“Even as we continue to face challenges—among these geopolitical uncertainties,
significant gravity in the telco space, and an increasingly competitive telco landscape—we remain determined to do our best to grow the business,” Manuel V. Pangilinan, PLDT and Smart Chairman and CEO, said.
Pangilinan made the statement during PLDT’s business disclosure report covering the first half of the year held Aug. 13.
“With the all-time highs delivered in recent periods behind us, we turn to the future that we are tasked to build for PLDT with careful optimism. As we continue our pursuit of higher shareholder values, our focus on exceptional service to our customers remains intense. We continue to be confident that, as before, we will make it through with the perseverance, dedication, and innovation of our people,” Pangilinan said.
The PLDT Group completed its 2023 Sustainability Report and Communication on Progress to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), underscoring the Group’s continuing commitment to embed sustainability in its business operations and align with global principles on human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption.
Further to its active participation in the UNGC, PLDT remained part of the FTSE4Good Index, as an affirmation of its continuing alignment with global best practices on environmental, social, and governance management performance.
In line with its advocacy for a circular economy, PLDT and Smart participated in relevant industry and policy legislation activities, through engagements with the Makati Business Club and the House Committee on Economic Affairs.
This complements its ‘Be Kind. Recycle.’ e-waste campaign which involves a scaled-up collection effort with 115 activated e-waste collection sites at the end of the first half of 2024, including the deployment in SM malls nationwide.
PLDT and Smart conducted a workshop with resource experts from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to enhance organizational knowledge and
understanding of environmental regulations and the impact of network operations on the country’s natural resources.
The PLDT Group has also been working closely with the Government and other stakeholders to deliver relief and communications assistance during disasters, such as the recent #CarinaPH, and to strengthen the country’s climate adaptation and disaster resilience.
During the quarter, PLDT and Smart conducted various initiatives to promote
empowerment of vulnerable sectors, including women and persons with disabilities. The Group participated in a panel session with the Philippine Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (PBCWE) highlighting the importance of gender equality, and diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. The Group’s security service providers conducted disability awareness and sensitivity training to ensure effective communication and customer care as frontliners.
The PLDT Group continues to promote the rights of children to a safe online
environment. The Group’s pioneering child protection platform has already blocked over 1 million URLs and online content linked to online sexual abuse and exploitation of children from June 2021 until end-June 2024.
To help narrow the digital divide, PLDT and Smart also continue to work with the
government on various programs that enable access and upskilling of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and vulnerable sectors as they participate more actively in the digital economy. Their eBiznovation and Digital Farmers Programs have already reached more than 21,000 MSMEs and over 12,000 farmers, respectively.
As schools opened for the new school year, the PLDT Group remains at the forefront of promoting digital solutions for inclusive education through its School-in-a-Bag program.
This program leverages on the use of technology to foster resilient modes of learning and has since benefited over 600 schools, 11,000 educators, and 116,000 students, including children.
To reinforce the PLDT Group Supplier Code of Conduct and Corporate Governance policies, the Group conducted a sustainability forum with local and foreign tier-one suppliers representing over 55% of PLDT and Smart 2023 spend. Topics discussed included the sustainability roadmap, cybersecurity, data privacy, business continuity and resiliency and environment and occupational health and safety.
Safeguarding the rights of their customers to privacy and online safety, PLDT and Smart have prevented close to 40 billion cyber attacks and data breaches and blocked access to more than 28 billion malicious domains and more than 32 million SMShing messages.
