ODAMA’S FILES THAILAND RETURNS FAVOR “For good times and bad times, I’ll be on your side forever more that’s what friends are for...” and so the song goes for those who value friendship especially in times of need. About a year ago, the Philippine government donated around US$100,000 to Thai flood victims in January 2012. The donation was turned over to Royal Thai Ambassador to the Philippines Prasas Prasasvinitchai which was intended for the rehabilitation of the flood victims. When the Eastern Visayas region was ravaged by category five Supertyphoon “Yolanda” recently, leaving nothing but a grim picture of death and destruction, Thailand saw an opportunity to return the favor to help a great friend. Despite internal strife besetting her government Royal Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has set aside US$200,000 in relief aid to mollify the suffering of Yolanda survivors. In addition, the Thai Army has donated US$30,000 more. On top of the initial donations, Thailand’s largest food and agribusiness, Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) turns over a check for Bt 20,000,000 to Philippine Ambassador to Thailand Jocelyn Batoon-Garcia for the relief and rehabilitation drive of the Philippine government for the victims of Yolanda in Eastern Visayas. While a “storm of protests” is brewing in its midst, the government of Thailand still finds time to look after the plight of its friend. Over here in our very own country, our public officials cannot even agree on a simple policy of becoming one in helping the victims of the typhoon. Instead of sowing the seeds of kindness and compassion they spread intrigues and divisiveness. Some of them even have the gall of playing politics rather than show sympathy to their suffering countrymen. CPF also donated 4,000 packs of relief items weighing 15 metric tons to the survivors of Yolanda, with Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Director Asis Perez on the receiving end. The cargo was readily loaded to a vessel of the Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp. at Pier 10 in north Harbor last November 22, 2013 for shipment to Eastern Visayas. “Aksyon agad,” is what our suffering “kababayan” needs not personal and political agenda, right Mr. Agora? CPF is one of the largest food and agribusiness corporations in Thailand. It’s also the biggest supplier of chicken to the fastfood industry in the kingdom. It also maintains operations in Nueva Ecija, Bataan and other provinces in the Philippines to fill in the gap for high demand of meat in the country. The conglomerate is shifting to high gear in increasing its investments in the country for the establishment of an integrated agro-industrial and food investment development covering animal feed manufacture, livestock breeding and aquatic farm and food processing. All told, CPF has a total investment of P7 billion in the country. CPF’s business thrust hinges on reducing the high cost of meat in the country, saying that it wants to help increase livestock and poultry production thereby reducing imports and eventually stabilizing supply and prices of meat. CPF is keen on bringing its agro-industrial business philosophy in the Philippines where it plans to join hands with local stakeholders in promoting food safety and security. “CPF foresees its investment will help increase the country’s production, reduce import and finally bring down meat prices. As a result, it will achieve price stability of food for people to get access to more meat products at a reasonable price,” said CPF President and Chief Executive Officer Adirek Sripratak. CPF is widely known for its corporate principle of “Three Benefits” that covers the sustainable development for country, people and company. According to Adirek, under the investment plan in the Philippines CPF will focus on establishing integrated agro-industrial and food business development from what he called “upstream through downstream” manufacturing strategy. With this plan, the Philippines will directly enjoy the benefits of food stability, safety and security, he added. The company’s initial investment in the Philippines maybe small compared to the huge demand of the country and production of local groups. But CPF Senior Vice President for Livestock Feed Business Arnop Jeanprasert pointed out that the investment was meant to abate the country’s heavy dependence on meat importation. According to reports, the country’s import volume of meat reached a whopping 150,000 tons last year from the United States and Canada while chicken import hit 130,000 tons from the US and Brazil. Statistics showed that domestic meat consumption in the Philippines is growing side-by-side with the increasing population at an average of 2% per annum. CPF executives stressed that the company is committed to be a strong partner in rebuilding the lives of not only the victims of typhoon Yolanda but the Filipinos as a whole as well, adding that its investments in the country have been designed to develop a value chain for different commodities that would reduce the prices of meat and other items for the benefit of the local consumers. CPF will be most interested in imparting to their Filipino partners and farmers the world-class technologies developed by the conglomerate that raised food stability and safety to the utmost level. That’s what friends are for.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 14:04:57 +0000
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