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.