Community Engagement

At our Better World communities, over 5,400 persons receive daily meals, health services, skills training, and a real chance to change their future.

Our Communities

A. Community Engagement

As one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines, with over 100 facilities across the archipelago, we recognize our responsibility to serve our communities to the best of our abilities. Being a proactive and positive contributor to the community is part of our core values. In our host barangays, we fund farm-to-market roads and other small infrastructure projects like footbridges and streetlights and support community clinics. We clearly understand the opportunities we help create and, importantly, how we actively engage on the ground, whether through philanthropy or the jobs we generate.

Our employees are encouraged to be good neighbors and build strong relationships with local government units, schools, civic organizations, and small businesses. As a result, our engagement often extends well beyond CSR programs or funding and, in some instances, becomes integrated into our core business strategies.

A strong example in many of our communities is local hiring, which improves job prospects for young people, creates livelihoods and supports small businesses that sustain us. Along with increasing access to economic opportunities and providing social value through our business operations, we actively engage in community development in cities and towns where we may not always have a direct stake. As a company, we have transitioned from ad-hoc and project-based initiatives that often produce short-term impacts. We now concentrate on long-term outcomes by involving ourselves in inclusive and collaborative efforts with communities.

In areas impacted by San Miguel’s businesses or projects, we provide various opportunities for consultation, encouraging diverse voices to be heard on issues important to the community and enabling those affected to share their knowledge, insights, and experiences to improve the implementation of our projects.

Better World, Better Futures

Our Better World Communities initiative, managed by our social responsibility arm, San Miguel Foundation, is our Company’s social change incubator. It repurposes idle and vacant properties for community and civic use.

Better World Tondo, San Miguel’s first community center, focuses on food rescue, hunger relief, and improving learning outcomes. Over 500 member families receive free meals from Monday to Friday, monthly groceries, remedial and after-school tutorials for children, and livelihood classes for mothers.

Better World Cubao is a women’s center that provides comprehensive health and wellness services. It empowers women to advocate for themselves and support each other. Health consultations are easily accessible, and the “Abante Babae” workshops cover various topics, including violence against women and children, parenting challenges, and gender equality. In 2024, we registered nearly 600 members and conducted regular health education and empowerment classes.

In collaboration with the Department of Health and Quirino Memorial Medical Center, the Foundation’s Better World Clinic-Cubao has expanded to become the first public-private partnership Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Service (BUCAS) Center. As a BUCAS center, the clinic aims to provide urgent care, ambulatory assistance, and other medical services right at our community center. This will help us extend more affordable healthcare to our Better World Cubao community and nearby barangays.

San Miguel’s newest and largest center, Better World Smokey Mountain, opened in September 2023 and serves as an upskilling training center for multi-generational families. We provide learning interventions for individuals of all ages, offering remedial classes and alternative learning systems such as sewing, leather craft, embroidery, and electronics repair workshops.

In November 2024 San Miguel Foundation officially partnered with the Bureau of Corrections and the Philippine Jesuit Prison Service. Our parent company, San Miguel Corporation, has committed to providing nutritious meals to persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) at the New Bilibid Prison and the Correctional Institution for Women for the next three years. In addition, the Foundation is working with the University of Perpetual Help System DALTA Bilibid Extension School to provide education ranging from short courses to complete industry-recognized qualifications at vocational education and training for medium-risk prisoners.

Another initiative is Backyard Bukid, a community garden and urban farming program. Like many of San Miguel’s Better World projects, Backyard Bukid gained momentum during the lockdown. Janitors, utility workers, and other support staff received a 750-square-meter plot that has since doubled in size, along with tools, seeds, and technical assistance to cultivate vegetables. Inspired by Backyard Bukid, community gardens have also been established in Better World Smokey Mountain and at SMC’s Bulacan, Manila, Cavite, and Pampanga facilities.

In partnership with San Miguel Food Group and SEED Philippines, San Miguel Foundation set up Backyard Bukid in Barangay Pili, Camarines Sur, and Barangay Guihing, Hagonoy, Davao del Sur and Barangay Impalutao, Impasugong, Bukidnon. Currently, these community farms engage over 75 volunteers of all ages, highlighting the program’s accessibility and appeal across different demographics.

Through these community projects, we address the basic needs of marginalized and vulnerable populations across all age groups and strive to tackle the challenges that hinder their progress: lack of access to nutritious food, clean water, quality education, and health services.

We strive to create opportunities for individuals to grow, build confidence, and empower them to achieve their full potential. Currently, we directly serve over 2,500 families at our Better World centers.

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