Procter & Gamble will invest $50-Million Dollar Plant Expansion in the Philippines

Procter and Gamble Philippines Inc. is a fully owned subsidiary of Procter and Gamble USA (PMC-USA), a non-resident foreign corporation in the Philippines.

P & G, world's leading consumer products manufacturer, is investing $50 million in the country over the next five years to expand and improve its Cabuyao Distribution Center.

Ed Hunter, P & G vice-president for Asia Product Supply and Asia Sustainability, will formally announce this five-year expansion plan tomorrow.

Hunter will be here in Manila this week for market visit and external engagement, the P & G media advisory said.

The $50 million expansion of its Cabuyao Distribution Center reinforces the company's long term commitment to the Philippines as a key growth market in terms of manufacturing and source of volume, the company said.

Just in May this year, P&G Philippines inaugurated its P3-B state-of-the-art baby-care production facility in Cabuyao, Laguna.

The baby care line supports the growing demand of disposable diapers for both domestic and the Asian region. P & G's Pampers is one of the leading disposable diaper brands.

The new production line was the first phase in the consumer products manufacturing giant's additional investments in the country in a period of three years in order to facilitate growth in the business by optimizing its supply chain.

The three-year expansion program aims to increase capacity and improve and upgrade P&G's products, installing facilities that are the most technically advanced in the world in terms of production. In addition to the installation of new production lines, additional building and infrastructure expansions are being planned.

P&G's global group president for baby care Martin Riant cited the Philippines during the plant inauguration for continuing to be a very attractive investment and growth market for the company.

"The Philippines remains a key market for P&G globally. Throughout the company's 75-year history in the country, P&G has continually invested in innovations to improve and upgrade its plant technology and facilities and provide Filipinos products with superior quality and value," Riant said.

Considered one of the biggest and most advanced manufacturing plants for P&G in Asia, the Cabuyao Plant serves the Philippines and several markets in the ASEAN region.

The plant manufactures fabric and home care brands Ariel, Tide, Bonux, Downy Fabric Enhancer, and Joy Dishwashing Liquid; personal cleansing and skin care products Safeguard, Zest, Secret and Old Spice; feminine care brand Whisper and baby care brand Pampers.

In 2010, P&G Philippines celebrated its 75th year of operations in the country. Today, the Philippines organization has grown to over 1400 employees spread in its 3 entities – P&G Philippines, Inc., which manufactures P&G products for the Philippines and several markets in the ASEAN region, P&GIOSA-ROHQ Manila Service Center, a shared service centre that provides high-end accounting, financial and related services to P&G operations in markets all over the world, and P&G Distributing (Philippines), Inc., which handles the local distribution of its brands. (BCM)

Manila Bulletin 

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Philippines bags ‘Orchid Award’ from WHO for cutting ties to tobacco lobby

Talk about "quitting cold turkey."

Two years after getting the dubious "Dirty Ashtray Award," the Philippines was recognized on Tuesday, at a World Health Organization (WHO) conference in Seoul, South Korea, for excluding representatives of the tobacco industry from its official delegation.

The country was given the "Orchid Award" for excluding the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) from its delegation to the 5th Conference of Parties (COP5) of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC), the group HealthJustice said on Tuesday.

The award was given by the Framework Convention Alliance, which groups 350 civil society organizations from 100 countries that work for the development, ratification, and implementation of the international convention against tobacco.

"This is a remarkable moment in the history of public health. We salute the President, the Department of Health and Civil Service Commission for upholding our obligations to WHO FCTC," said lawyer Irene Reyes, HealthJustice managing director.

Reyes noted that the Philippines was bestowed the "shameful" Dirty Ashtray Award in 2010 when its delegation "mouthed pro-tobacco industry interests at the COP4 in Uruguay."

Earlier this year, Corporate Accountability International also gave the country's Inter-agency Committee on Tobacco (IAC-T) its infamous "Marlboro Man Award" for giving the Philippine Tobacco Institute a seat in the committee, Reyes said.

Corporate Accountability International said this compromised the committee's "obligation" to protect the public against the harmful effects of tobacco, she added.

Reyes noted that the Conference of Parties was firm in ensuring that tobacco industry representatives "are kept at a safe distance."

She noted that Interpol, the world's largest police organization, was refused observer status at this year's conference due to reports that it received US$15 million from Philip Morris International.

"These are necessary steps to ensure that the Illicit Trade Protocol which has just been adopted is safeguarded against tobacco industry interference," Reyes said.

Health Justice said the Bureau of Customs had also refused to renew its partnership agreement with Philip Morris in accordance with a 2010 joint memorandum circular issued by the Civil Service Commission and the Department of Health "to protect the bureaucracy from (tobacco) industry interference."

"We are hopeful to see the Philippines making great strides towards advancing public health as a priority. This is a true win for the Filipino people and for civil society who can look to a government that now recognizes that the preservation of health far outweighs any profit that the tobacco industry could provide," says John Stewart, Challenge Big Tobacco Campaign Director at Corporate Accountability International.

While congratulating the Philippine delegation for ensuring a tobacco industry-free team to the Seoul conference, Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance director Bungon Ritthipakdee stressed that this should serve as a good practice for other Philippine officials and policymakers to emulate.

"Government officials and policymakers have the power to stop tobacco industry interference in their hands," Ritthipakdee said.

"As long as government consistently rejects the tobacco industry in activities and events such as attendance to the COP, this sends a a very strong signal that we are serious in halting their interference and manipulative tactics," Ritthipakdee added.

Inquirer 

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