Mighty Corp doubles its tobacco purchase

A cigarette manufacturing company announced it would double its purchase of tobacco from five million to 10 million kilos this year, which would boost the income of farmers in the area, the president of the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers Association and Cooperatives (NAFTAC) said.

NAFTAC president Mario Cabasal said the announcement of Mighty Corp was expected to break the farmers’ dependence on giant tobacco companies, who enter into contract with farmers to make them plant high nicotine varieties.

“The farmers now have a buyer for low-grade tobacco,” Cabasal said.

Mighty Corporation, a Filipino company, produces low-priced brand of cigarettes, which are popular among the masses. The company provided farmers 83 units of water pumps and 16 hand tractors.

The company also sponsored 100 college scholarship for children of tobacco farmers in La Union. It signed partnership agreements with farmers at the Hotel Ariana in Bauang, La Union last February 8.

Mighty Executive Vice President Oscar Barrientos said the company will compete with the giant tobacco companies in the purchase of tobacco, which they needed as cigarette filler.

Edgardo Zaragosa, Administrator of the National Tobacco Administration, welcomed the entry of Mighty Corporation in the market, “which is good because competition in tobacco trading will help farmers, especially if the price is right.”

“If Mighty is absent, we will be having problems selling tobacco,” Zaragosa said.

Mighty Corp double up tobacco purchases

A cigarette manufacturing company announced it would double its purchase of tobacco from five million to 10 million kilos this year, which would boost the income of farmers in the area, the president of the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers Association and Cooperatives (NAFTAC) said.

NAFTAC president Mario Cabasal said the announcement of Mighty Corp was expected to break the farmers’ dependence on giant tobacco companies, who enter into contract with farmers to make them plant high nicotine varieties.

“The farmers now have a buyer for low-grade tobacco,” Cabasal said.

Mighty Corporation, a Filipino company, produces low-priced brand of cigarettes, which are popular among the masses. The company provided farmers 83 units of water pumps and 16 hand tractors.

The company also sponsored 100 college scholarship for children of tobacco farmers in La Union. It signed partnership agreements with farmers at the Hotel Ariana in Bauang, La Union last February 8.

Mighty Executive Vice President Oscar Barrientos said the company will compete with the giant tobacco companies in the purchase of tobacco, which they needed as cigarette filler.

Edgardo Zaragosa, Administrator of the National Tobacco Administration, welcomed the entry of Mighty Corporation in the market, “which is good because competition in tobacco trading will help farmers, especially if the price is right.”

“If Mighty is absent, we will be having problems selling tobacco,” Zaragosa said.

Mighty Corp, CSR arm continued educational assistance

“Education is known to be a powerful equalizer. It gives children from low-income families a fighting chance to uplift themselves and their families from poverty and lead productive and meaningful lives.”

This was stressed by Mighty Corp President Edilberto Adan as he announced the Wong Chu King Foundation’s (WCKF) educational assistance, consisting of 100 college scholarship grants, to poor but deserving students who are children of tobacco farmers in Northern Luzon.

“Formal schooling is often too expensive and priced well beyond the reach of the poor, including tobacco farmers,” Adan, a retired general said, adding that the new scholarship program is one of three components of a P10-million joint CSR project of Mighty Corporation (MC) and the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers and Cooperatives Inc. (NAFTAC) that aims to benefit 65,000 farmers in Pangasinan, La Union, Abra, Cagayan, Isabela, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.

WCKF is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of MC, which the Wong Chu King family owns.

“This is our way of thanking the farmers for helping to make our company what it is today,” said Adan at the formal signing rites for the project at a hotel in Bauang, La Union last February 8.

“We are happy that Mighty Corporation, through its Wong Chu King Foundation, has stood firm on its commitment to help 65,000 tobacco farmers in the Philippines,” said Mario Cabasal, NAFTAC national president, at the signing, attended by top MC executives and 200 farmer leaders.

Retired judge Oscar Barrientos, MC executive vice president and spokesman, said the WCKF initially offered scholarships to the dependents of active MC employees but later expanded this to include dependents of retired MC employees and poor but deserving students with excellent academic records.

“Through this program, we hope to help the farmers and their children become competitive in the global market and earn sustainable incomes,” Barrientos said.

The scholarship program is in support of the National Tobacco Administration’s scholarship program for poor but deserving graduating high school students and dependents of tobacco farmers.

Other components of the project include agricultural production assistance, consisting of 16 hand tractors worth P2.5 million and 90 irrigation pumps worth P1.1 million; and institutional support for the annual search for outstanding tobacco farmers and cooperatives by the National Tobacco Administration (NTA).

Currently, the foundation has six high school and 14 college students on scholarship in various schools nationwide. Two of its college scholars graduated last year.

James Rommel Silao graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.S. Chemistry degree from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. He is now employed as a chemist at MC’s manufacturing facility in Malolos City, Bulacan.

Abigail Punongbayan, daughter of Conching Ong Punongbayan, MC head of production, graduated Cum Laude with a degree in Medical Technology at the University of Sto. Tomas. She is now completing a degree in medicine at the same university.

Mighty Corp push through their corporate responsibilty projects

Bishop Rodolfo Beltran of San Fernando City, La Union has commended the Wong Chu King Foundation (WCKF), the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of Filipino cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corp. (MC), for helping the church to spread the faith in the Philippines and for prioritizing apostolic works and education in its programs and projects.

According to Beltran, the foundation has so far donated to church projects funding the education of poor but deserving students in Lagawe, Bontoc. This includes four seminarians and students of vocational courses like sewing, weaving and hairstyling.

“The parents of these students are low-income farmers producing only for local consumption,” the bishop said. “So you can imagine the positive impact this kind of support has for them.”

Beltran also commended MC and WCKF for the outreach project recently launched for 65,000 organized tobacco farmers of Northern Luzon.

The bishop has witnessed the signing of an agreement on the project between MC and 200 farmer leaders of the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers and Cooperatives Inc. (NAFTAC) from Pangasinan, La Union, Abra, Cagayan, Isabela, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur at a hotel here recently.

Under the agreement, MC donated to the farmers 16 hand tractors worth P2.5 million and 90 irrigation pumps worth P1.1 million.

“I’m quite happy about all these projects. It’s a big lift for our farmers, not only in La Union but also the whole of Northern Luzon,” Beltran said. “This is something very beautiful as the hand tractors and water pumps encourage our farmers to use modern methods of agriculture.”

The foundation was also commended for the renovation of the Basilica Minore of the Our Lady of Piat Church in Piat, Cagayan in 2012, and the renovation of the Diocesan Shrine of Immaculate Conception in Naic, Cavite last year.

Auxiliary Ricardo Baccay of Tuguegarao City described WCKF’s work as “a step in the right direction. My diocese, like all dioceses, have serious concerns. If WCKF is out to help schools, putting up libraries is the best form of help it can give.”

“For many years, I have personally known Mrs. Nelia Wong Chu King, WCKF chairman of the board of trustees,” said Archbishop Emeritus Diosdado Talamayan of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao City. “She and her family are great devotees of Our Lady of Piat, and they have erected a chapel in Malolos City, Bulacan, dedicated to Our Lady of Piat, which was blessed by many bishops led by Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales in 2012.”

Archbishop Rolando Tirona of the Archdiocese of Caceres in Naga City, Camarines Sur, described the Wong Chu Kings as an upright family and said it was “highly uncharacteristic for them to be involved in the illicit trade practices of technical smuggling and tax evasion.”

Created in 1990, the foundation aims to perpetuate the memory of Wong Chu King, the family patriarch, an avowed philanthropist who was concerned for the plight of, and provided timely assistance to, the poor and underprivileged during his lifetime. The foundation also aims to encourage and promote education through scholarship programs

and raise funds for charitable, cultural and educational purposes.

Mighty Corp helps tobacco farmers in the country

A tobacco company has sealed an agreement that paves the way for outreach projects for tobacco farmers in the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley provinces.

Mighty Corp through its president retired General Edilberto Adan and retired Judge Oscar Barrientos signed an agreement with the National Federation of Tobacco Growers’ Association and Cooperatives (NAFTAC) represented by its national president Mario Cabasal to pursue joint projects that will uplift tobacco farmers under the former’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) program.

The cigarette firm has already delivered 90 diesel-fed water pumps and 16 units of power tillers to various farm groups in the provinces of Abra, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Isabela and Cagayan, the country’s top producers of the yellow leaf tobacco.

The company said it will also sponsor the college education of 100 new high school graduates who are sons and daughters of tobacco farmers under the National Tobacco administration’s three year-old scholarship program.

It also plans to support the NTA’s yearly search for the best tobacco farmers in the country.

NTA Administrator Edgar D. Zaragoza has said the company’s CSR will boost the tobacco industry.

“The more players dealing directly with the farmers, the better and merrier,” he said.

Zaragoza said other tobacco companies such as Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corporation, Universal Leaf  and Trans Manila have their similar CSR programs.

“This should encourage other industry players to do the same to help the tobacco farmers and their familes," he added.

Mighty Corp. has earlier announced it is ready to buy 10 million kilograms of tobacco leaves directly from farmers. It also promised to buy all the leaves that other players in the industry could not absorb.

Farmers have been producing an average 70 million kilos of the golden leaf in the past five years, half of which was sold to cigarette manufacturers, the half exported to markets abroad.

The 10 million kilograms Mighty promised to buy represents one-fifth of tobacco leaves sold to local cigarette manufacturers.

On the malicious allegations against Mighty Corp

Several months ago, Filipino-owned tobacco manufacturer, Mighty Corp has been accused of tax-dodging by PMFTC.  

According to the competitor allegation, Mighty declared only half of its tobacco production due to tax purposes. Same issue that they always brought up whenever they were the subject in the several news articles online and broadsheet.

With the accusation over technical smuggling, the report made by the Task Force from the Department of Finance said that there are substantial unaccounted raw materials and huge revenue leakage from the Bulacan-based manufacturer. 

Meanwhile, in a statement made by the spokesperson and executive vice president of Mighty, Oscar P. Barrientos said that the continuous effort in a way doing smear, malicious campaign by the competitors

“Mighty Corp. continues to be vilified for having stood up to the industry giant. Since last year, the smear campaign has been nothing more than a rehash of the same lies and allegations,” Barrientos added. It’s really alarming when the rivals keep on rehashing old issues against the company.

With the giant monopoly like PMFTC, Mighty Corp proves that even they are a small local company, they’re become stronger than ever. Probably PMFTC want to pin down the company over the passage of Republic Act 10351 or the Sin Tax Reform Law in 2013.

Mighty Corp, Wong Chu King Foundation selected students for scholarship grants

Mighty Corp, Bulacan based tobacco manufacturer, known for their quality cigarettes. They helps a lot of Filipino people thru their charitable works. via Wong Chu King Foundation.

“Education is known to be a powerful equalizer. It gives children from low-income families a fighting chance to uplift themselves and their families from poverty and lead productive and meaningful lives.”, said Edilberto Adan, Mighty president.

Adan announced the foundation’s recent initiative for educational assistance. They gave out at least 100 college scholarship grants to deserving students, which was distributed to the children of tobacco farmers in Northern Luzon.

He added that the said scholarship program is part of the P10-million joint CSR project of Mighty Corporation and the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers and Cooperatives Inc.. It aims to benefit 65,000 farmers in Pangasinan, La Union, Abra, Cagayan, Isabela, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.

“This is our way of thanking the farmers for helping to make our company what it is today,” said Adan

“We are happy that Mighty Corporation, through its Wong Chu King Foundation, has stood firm on its commitment to help 65,000 tobacco farmers in the Philippines,” said Mario Cabasal, NAFTAC national president, at the signing, attended by top executives of Mighty and 200 farmer leaders. Currently, they have six high school and 14 college students on scholarship in various schools nationwide.

Meanwhile, Retired judge Oscar Barrientos, the company's executive vice president and spokesman, said the foundation offered scholarships to the dependents of active employees but later expanded the program to include dependents of retired employees of the tobacco company and poor but deserving students with excellent academic record.

“Through this program, we hope to help the farmers and their children become competitive in the global market and earn sustainable incomes,” Barrientos said.