Wong Chu King Foundation to fund chapel construction in Xavier School

A non-government organization announced that it will funding the construction of the Sacred Heart Chapel of the Senior High School Building for Xavier School in San Juan City as part of its advocacy to promote education nationwide.

Wong Chu King Foundation (WCKF) has committed in building the said chapel in line with its projects and programs that inlcudes financing the schooling of hundreds of poor but deserving students all over the country.

WCKF Vice President Caesar Wongchuking said that the Sacred Heart Chapel of Xavier School’s senior high school building is being built to relive the cause and passion for education of his father. He added that rhe chapel will be dedicated “in loving memory of the friendship” of Mr. Wong Chu King, patriarch of the family that formed WCKF, and Jesuit priests Jean Desautels and Ismael Zuloaga.

It was reported that Wong Chu King was one of the school’s founding donors who has worked hand-in-hand with Fr. Desautels, a French-Canadian Jesuit, was one of the school’s founders and its first president and director. 

It is also noted in school’s rich history that Fr. Zuloaga was the school’s longest-serving president and director at 19 years, from 1966 to 1985. The school is named after St. Francis Xavier, one of the first leaders of Jesuit missions in China.

The signing the deed of donation are WCKF Director Marietta Wongchuking-Co Chien; Xavier School Chairman of the Board of Trustees Johnip Cua; and Xavier School President and Director Fr. Aristotle Dy.

WCK Foundation picks 100 college scholars

Bulacan-based cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp has announced they will provide educational assistance, consisting of 100 college scholarship grants, to poor but deserving students who are children of tobacco farmers in Northern Luzon though their corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm Wong Chu King Foundation (WCKF).

During the formal signing rites for the project at a hotel in La Union recenty, Mighty Corp President Edilberto Adan said, “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.”

Adan explained that the new scholarship program is one of three components of a P10-million joint CSR project of Mighty Corp and the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers and Cooperatives (NAFTAC) that aims to benefit 65,000 farmers in Pangasinan, La Union, Abra, Cagayan, Isabela, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.

He pointed out that the said projects are their way of thanking the farmers for helping Mighty Corp what it is today. He also said that this is to show that the company has stood firm on its commitment to help tobacco farmers in the Philippines.

Mighty Corp Executive Vice President and Spokesman Oscar Barrientos explained that WCKF initially offered scholarships to the dependents of their current employees but later expanded the program to include dependents of their retired employees who have excellent academic record but could not continue school because of financial reason.

Based in the agreement, the project includes 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 of the National Tobacco Administration (NTA)  to recognize outstanding tobacco farmers and cooperatives.

Firm helps 3 million tobacco farmers, families

Bulacan-based cigarette company Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp confirmed the purchase of more tobacco leaves that is expected to benefit three million tobacco farmers and their dependents in the Cagayan Valley and Ilocos region.

The good news was delivered by Mighty Corp Executive Vice President Oscar P. Barrientos who said, “As the company’s share of the domestic market dramatically increases from a minimal five percent in 2012 to 20 percent of the local market for cigarettes in 2013, we want to help to millions of tobacco farmers whose lives are dependent on the tobacco industry.”

He added that the company has earned our fair share of the market by making affordable cigarettes sold to the mass market and they are proud of their modest success coming from a home-grown and Filipino-owned cigarette company.

“With a bigger share of Mighty Corp. in the market today, we are giving the tobacco farmers a fair share of our success by offering competitive prices to their crops. We are happy to offer better prices to tobacco farmers and are willing to tie-up with the Department of Agriculture and the National Tobacco Administration to cement our partnership with the farmers.” Barrientos pointed out.

The former judge also explained that it is not only the tobacco farmers who benefit from Mighty Corp’s success but the whole country as well through the company’s payment of taxes from the sale of cigarettes.  He also added that they are now providing jobs to more than 2,000 workers.

Barrientos also revealed that Mighty Corp will be engaged in corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects through donation of irrigation pumps and mini tractors in the form of grant side from the scholarship program they provide to their employees and children of farmers.

Quake ruins in Bohol, Cebu prompt firm to build more churches

Through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm Wong Chu King Foundation (WCKF), Bulacan-based Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp has affirmed its commitment to build more churches in the country after an earthquake damaged historical churches in the Visayan region recently

Mighty Corp Executive Vice President and Spokesperson Oscar P. Barrientos said, “The destruction of churches during the quake in Bohol and Cebu has prompted our company to continue with its mission to strengthen the Filipino faith.”

He also added that the calamities that hit the country last year only strengthened the Filipino faith and Mighty Corp will continue to build churches that Filipinos go to in their times of great trials. Just last year, the foundation helped renovate the Diocesan Shrine of Immaculate Conception in Naic, Cavite, and rebuilt the Basilica Minore of Our Lady of Piat in Cagayan.

Caceres Archbishop Rolando Tirona commended Mighty Corp and WCKF for their projects and pointed out, “This only shows that the company adheres strictly to their commitment to its corporate social responsibility.”

Aside from church renovation and construction, WCKF also supports poor but deserving students who are children of local tobacco farmers and employees of the company through scholarship programs for beneficiaries from the elementary to the college level.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Emeritus Diosdado Talamayan of the Archdiocese of Cagayan, issued an handwritten letter thanking Mrs. Nelia Wongchuking, WCKF Chariman of the Board of Trustees  and her  entire family who are great devotees of Our Lady of Piat.

A precious link to a glorious past

Mrs. Nelia Dy Wongchuking (seated, left), President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Wong Chu King Foundation, joins other foundation officers and members at the main altar during a symbolic turnover of the church to Naic Parish during the foundation’s 24th anniversary last March 30.

Wong Chu King Foundation (WCKF), the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp has helped the Diocesan Shrine of the Immaculate Concepcion of Mary in Naic, Cavite rise up again after it successfully completed the church’s restoration project recently.

WCKF Executive Director Alex Wongchuking said, “The foundation has devoted its resources to rebuilding churches in the country, helping the poor get education and doing other charitable works. We cannot allow this historic church to go into a state of disrepair.”

This church is one of the country’s oldest and largest in the coastal town of Naic along Manila Bay stands as precious link to our country’s Spanish colonial past, a reminder of the Dominican Parish in 1849 after the Spanish King ordered friars to take over the native clergy after revolts sparked in Latin America led by local priests.

WCKF, which is also involved in other CSR projects like scholarship grants to the poor, completed reconstruction work on the church last February and made a symbolic turnover to church officials last March 30 to mark the foundation’s 24th anniversary.

Cavite Bishop Reynaldo Evangelista was grateful and said, “The restoration of the church to its original architecture will “encourage people to grow in their faith, in a life of prayer and in a life of holiness, which is God’s desire for all of us.  With this beautiful church, one can say that the presence of God is really felt by the people.”

It was also reported that one of the church’s devoted parishioners is Mrs. Nelia Dy Wongchuking, WCKF President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees. She was born in Naic and has fond memories of the church of her youth and many sees that the projects implemented is just one of her ways to give back to the community.

Foundation offers scholarships to tobacco farmers’ children

Wong Chu King Foundation (WCKF), the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp, has confirmed its commitment to provide a scholarship program is in support of the project provided by the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) to poor but deserving graduating high school students and dependents of tobacco farmers.

In a formal ceremony held in a hotel in La Union recently, Mighty Corp President Edilberto Adansaid, “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.”

Adan also announced CKF’s educational assistance, consisting of 100 college scholarship grants, to poor but deserving students who are children of tobacco farmers in Northern Luzon. This is one of the three components of a P10-million joint CSR project of his company and the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers and Cooperatives Inc. (NAFTAC) that will benefit 65,000 farmers in various provinces.

The other components under the agreement signed by Mighty Corp with 200 farmer leaders are 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 NTA.

In a report provided by the foundation, WCKF currently supports six high school and 14 college students on scholarship in various schools nationwide. Two of its college scholars graduated last year and serve as inspiration to other fellow scholars.

The first one is James Rommel Silao who graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.S. Chemistry degree from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, and is now a chemist at Mighty Corp’s manufacturing facility in Bulacan. The other one is Abigail Punongbayan who 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.

Quake ruins in Bohol, Cebu prompt firm to build more churches

Bulacan-based Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp has firmed up its advocacy of building more churches in the Philippines as the destructions and damages on historical churches brought by the recent earthquake in the Visayas region are yet to be completed. 

Mighty Corp Executive Vice President and Spokesperson Oscar P. Barrientos pointed out that the destruction of churches during the quake in Bohol and Cebu has prompted the only fully Filipino-owned cigarette manufacturing company to continue with its mission to strengthen the Filipino faith. 

Barrientos in a statement said, “The recent calamities that hit the country last year only strengthened the Filipino faith.  Mighty Corp will continue to build churches that Filipinos go to in their times of great trials.” 

Church leaders praised Mighty Corp for their selfless initiatives.  One of them is Caceres Archbishop Rolando Tirona who has expressed his support for the cigarette company owned by the Wongchuking family in its struggle to clear its name amidst allegations of tax evasion and technical smuggling.

Tirona emphasized that Mighty Corp “adheres strictly to the company’s commitment to its corporate social responsibility.”

Meanwhile, Archbishop Emeritus Diosdado Talamayan of the Archdiocese of Cagayan also expressed support for the Wongchuking family and said, “For the past many years, I have personally known Mrs. Nelia Wongchuking.  She, together with the entire family, are great devotees of the Our Lady of Piat.”

The Wongchuking family has a record of building and repairing churches.  It was reported that the family helped renovate the Diocesan Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Naic, Cavite, and rebuild the Basilica Minore of the Our Lady of Piat in Cagayan last year.

Leaf farmers’ kids get college scholarships

MightyCorporation or Mighty Corp, through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm Wong Chu King Foundation (WCKF), is offering 100 college scholarship grants to poor but deserving children of tobacco farmers in Northern Luzon.

MightyCorpt Executive Vice President and Spokesman Oscar Barrientos said that this year’s project will be bigger since WCKF used to offer scholarships only to the dependents of current employees of their company but is now expanded to include dependents of their retired workers and poor but deserving students with excellent academic records.

It was also revealed that this project is part of three components of a P10-million joint project of the Bulacan-based cigarette manufacturer 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.

During the recent formal signing rites for the project at a hotel in La Union, Mighty Corp President and Chief Executive Officer Edilberto Adan pointed out that such initiative is their way of thanking the farmers for helping to make the only wholly Filipino-owned tobacco company in the country what it is today.

NAFTAC National President Mario Cabasal voiced out the appreciation of the 200 farmer leaders who attended the event and said, “We are happy that Mighty Corp, through its Wong Chu King Foundation, has stood firm on its commitment to help 65,000 tobacco farmers in the Philippines.” 

Based on the memorandum of agreement (MOA), the project also includes institutional support for the annual search for outstanding tobacco farmers and cooperatives by the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) and agricultural production assistance consisting of 16 hand tractors worth P2.5 million and 90 irrigation pumps worth P1.1 million.

Mighty Corp and Wong Chu King Foundation Receive Praises from Catholic Church

Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp, the only fully Filipino-owned cigarette manufacturer in the country, received praises from the Roman Catholic prelate of La Union for giving top priority to apostolic work and Catholic education in its programs and projects.

Mighty Corp, through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm Wong Chu King Foundation (WCKF), has donated to various church projects and funded the education of poor students in Lagawe, Bontoc, including four seminarians.

Bishop Rodolfo Beltran of San Fernando City said, ”The parents of these students are low-income farmers producing only for local consumption. You can imagine the positive impact this kind of support has for them.”

The foundation which was established in 1990 aims to perpetuate the memory of Wong Chu King, the family patriarch, a philanthropist known for his generosity to the poor. The foundation’s thrust includes scholarship programs and raising funds for charitable causes.

It was earlier reported that the foundation has renovated the Basilica Minore of Our Lady of Piat Church in Piat, Cagayan in 2012 and the Diocesan Shrine of Immaculate Conception in Naic, Cavite last year.  Many sees this a true testimony of Mighty Corp’s commitment to support the catholic clergy in the Philippines.

Archbishop emeritus Diosdado Talamayan of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao City pointed out that he  personally know  Nelia Wong Chu King, WCKF Chariman of the Board of Trustees and said, “She and her family are great devotees of Our Lady of Piat. 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.”