wide performance improvement.

The "57" is the current national average score of public elementary school students in the National Achievement Test, signifying the poor state of education in the country today. "75" is commonly known as the passing mark that symbolizes the start of academic improvement toward excellence. The 57-75 Campaign focuses on three areas: improving retention, comprehension (literacy) and achievement. Its pilot run has involved 729 schools in six provinces and cities.

The Foundation's initial grant supports the implementation of the 57-75 Campaign in public elementary schools in San Luis, a 4th class municipality in Pampanga. The Foundation is also one of the supporters of the "57 Donors of P75,000" Fundraising Campaign. 

Another program had over 150 elementary and secondary public school principals completing the Ateneo Center for Educational Development’s Principal Empowerment Program (PEP) in 2009. The PEP is an eight-month training course that provides a holistic approach to school management and equips principals with the skills to improve the quality of education in their respective schools. Since 2005, Insular Life Foundation has supported 70 elementary and high school principals to the PEP.

The Literacy Program regularly donates storybooks to selected schools to encourage the youth to make reading a habit.

The foundation also sponsors basic storytelling workshops in partnership with Adarna House, Inc. These have involved educators and volunteers, with participants taught the basic tools of a storyteller, such as the choice of book, manner of voice, expressions and movements — all in an effort to make a story more appealing to young listeners.

Presently, the Literacy Program is comprised of four main programs held at various times during the year, with various corollary activities. Activities are scheduled to coincide with the National Children’s Book Month in July.

The Storybook Donations program that began in 2005 was expanded in 2006, with P50,000 worth of storybooks initially given MIES. Tuloy sa Don Bosco became a recipient in 2007, and the Educational and Research Development Assistance (ERDA) Foundation in 2008.

The Insular Life-Adarna Storytelling Workshop started in July 2007, with educators and volunteers from MIES and Tuloy as participants. Insular Life's first full-blown book fair started in 2005, and has since turned into an annual event that encourages reading among employees as well as to raise book rewards for the Storybook Donation program. For its part, the Storytelling campaign involved students from Kinder to Grade 6. In 2008, the I Love Books! Party was held to sustain the effort.  

For the Insular Storybooks for Children campaign, two storybooks were launched last July 18 to help Insular Life's centennial celebrations. Written by Palanca awardee May Tobias-Papa and illustrated by Isabel Roxas and Ariel Santillan, respectively, The Luckiest Girl in the World and Christmas in February were developed in partnership with Adarna House. As part of the launch activities, Insular embarked on a storytelling caravan billed as "100 Years of Insular, 100 Beloved Filipino Children’s Stories." Ten schools that topped the Department of Education’s National Achievement Test (NAT) for SY 2008-09 were selected to be part of the tour. Copies of the books were also given to the top 1,000 NAT topnotchers.

Apart from all of these education-related programs, the Foundation forged a groundbreaking project with Gawad Kalinga for the Tambayan ng mga Bayani (Tambayani) Program to benefit both out-of-school youth and in-school youth from ages 13 to 21. Gawad Kalinga, represented by its founder, Antonio Meloto, Jr., received a donation of P1.1 million to to fund the GK Tambayani project in GK Manggahan Kawayanan in Parañaque City.

Insular Life has also been supporting the search for The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) since the program’s inception in 1988, in partnership with the JCI Senate Philippines. Filipinos who are at least 41 years old and who have led a life of excellence in their chosen field, and contributed immensely to public welfare and national development, are bestowed the prestigious award.

In 2006, Insular Life produced Common Threads, Uncommon Lives: Profiles of TOFIL Awardees — a book that compiled stories on the TOFIL awardees' hallmarks of diligence, persistence and passion in their desire to make a positive difference in the lives of others. The book won an Anvil Award of Excellence from the Public Relations Society of the Philippines and the 2006 Gold Quill Award from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). Copies of the book were shared among 3,000 high schools and more than 500 public and private libraries in the county. As of 2009, a total of 104 outstanding Filipinos have received the TOFIL Award.

Then and now, The Insular Life Foundation continues to believe that investing in the development of the nation's human resources through education and related fields makes for giant steps forward.

Such strides may well portend another hundred years of excellence, hand in hand with keen awareness of corporate social responsibility.