Last Friday in Davao, as vice chair of Integrity Initiative, an undertaking launched by the Makati Business Club, European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Management Association of the Philippines, American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and the Asian Institute of Management in response to the Aquino Administration's crusade for good governance in 2010, I declared to the Davao Chamber of Commerce and Industry that the private sector no longer considers corruption ''business as usual''.

The Integrity Initiative is about cleaning up the ranks of the private sector, accepting the responsibility for this challenge, pursuing it in a systematic and measurable manner that harnesses the best practices of good governance and accountability at all levels, and inspiring the commitment and cooperation of others in the private sector and partners in government.

It starts with signing the Integrity Pledge and moves on to adopting the Unified Code of Conduct for Business (launched in 2011), undergoing an Integrity Self-Assessment Tool (ISAT), validation of the ISA results which focuses on the responses to the ISAT and not whether the company will pass or fail the assessment and on to other validation and certification processes in partnership with other organizations. It will certainly be a stringent process as there is the strong possibility that companies making the mark would be eligible to incentives from government regulatory bodies.

A major concern of some businessmen is that honest behavior is a competitive disadvantage. As far back as the late 70's when we in the Bishop-Businessmen's Conference for Human Development come up with a Code of Ethics for Business, we were asked, ''what if we are the only ones following the code? We will be at the losing end.'' This is certainly the challenge - to get the public to respect ethical companies and patronize their products and services, the best workers to be attracted to employment in these companies and the government to recognize them with incentives. Unethical companies, hopefully, will have to contend with their higher exposure to business risks, and pay the price for their misconduct through exclusion from business opportunities and other sanctions.

To make moral compacts work there must a big enough collective commitment to upholding it. Starting with just under a hundred signatories to the Integrity Pledge, today there are 1,695 signatories including 32 heads of government agencies and 61 industry leaders who have pledged their institutional commitment to the campaign. More are needed - more businesses in Visayas and Mindanao and more industries - large, medium, and small.

The industry leaders, especially of the chambers and associations that have signed up, should lead the way by making sure that their own secretariats and own companies go beyond just the signing stage. At some point, signatories who do not go through with the process should be delisted and such should be given as wide public exposure as when they signed up. Otherwise, Integrity Initiative will lose its credibility if generally perceived unethical business leaders are seen in the ranks.

After the 2013 elections, attention has now focused on the 2016 elections with concerns on whether the elected leader then will follow the same ''Daan Matuwid'' mantra of the Aquino administration. My take on this has always been - if the private sector, especially business, practices ethical behavior and good governance produces good results then whoever is in power will have to follow the people's choice for good governance.

Business Bits. Apologies and thanks - At the writing of last week's column, the letter to Sec. Ochoa had not yet been sent (Sorry). Amy and I thank UP classmates Bert and Chato Alano for their kind hospitality in our Davao stay - Maraming Salamat!

Source: Manila Bulletin; Views, Comments, Features ; 3 June 2013