MANY of the Philippines’ toughest social and economic problems, especially those that affect the environment, cannot be solved by the public and private sectors working alone. Multisectoral partnerships among government, civil society and the business community bring together funding, expertise, networks and ground-level knowledge to address issues no single sector can tackle alone.
The George S.K. Ty Grants and the Bloomberg Mayors Challenge are classic examples of such partnerships. Through the Metrobank Foundation and the GT Foundation, the Ty family’s corporate grants are directed toward Filipino organizations working on pressing community needs.
For its part, Bloomberg Philanthropies holds an annual global competition among cities that propose innovative solutions to urban challenges and selects the winners who are provided grants, technical assistance, and peer support to test and scale promising ideas.
During the 2026 George S.K. Ty Grants turnover ceremony on Sept. 4 at the Grand Hyatt Manila in Taguig City, the guest speaker was Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, who happened to be the winner of the 2025–2026 Bloomberg Mayors Challenge. He brought the perspective of a local government dealing with challenges that directly affect ordinary families, including lack of access to basic services, inadequate public spaces and perennial flooding.
Sotto acknowledged that many people currently feel frustrated, hopeless or struggle to remain optimistic given the complexity of challenges facing Philippine society. But he emphasized that events like the grants’ turnover serve as a vital reminder that despite prevailing difficulties, the broader outlook for the country remains positive.
His speech anchored the Metrobank Group’s 64th anniversary celebration this year, during which P75 million in grants were distributed to 35 social development partners. At the same time, Sotto’s message also underscores Pasig’s victory in the Bloomberg competition, wherein its winning proposal called Hope Floats received a $1-million grant to develop the floating parks project along the Pasig River, combining public spaces with flood-resilient urban design.
Pasig City was among the 24 winners selected from 633 applicant cities worldwide. Its Hope Floats initiative will involve residents in designing and managing the floating parks, thus giving communities a direct role in shaping their neighborhoods. Although they should not be misconstrued as a substitute for conventional flood control infrastructure, these projects show how cities can use innovative approaches to address environmental risks while improving the daily lives of long-suffering constituents.
Grants of this kind prove that if government and private institutions work together, funding need not end with a single project. It can even become a catalyst for better planning and stronger community participation. This would offer some hope for neighborhoods in nearly 1,600 cities and municipalities that have flood-prone areas, based on a nationwide survey conducted by the Department of Science and Technology.
Financing sustainable growth
In discussions about sustainability, capital market development rarely figures. But this essential yet overlooked pillar of sustainable development can mobilize the long-term financing needed for green infrastructure, resilient businesses and inclusive growth.
Comes now the first-ever book of its kind titled “Readings on the Philippine Capital Market” edited by Santiago Dumlao Jr., a former president of both the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex) and the Management Association of the Philippines. At the book launch last week, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Francis Lim welcomed its publication at a time when his agency is exerting earnest efforts to advance the development of our capital markets.
Published by the Capital Markets Development Foundation Inc. (CMDFI), this 320-page compendium of 15 articles is written by leading industry professionals who discuss the various investment instruments that are domestically available. It also serves as a definitive guide for Filipinos who are interested in becoming corporate investors or shareholders.
According to Dumlao, the primer is intended as a general reference material for collegiate finance teachers and their students. The topics were developed from experiences in conducting the Finance Educators Training Program funded by CMDFI since 2013 and implemented by the Finex Foundation’s Business Education Committee.
This book is long overdue because it fills a knowledge gap among Filipinos who lack a comprehensive guide to the financial markets. But it’s also very timely since at this point in our economic history, the Philippines needs a stronger capital market to finance its development ambitions.
The author is The Manila Times Sustainability Magazine’s executive editor. He is a member of the Finex Foundation’s Environment Committee and its Sustainability Handbook’s Editorial Board.
