Mighty Corp strengthen their goal by buying tobacco products

Mighty Corp., a tobacco manufacturer based in Bulacan vowed to buy 10 million kilograms of tobacco products worth millions of pesos from farmers in Northern Luzon.

In a letter of intent by Mighty executive vice president Oscar Barrientos to National Tobacco Administration administrator Edgardo Zaragoza said they would buy tobacco from farmers 100 percent more than the five million kilograms his firm 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 said.

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

Critics are resorting to a smear campaign using malicious data that can pinned down Mighty’s tremendous increase of its market shares.

Mighty Corp’s market shares went up after the government implemented the Sin Tax Law. And this is the reasons why smokers switched to premium and sub-premium cigarettes to low-priced cigarettes.

Mighty Corp sealed an agreement for outreach projects in the North

Bulacan-based tobacco manufacturer, Mighty Corp signed an agreement that paves the way for outreach projects for tobacco farmers in the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley provinces.

Mighty president retired General Edilberto Adan and vice president retired Judge Oscar Barrientos signed an agreement with the National Federation of Tobacco Growers’ Association and Cooperatives represented by its national president Mario Cabasal. The joint projects aim to uplift tobacco farmers under the former’s corporate social responsibility program.

Mighty Corp has already delivered 90 diesel-fed water pumps and 16 units of power tillers to various farm groups in the provinces of Abra, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Isabela and Cagayan.

There are also plans to support the NTA’s yearly search for the best tobacco farmers in the country. NTA Administrator Edgar D. Zaragoza said Mighty’s CSR will boost the tobacco industry.

“The more players dealing directly with the farmers, the better and merrier,” he said.

“This should encourage other industry players to do the same to help the tobacco farmers and their families," he added.

Mighty Corp pursued their good deed thru corporate social responsibility projects

Filipino-owned manufacturer of cigarettes, Mighty Corp pursued social responsibility projects thru Wong Chu King Foundation.  They have commended by San Fernando City Bishop. Rodolfo Beltran. He said that Mighty helped them to spread the faith in the Philippines and for prioritizing apostolic works and education in its programs and projects.

According to Beltran, the said foundation donated to church projects and also funded the education of deserving students in Lagawe, Bontoc. The lucky beneficiaries are four seminarians and students of vocational courses.

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

The bishop also praised Mighty Corp for their outreach project launched for 65,000 organized tobacco farmers of Northern Luzon. He has witnessed the signing of an agreement on the project between Mighty and 200 farmer leaders of the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers and Cooperatives Inc. from Pangasinan, La Union, Abra, Cagayan, Isabela, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.
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Under the memorandum agreement between the two, Mighty will donate 16 hand tractors worth P2.5 million and 90 irrigation pumps worth P1.1 million to the farmers.

“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.”

Aside from the donations, Wong Chu King Foundation did the renovation of the Basilica Minore of the Our Lady of Piat Church in Piat, Cagayan in 2012, and Diocesan Shrine of Immaculate Conception in Naic, Cavite.

Auxiliary Ricardo Baccay of Tuguegarao City described WCKF’s work as “a step in the right direction. My diocese, like all dioceses, have serious concerns. If WCKF is out to help schools, putting up libraries is the best form of help it can give.”

“For many years, I have personally known Mrs. Nelia Wong Chu King, WCKF chairman of the board of trustees,” said Archbishop Emeritus Diosdado Talamayan of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao City. “She and her family are great devotees of Our Lady of Piat, and 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.”

Meanwhile, Archbishop Rolando Tirona of the Archdiocese of Caceres in Naga City, Camarines Sur describes the owner of Mighty Corp as an upright family and said it was “highly uncharacteristic for them to be involved in the illicit trade practices of technical smuggling and tax evasion.”

Did Mighty Corp. Pay Their Taxes?

Local cigarette firm Mighty Corp. denied allegations over the issue of underpaid excise taxes for sales registered last year, claiming that they have paid at least P8.2 billion for the said taxes. The company likewise claimed to have paid P500 million for their 2012 taxes. With the allegations made by PMFTC, where’s their proof of the illegal activities they claim to have been committed by Mighty?

“Allegations that Mighty Corp. did not pay the correct taxes for 2013 are grossly inaccurate and downright ridiculous. Our critics had most likely misunderstood the data from the Bureau of Internal Revenue,” Oscar Barrientos, Mighty Corp. executive vice president, said. “The taxes we paid for the year 2013 reflects the jump in our market share and our fair share in the increased taxes on ‘sin’ products last year,” Barrientos added.

Barrientos also mentioned that tax payment was based on an average market share of 13.7 percent for the 12 months of last year. The company did not have a 20 percent market share for the entire year of 2013. “We closed the year with a 22.5 percent market share. We started 2013 with 3 percent,” Barrientos explained.

“We slowly but surely grew our market share over the past 12 months on the strength of our production efficiencies and a sound national sales distribution strategy,” he added. “We did not have a 20 percent year-round market share average, as what are our critics have erroneously and maliciously implied when they accused us of tax evasion.”

Mighty is being accused of evading the payment of P4 billion in excise taxes. And according to the data from BIR, it showed that total cigarette withdrawals in 2013 were about 100 billion sticks. “Critics charged that Mighty Corp. should have paid P12 billion instead of P8 billion since its 20 percent market share was supposedly equivalent to 20 billion sticks sold,” the bureau said.

“The first time we hit 20 percent market share was in December 2013. Our critics computed excise tax dues on 20 percent market share year-round. Of course there will be a discrepancy. They give new meaning to the term ‘creative accounting.’ The truth is, we paid the right taxes,” Barrientos closed.