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.