Mighty Corporation Launches Projects To Benefit North Luzon Farmers

Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp through its Executive Vice President Oscar Barrientos expressed earlier this year their intent to help tobacco farmers and their families by doubling its tobacco purchase to 10 million kilograms and through a multi-pronged P10 million outreach projects.

A consultative meeting happened last February 8 in San Fernando, La Union between Mighty Corporation and some 200 tobacco farmer leaders in Pangasinan, La Union and the Ilocos provinces which sealed the project.   

“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,” said Mario Cabasal, president of the National Federation of Tobacco Growers and Cooperatives (NFTGC).

Cabasal expressed elation after learning that Mighty Corporation has made commitments to initially buy at least 10 million kilograms of tobacco leaves and to purchase all the excess tobacco leaves that farmers could not sell to other buyers.

Cabasal also lauded Mighty Corp’s P10-million three-pronged programs to directly help the tobacco farmers that will include the 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.

Thousands of farmers in Pangasinan and the Ilocos provinces have expressed relief that their tobacco leaves will have a sure market this year.

“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 added.

Mighty Corporation Aids to Local Farmers Welcomed by NTA

More players directly dealing with the farmers the better it is for the local tobacco farmers and the local tobacco industry in general.

This is what the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) Chief Edgardo Zaragoza’s sentiments as he welcomes the entry of local cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corporation of Mighty Corp in the tobacco manufacturing industry.

Zaragoza further added that Mighty Corporation and through their company’s planned social outreach programs, would definitely increase the assistance provided to local farmers and their beneficiaries.

“We hope this would encourage other cigarette industry players to do the same.”  Zaragoza added.

Mighty Corporation 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.

These are the country’s top producers of yellow leaf, the variety used for cigarettes.

Mighty Corp officials also promised that it would buy 10 million kilograms of tobacco leaves, one fifth of the industry’s total production.  

Mighty Corp through its Wong Chu King Foundation also provided 100 college scholarships to the children of tobacco farmers.

Mighty Corporation Doubles Tobacco Orders

Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp, the Philippines' local manufacturer of low-cost cigarettes announced that it will double its local tobacco purchases to 10 Million kilograms.

Mighty Corp executive vice president Oscar Barrientos said in an official letter sent to the National Tobacco Administration office that it would buy tobacco from local farmers 100 percent more than the five million kilograms Mighty Corporation bought in 2013.

“This is to assure our tobacco farmers of our willingness to help in response to the published report of the market leader in the tobacco industry to lessen production this year,” Barrientos, a retired regional trial court judge, said in a statement.

The letter of intent, in effect, debunked critics’ allegations that Mighty Corporation has been importing raw materials from foreign countries at low prices and is no longer buying tobacco from local farmers.

Barrientos said the critics had been resorting to a disinformation campaign using convoluted data in an effort to undermine Mighty Corp's tremendous increase of its market shares.

Mighty Corporation's market shares surged to almost 20 percent of the low-priced cigarette brands last year from in 2012, resulting in the payment P8.2 billion in excise taxes.

Barrientos said the company’s market shares shot up after the government effectively implemented the new Sin Tax Law, that leveled the playing field in the multi-billion peso tobacco industry which was controlled then by Philip Morris and Fortune Tobacco.

The new law that took 14 years to pass and certified as urgent by the Philippine President has caused a tremendous migration of smokers from the expensive premium and sub-premium brands to low-priced cigarettes.

It also resulted in some smokers, because of economic reason, to simply quit the vice and thus validated health authorities’ estimate that the sin tax law would result in the decrease of the number of smokers in the country.

Mighty Corporation and Wong Chu King Foundation Pursues Social Responsibility Projects

La Union Bishop Rodolfo Beltran has commended Wong Chu King Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of local cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp for helping the church to spread the faith in the Philippines and for prioritizing apostolic works and education in its programs and projects.

According to Beltran, the foundation has so far funded the education of poor but deserving students in Lagawe, Bontoc including four seminarians and other students of vocational courses like sewing, weaving and hairstyling.

“The parents of these students are low-income farmers producing only for local consumption, so you can imagine the positive impact this kind of support has for them.”  the Bishop said.

Beltran also commended Mighty Corporation and Wong Chu King Foundation for their outreach project that aims to benefit 65,000 organized tobacco farmers of Northern Luzon.

The bishop has witnessed the signing of the project agreement between Mighty Corporation and 200 farmer leaders of the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers and Cooperatives Inc. (NAFTAC) from Pangasinan, La Union, Abra, Cagayan, Isabela, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur at a hotel here recently.

Under the agreement, Mighty Corp will donate to the farmers 16 hand tractors worth P2.5 million and 90 irrigation pumps worth P1.1 million.

“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,” Beltran said. “This is something very beautiful as the hand tractors and water pumps encourage our farmers to use modern methods of agriculture.” he added.

Auxiliary Bishop of Tuguegarao Ricardo Baccay described Mighty Corp and Wong Chu King Foundation's work as “a step in the right direction."

“For many years, I have personally known Mrs. Nelia Wong Chu King, Wong Chu King Foundation chairman of the board of trustees,” said Archbishop Emeritus Diosdado Talamayan of Tuguegarao City. “She and her family are great devotees of the Our Lady of Piat, and they have erected a chapel in Malolos City, Bulacan, dedicated to the Our Lady of Piat, which was blessed by many bishops led by Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales in 2012.”

Created in 1990, Mighty Corporation's Wong Chu King Foundation aims to perpetuate the memory of Wong Chu King, the family patriarch, an avowed philanthropist who was concerned for the plight of, and 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 Corporation and Wong Chu King Foundation Backs Seismic Retrofitting of Historic Churches

Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp with the help of their CSR arm Wong Chu King Foundation, pushes forward in assisting various historical churches in their renovation projects.

The Catholic clergy on the other hand fully supports the project of Mighty Corporation and Wong Chu King Foundation for the seismic retrofitting of historic churches in Philippines

The foundation has so far assisted the Diocesan Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Church in Naic, Cavite and the Basilica Minore of the Our Lady of Piat Church in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.

Auxiliary Bishop Ricardo Baccay of Tuguegarao City, described Mighty Corp's work as “a step in the right direction.”

"My diocese, like all dioceses, have serious concerns. If Mighty Corp and Wong Chu King Foundation is out to help, retrofitting historic churches is one of the best forms of help it can give.” Baccay said in a statement released by the foundation.

"Churches are also symbols of strength and hope for Filipinos. To see a church survive earthquakes and other calamities can easily uplift the spirits of our people,” said Wong Chu King Foundation General Manager James Vincent Navarette.

“The devastation brought about by the recent Visayas earthquake has firmed up our advocacy to build more churches and strengthen the Filipino faith. However, we also understand that this is not enough. We have to make sure that the design and structure of these buildings, particularly the old and existing ones, are safe and resistant to calamities such as earthquakes.” Navarette added.

Seismic retrofitting is the process of remodeling structures to make them more resistant to damage brought about by earthquakes and other seismic activities.

Mighty Corporation through the Wong Chu King foundation has been renovating churches since 2009.  Last year, they have donated P300,000 for textbooks and other library materials for the Lyceum de Amulung in Cagayan North, Tuguegarao City.

The foundation is headed by Mrs. Nelia Wongchuking, Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Mighty Corporation Assures Leaf Growers of 10 Million Twin Projects

The 10 Million Twin-Project commitment of cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp to boost tobacco farmers production and increase their income is already well on its way.

The commitment which was announced last February 8 during a consultative meeting held in San Fernando Launion between Mighty Corporation and some 200 tobacco farmer leaders in Pangasinan, La Union and the Ilocos provinces. 

“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,” said Mario Cabasal, President of the National Federation of Tobacco Growers and Cooperatives (NFTGC).  

Cabasal expressed elation after learning that Mighty Corporation has made commitments to initially buy at least 10 million kilograms of tobacco leaves and to purchase all the excess tobacco leaves that farmers could not sell to other buyers.

Cabasal also lauded Mighty Corporation's P10-million three-pronged programs to aid tobacco farmers which includes the donation of support farm implements like irrigation pumps and tractors, 200 college scholarship grants for the sons of daughters of tobacco farmers and institutional support for the annual search for outstanding tobacco farmers and cooperatives.

“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 added.

Mighty Corporation Pushes Organic Agri-Pesticide

The tobacco that is widely used in the manufacture of cigarettes can also be used as an organic pesticide.

According research, tobacco works effectively in controlling insects like aphids, leaf rollers and stem borers. It is said to be even more effective and safer than chemical-based pesticides which destroy soil productivity and harm the environment.

Filipino cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp promotes the alternative use of tobacco as pesticides to help reduce Filipino farmers’ reliance on chemical-based pesticides.  This will also in return increase the income of local tobacco farmers and protect the environment at the same time.

Mighty Corporation executive vice president and spokesman Oscar Barrientos said that a small but growing number of Filipino farmers were shifting from chemical-based to organic pesticides, or a combination of the two. “This trend should be encouraged,” he added.

Local farmers make up 11.55 million of the Philippines’ 38.6-million-member labor force and contribute 20% of its gross domestic product.  Insects and other pests have adversely affected farmers’ production of main agricultural crops, including rice, corn, coconuts, sugarcane, bananas, pineapples, coffee, mangoes and abaca.  

Also affected are secondary crops like peanuts, cassava, sweet potatoes, garlic, onions, cabbages, eggplants, calamansi, rubber, and cotton. 

The nicotine from tobacco has been used on crops as a natural insecticide that does not have the health and environmental risks of chemical-based pesticides.