Mighty Corp pushes the use of organic agri pesticide

Bulacan-based manufacturer of quality cigarette in the country, Mighty Corp promotes the alternative use for tobacco. In this initiative, it will help reduce Filipino farmers’ reliance on chemical-based pesticides, increase tobacco farmers’ income, and protect the environment.

According to Mighty's spokesperson and executive vice president, Oscar Barrientos said it was part of the company's commitment thru their corporate social responsibility thrust. He added that with a growing number of Filipino farmers were shifting from chemical-based to organic pesticides. 

“This trend should be encouraged,” he added.

Mighty Corp, which they collaborated with National Tobacco Administration (NTA), Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna (UPLB) in this project.

Mighty Corp paid 8 billion for the excise tax

Bulacan-based tobacco company, Mighty Corp increase their market share by paying at least 8 billion excise tax for the year 2013 to the Bureau of Internal Revenue. In 2012, they paid at least 300 million and signaled the rise of this low-priced cigarette firm. 

According to Oscar Barrientos, executive vice president of Mighty said that the excise tax that the company paid for the year 2013 just past reflects the jump in our market share and our fair share in the increased taxes on “sin” products. He added that the facts should put to rest false accusations to them has not been paying its correct taxes.

Barrientos pointed out, the BIR and the Bureau of Customs have cleared his company of any tax deficiency until February 2014.

Meanwhile, records from the BIR had shown that excise taxes from both cigarettes and alcohol products increased by 81.5 percent despite a decline in the number of sticks sold. Mighty Corp. was a minor player in the tobacco industry has been reaching out to a lot of people who are in need of help.

Mighty Corp's rival company halted by BIR on new cigarette variant

The Bureau of Internal Revenue has stopped Mighty Corp's rival company, Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Inc. from manufacturing a variant of Marlboro cigarettes, “Marlboro Flavor Code” due to alledged error in the printing of its case, it was learned yesterday.

Regarding the revoking the permit that was issued last May 3 to PMFTC , the BIR’s Large Taxpayer Service (LTS) said the “aforesaid brand can no longer be manufactured and distributed in the market without securing a prior permit from this office.”

The cancellation stemmed from PMFTC alleged failure to come out with right color printed in the flip-top-box of the cigarette.

“Please be informed that upon verification and comparison of the approved label of the subject brand name against the commercial label being manufactured and distributed in the market, it was found out that the actual color scheme was not in conformity with the approved color scheme for the particular brand,” LTS Chief Alfredo Misajon said.

He said “the color of the approved sample label bears shade of dark gray while the color of the actual commercial label found in the market is black.”

Misajon’s letter added PMFTC blatantly violated the condition of the permit (ELTRD-(T)-011-05-13-87598) it issued to the firm with an explicit prohibition that: “No changes/alteration of the color scheme on the approved commercial label shall be made without prior approval from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.”

A BIR official who declined to give his name said PMFTC’s permit was revoked because it failed to meet the specifications as stated in its application like the color and other details to be put in the pack, or carton cover.

She said PMFTC has already signified its intention to appeal the adverse decision, adding that the error was due to the kind of paper used which could not meet the color specified in its permit application.

“If an applicant applies for a bright red or blue color he must come out with the right coloration, not a shade of red or blue,” she said.

She said a manufacturer must specifically state the unique and distinct detail of its packaging and color scheme, otherwise the application will be rejected outright.

This way, she said, infringement of patent and unfair competition can be avoided as provided for under Revenue Regulations Nos. 3-2006 and 17-2012.

A manufacturer should not also ride on the popularity of a brand that was previously registered, the same official said.

PMFTC has been trying to employ various schemes to regain its market dominance, including the attempt last January, to sell in Mindanao and elsewhere at P245.00 per ream or P1.23 per stick of the same label with a black shade of color which the BIR subsequently banned, claiming that PMFTC cannot sell low-priced Marlboro because it is classified as premium brand.

In its letter-request to the BIR on Nov. 25, 2013, PMFTC claimed there was a need to introduce new cigarette brands to reverse the current decline in its sales due to stiff competition.

“What is more worrying, we expect the down-trading to continue, with the Marlboro volume further decreasing to 7.9 billion sticks in 2014,” PMFTC President Paul Riley said.

Riley wrote the BIR requesting permission to allow PMFTC to introduce to the market low-priced Marlboro cigarettes at a time when it is already selling at one-peso-per stick three cigarette brands it acquired from Fortune Tobacco Corp. in a joint-venture agreement in 2010, namely Westpoint Filter Kings, Jackpot Menthol 100s and Jackpot Full Flavor.

But these brands of cigarettes did not sell as much, a BIR official who requested anonymity said.

Its request to the BIR to produce Marlboro variants and sold them at lower retail prices to avail of lower excise tax rates was rejected because Marlboro has been classified as premium.

Mighty Corp, Wong Chu King Foundation initiated Parañaque medical outreach

Mighty Corp's CSR arm, Wong Chu King Foundation had donated medicines needed by the Foundation of Our Lady of Peace Mission Inc. Hospital. In this initiative made by the foundation, it will help boost its medical mission for thousands of poor families living in Paranaque City.

The said foundation which aims to perpetuate the memory of Emmanuel Wong Chu King, philanthropist and patriarch of the Wongchuking family. He reached out to the poor and underprivileged sectors with their nutrition, medical, education and livelihood needs.

Meanwhile, the FOLPMI Hospital was administered by the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres has been extended health care to indigents including ward accommodation since 1984.

“While we continue to give free healthcare and surgical needs to poor families, our hospital also offers very low rates for various medical services for those who can afford to pay,” said Sr. Eva Fidela Maamo, FOLPMI president.

FOLPMI Hospital maintains an emergency room, an out-patient department and in-patient services, an operating room, laboratory and radiology services, along with   charity programs for the poor.

“Our founder Mr. WongChuKing always had a soft spot for the poor, especially children,” said James Navarette, general manager of the foundation.

They also funded the Hapag-Asa Integrated Nutrition Program of Assisi Development Foundation Inc. and provides the nutritional needs of more than eight million children nationwide.

Other partnerships that Wong Chu King Foundation and Mighty Corp has done for the past months such as the agreement with the University of the Philippines Law Class of 1978 and the Payatas Orione Foundation Inc. for a nutrition program for malnourished children at the Quezon City dump.

According to Maamo, the hospital has recently expanded services for indigent patients. They expanded its services to assist the poor communities and squatter areas in Metro Manila and Cavite City along with the 110 indigenous peoples’ communities of the country.

“Aside from general medical and surgical services, we can now provide ENT care, neurology, orthopedics, pediatric care, pulmonary care, dentistry, cleft and craniofacial care and family medicine, among others,” she said.

Mighty Corp continues to help people by CSR projects

Bulacan-based tobacco manufacturer, Mighty Corp, and Wong Chu King Foundation has been actively helping out a lot of people via the company's corporate social responsibility projects. 

According to Bishop Rodolfo Beltran of San Fernando City, La Union said that he praised on what Mighty and the foundation for helping the church to spread the faith in the Philippines and for prioritizing apostolic works and education in its programs and projects.

He added that the foundation donated to church projects funding the education of poor but deserving students in Lagawe, Bontoc. 

“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.” He lauded the outreach project that the foundation and Mighty launched for 65,000 organized tobacco farmers of Northern Luzon last February.

Under the agreement, Mighty Corp 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.

Meanwhile, Auxiliary Ricardo Baccay of Tuguegarao City said about the foundation'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.”

Mighty Corp changes the lives of tobacco farmers in Northern Luzon

The joint project between Bulacan-based tobacco manufacturer, Mighty Corp and an NGO partnered to uplift the lives of farming families in Northern Luzon.

The said partnership was sealed both Mighty and National Federation of Tobacco Farmers and Cooperatives, Inc. officials. The memorandum of agreement was held last February 8 as officials from Mighty retired general Edilberto P. Adan, retired judge Oscar P. Barrientos, and Mario Cabasal, head of NAFTC.

Meanwhile, Wong Chu King Foundation Inc., Mighty's charitable arm handed over at least 16 units of hand tractors worth P2.5 million and 90 units of water pumps worth P1.1 million to chapter delegations from seven provinces in Northern Luzon. 

 “We are happy that  Mighty Corporation has stood firm on its commitments to help the 65,000 strong tobacco farmers in the Philippines with their pronouncements this year to purchase 10-million kilograms of tobacco leaves and the P10-million outreach projects for tobacco farmers,” said Cabasal after the agreement was signed by the new partners.

“This is definitely a big help to us, tobacco farmers,” added Cabasal.

Mighty Corp boost the morale of tobacco farmers by gain production

Filipino-owned cigarette manufacturer, Mighty Corp sealed an agreement between local tobacco farmers, and National Federation of Tobacco Farmers and Cooperatives, Inc. last February. The said project which aim to uplift the lives of farming families under the theme, “Sama-sama Tayong Pilipino sa Pagyabong ng Industriya ng Tabako.”

The deal was signed by Mighty Corporation President Edilberto P. Adan and Executive Vice President Oscar P. Barrientos with Mario Cabasal, head of the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers and Cooperatives, Inc.. Then, a consultative meeting was held between Mighty executives and 200 tobacco farmer-leaders from Northern Luzon.

They announced a pledge for a P10-million fund for three-pronged programs that will help tobacco farmers produce quality tobacco for the company.

Meanwhile, the said program includes irrigation pumps and tractors for the farmers, sending college students via their scholarship grants and the institutional support for the annual search for outstanding tobacco farmers and cooperatives.

“We are happy that Mighty Corporation has stood firm on its commitments to help the 65,000 strong tobacco farmers in the Philippines with their pronouncements this year to purchase 10-million kilograms of tobacco leaves and the P10-million outreach projects for tobacco farmers,” Cabasal said.

“This is a big help to tobacco farmers,” Cabasal added. He elated over Mighty's initiative to buy at least 10 million kilograms of tobacco leaves.

Mighty Corp’s charitable arm, Wong Chu King Foundation, Inc. turned over 16 units of hand tractors worth P2.5 million and 90 units of water pumps worth P1.1 million that was distributed to the seven tobacco-producing provinces in Northern Luzon.