Mighty Corp speaks up on anti-dumping charges

Over the past several months, Filipino-owned tobacco company, Mighty Corp. chided its critics who pushed over the the allegation on the anti-dumping issue. 

According to Mighty vice president and retired judge Oscar Barrientos said that the critics must think that “ignorance of the law excuses no one,” which referred to the claim of Ilocos Sur-based Banayoyo Reforestation and Tobacco Growers Credit Cooperative.

He added that the said anti-dumping law stated hat “simple assertion, unsubstantiated by relevant evidence, cannot be considered to meet the requirements of the law,” and not a recourse for trial by publicity.

Barrientos dismissed the charges of Francisco Gamboa, president of the said cooperative which claimed that the Wongchuking-owned company been importing tobacco leaf at rates way below the floor price mandated by the government. The law “declared the policy of the state to protect domestic enterprises against unfair foreign competition and trade practices.”

“Gamboa should understand that there are specific requirements for initiating an investigation for anti-dumping,” he said. “These are evidence of dumping, injury and causal link between the dumped imports and the alleged injury; and upon receipt of a properly documented application and before proceeding to initiate an investigation, the secretary [of Agriculture] shall notify the government of the exporting country about the impending anti-dumping investigation.”

“The law requires that domestic producers supporting the application must have at least 25-percent interest of the total production.”, he explained.

Meanwhile, Barrientos said if the agriculture secretary decided to initiate an investigation under special circumstances, “without having received a written application by or on behalf of a domestic industry for the initiation of such investigation,” he should “proceed only if he had sufficient evidence of dumping, injury and a causal link to justify the initiation of an investigation.”

Whatever it takes, Mighty Corp has been dedicated in helping a lot of farmers despite of the issues pointing at the company.