Local tuna canner Philbest Canning Corp. was cited by the government-led Export Development Council as the country’s top exporter of marine products for this year.
The company received the top sectoral export performer award for marine products during the EDC’s Top Export Performer Awards held at the Malacañang Palace last Tuesday. Joi Lozada, media and press relations officer of Philbest’s mother firm RD Corp., said the citation, which was personally given by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, aims to recognize the country’s top dollar earners.
The top export performer award, which was given to at least 52 Filipino-owned or Philippine-based companies this year, was based on a company’s export revenues.
This year’s awardees have assessed revenues of at least $100 million to $1 billion each.
“The said recognition was conceived not just to accord distinction to the Filipino ingenuity, but more so, to serve as testimony to the functioning partnership between the government and private sector in mutual pursuit for the country’s sustainable export development,†Lozada said in a statement issued to the Philippine press.
Philbest Canning, which is based in this city, produces Dolly and Diana canned tuna brands. The company exports tuna products to major markets such as the United States and the European Union.
Tuna exports topped the list of the country’s exports of marine and aquaculture products in the past two years with earnings of $144 million in 2002 and $157 million in 2003. Tuna accounts for more than 26 percent of total marine exports.
Ritche Rivera, Philbest president, said the award “underscores the company’s thrust of sustaining its growth momentum with job generation foremost in our minds.†“With the country’s current economic difficulties, we are just glad to somehow be of help by creating more jobs and food on the table to as many people as possible,†said Rivera, who personally received the award.
RD Corp. currently employs around 5,000 workers in its various ventures, primarily fishery-based, in this southern port city and has been cited among the top taxpayers in the area. Its cannery and fishing fleet in Papua New Guinea also employs at least 3,000 workers.
Of the country’s nine tuna canneries, seven are located in this city. An estimated 12 percent of the city’s population, or some 50,000 individuals, of at least 450,000 is directly dependent on the fishing industry.
