Farmers Get Assurance from Mighty Corp

In the midst of fear that tobacco prices and demand for the yellow leaf would dive as a result of the new excise tax law on cigarettes, farmers in Pangasinan and the Ilocos provinces heave a sigh of relief after Bulacan-based cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corporation (Mighty Corp) has announced that they will serve as a sure market for their products market this year.

the National Federation of Tobacco Growers and Cooperatives (NFTGC) President Mario Cabasal said that members of their organization and their families welcome the great news that Mighty Corp has committed to  buy at least 10 million kilograms of tobacco leaves at an average price of P70 per kilo and buy all the excess tobacco leaves that farmers could not sell to other buyers.

Cabasal said, “We limited to minimum areas fields planted to tobacco last year in anticipation of depressed demand due to the scheduled implementation of the sin tax,” Cabasal said.  Good thing, some farmers were able  to sell part of their low-grade harvests to Mighty Corporation in 2013.”

He added that this assurance of an alternative market, besides other tobacco companies, will again inspire their members to devote larger areas to the cultivation of Ilocandia’s most important cash crop. It was reported that many farmers in the Ilocos Region shifted to planting yellow corn which offers a profit lower than what they get from selling tobacco.

“With Mighty’s assurance that the company will buy all the unsold tobacco harvested by farmers, we can also be sure that unlike in the past, prices will stay high even after the holiday season. Price cut downs on harvests after the Holy Week was an old practice of middlemen from Ilocos Norte to Pangasinan,” Cabasal added.

Might Corp., the only fully Filipino-owned cigarette company in the country, has also initiated programs that directly benefits tobacco farmers like the donation of support farm implements like irrigation pumps and tractors; sponsoring new 100 college scholar grants for the sons and daughters of tobacco farmers;  and the institutional support for the annual search for outstanding tobacco farmers and cooperatives.

Mighty Corp’s twin 10-million projects to benefit farmers

Mighty Corporation (Mighty Corp) the only fully Filipino-owned cigarette manufacturing company in the Philippines has committed to facilitate two 10-million projects that will benefit local tobacco farmers in Pangasinan, La Union and Ilocos provinces.

Mighty Corp Executive Vice President Oscar P. Barrientos confirmed that they have already asked the help of the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) in the purchasing of P10-million kilograms of tobacco leaves and a P10-million corporate social responsibility (CSR) program for tobacco farmers and their families.

NTA Administrator Edgardo Zaragoza said, “We are grateful and we are looking forward to the firm commitments of Mighty Corporation 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.”

The National Federation of Tobacco Growers and Cooperatives (NFTGC) also welcomed the initiatives of Mighty Corp with open arms.  The group pointed out that their members and families are elated with the plan of the company to purchase all the excess tobacco leaves that farmers could not sell to other buyers.

NFTGC President Mario Cabasal said, “Now that we are assured of an alternative market, besides other tobacco companies, our members will again be inspired to devote larger areas to the cultivation of Ilocandia’s most important cash crop.”

Cabasal also commended Mighty Corp regarding the P10-million three-pronged programs to directly help the tobacco farmers.  The said project includes donation of support farm implements like irrigation pumps and tractors, new 200 college scholar grants for the sons of daughters of tobacco farmers and the institutional support for the annual search for outstanding tobacco farmers and cooperatives in the country.

NTA All Praises to Mighty Corporation

Mighty Corporation, the only fully Filipino-owned cigarette manufacturer in the country, was commended by the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) for all the assistance it continues to provide to tobacco farmers to improve the situation of the industry.

NTA Chief Edgardo Zaragoza is all praises to the Bulacan-based company owned by the Wongchuking family. In a statemment, he said, “The more players dealing directly with the farmers, the better and merrier. This is a big boost to the tobacco industry.”

He added that the social outreach programs initiated by Mighty Corp. would increase the assistance provided to farmers and their families and could encourage other cigarette industry players to do the same.

To this date, the company has provided 90 diesel-fed water pumps and 16 power tillers to farmers in the provinces of Abra, Ilocs Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Isabela and Cagyan, the country’s top producers of yellow leaf, the variety used for cigarettes.

In earlier reports, Mighty Corp. has committed to purchase 10 million kilograms of tobacco leaves, one fifth of the industry’s total production. Aside from this, it has also provided 100 scholarships to high school graduate  children of  tobacco farmers.

Zaragoza welcome all the help that they get from the private sector said assures tat NTA is working on the implementing rules for the excise taxes on cigarettes to ensure that the taxes will directly benefit tobacco farmers and their familes.

Mighty Corp and Wong Chu King Foundation Give Back to Farmers

Mighty Corporation (Mighty Corp), the only wholly Filipino-owned cigarette company in the Philippines, has recently forged an agreement with the National Federation of Tobacco Growers’ Association and Cooperatives (NAFTAC) that aims to uplift the lives of tobacco farmers.  A move that is seen to pave the way for outreach projects for tobacco farmers in the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley provinces.

Mighty Corp, represented by company President Edilberto Adan and Executive Vice President Oscar Barrientos, signed an agreement with NAFTAC National President Mario Cabasal to pursue joint projects that will benefit tobacco farmers under the former’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) program.

To date, the Bulacan-based cigarette manufacturer 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.

Aside from farm tools and equipment, Mighty Corp has also committed to donate funds for the college education of 100 new high school graduates who are children of tobacco farmers under the three year-old scholarship program of the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) to give them a chance of a brighter future, for the kids and their respective families.

NTA Administrator Edgar D. Zaragoza firmly believes that the CSR programs of Mighty Corp will boost the tobacco industry after the company has also expressed its desire to support the NTA’s yearly search for the best tobacco farmers in the country.  

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

Local tobacco farmers have been producing an average of 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. Mighty Corp has committed to buy 10 million kilograms of tobacco leaves directly from the farmers. This represents one-fifth of tobacco leaves sold to local cigarette manufacturers.

Migthy Corp and Wong Chu King Foundation Give Back to the Community

In thephoto: Jonathan Sy-Alvarado (fifth from left), representative of Rep. Ma.Victoria Sy-Alvarado of Bulacan’s 1st District, receives 45,000 ecobags fromofficials of Mighty Corporation (MC) and Wongchuking Foundation (WCKF). Theecobags were donated in the name of the late Emmanuel Wongchuking, familypatriarch and philanthropist. In photo are MC and WCKF officials.

Giving back to the community is one noble act that private companies do as a way of saying “thank you” for the years of embracing them as a member of a commune. The only wholly Filipino-owned cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corporation did just that for the benefit of the province of Bulacan and other nearby areas.

Mighty Corp. which is based in the city of Malolos has turned over 45,000 ecobags or reusable shopping bags to the First District of Bulacan to help reduce the incidence of flooding in the province.  In recent years, flash floods have become a serious problem in Bulacan, where Angat, Bustos and Ipo dams are located.

The ecobags, made of durable fabric like canvas or woven synthetic fibers, provide its residents with an environment-friendly substitute to single-use plastic bags, which are known to clog canals, creeks and other waterways that results to massive floodings especially during the rainy seasons.

The turn-over ceremony coincides with the launching of Lingkod Kalikasan Ecobag, a joint project of Bulacan’s First District, Lingkod Movement and Wong Chu King Foundation (WCKF), the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of Mighty Corp.  The project aims to reduce flooding by cutting down on the use of plastic bags.

Rep Ma. Victoria Sy-Alvarado of Bulacan’s 1st District said, “Every household in the district would each receive one ecobag for use in the distribution and storage of relief goods like rice, bottled water and canned food during calamities. In return, recipients should donate their plastic bags for recycling into useful products such as hollow blocks.”

The lady solo reminded her constituent that they can use their own ecobags in times of relief operations for calamities. She also praised Mighty Corp. for continuously providing good livelihood to the province, which has helped a lot of people as well as their respective families in attaining a better future.

Image credit: www.mb.com.ph.

Mighty Corporations's a Mighty Heart

With the vision of helping millions of farmers whose lives are dependent on the local tobacco industry, proud Philippine tobacco manufacturer Mighty Corporation (Mighty Corp) owned by the Wong Chu King family has confirmed their commitment to help uplift the lives and secure a better future by initiating various corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. 

Under the agreement signed by Mighty Corp and the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers and Cooperatives Inc. (NAFTAC), 16 hand tractors worth P2.5 million and 90 irrigation pumps worth P1.1 million are to be donated to donated to the farmers.  NAFTAC was represented by 200 farmer leaders from Pangasinan, La Union, Abra, Cagayan, Isabela, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.

Bishop Rodolfo Beltran of San Fernando City, La Union has commended the Wong Chu King Foundation (WCKF), the CSR arm of Mighty Corp and said “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. This is something very beautiful as the hand tractors and water pumps encourage our farmers to use modern methods of agriculture.”

WCKF was created in 1990 to perpetuate the memory of Wong Chu King, the family patriarch, an avowed philanthropist who 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 Executive Vice President and spokesperson Oscar P. Barrientos added that with a bigger share of the company in the market today, they are giving the farmers a fair share of their success by offering competitive prices to their crops and championing the cause of the Filipino farmers by buying a larger share of the low-grade leaves at good prices.

Barrientos, a retired judge, claimed it is not only the tobacco farmers who benefit from Mighty Corp growth but the whole country as well through the company’s payment of taxes from their sale while employing more than 2,000 factory workers. The company continuous to expand its CSR projects to help cooperatives increase their production. They have also committed to provide scholarship grants to children of farmers. 

Image credit: www.mightycorpnews.com.ph.