DA’s Philippine Rural Development Project– Published August 14, 2023

Is Ilocos Norte’s tomato plant another white elephant?

While still governor of Ilocos Norte, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (now president) lobbied hard with his father, President Marcos Sr. and mom, First Lady, Imelda Romualdez Marcos to fund the Northern Foods Corp., that would process the province’s tomato products for value adding.

Then costing P110 million, NFC (a failed tomato venture founded by Marcos Jr. in the 1980s), closed after three years of operation leaving its employees “scrounging around the plant premises for pieces of junk copper wires and other scrap metals to generate some cash to pay a part of their salary while their top people were coming and going in chartered planes,” wrote UP researcher Joel Ariarte Jr. in Vera Files on July 15, 2022.

But this same failed venture was copied by the President’s nephew, current Gov. Matthew Manotoc (son of Sen. Imee Marcos) who is claiming that it is the first facility in the province.

Manotoc’s ‘new’ facility broke ground on July 19, 2023 via another name called Tomato Cold Storage Facility  funded by P100- million from the Department of Agriculture and just recently got a funding commitment from the World Bank. Manotoc revealed the facility in a press conference on July 6,2022  in Laoag City.

Manotoc said that tomato growers who supply their products to NFC could resume planting. The DA headlined in its website the revived NFC. Manotoc also said the government was looking for investors for NFC.

Ariarte and fellow writers reported that the move reversed Memorandum Order No. 58 of former president Rodrigo Duterte abolishing the NFC on December 1, 2021 for “incurring annual net losses, except in the years 1989, 1995, and 2010.”  The Memorandum called for the “liquidation of assets and settlement of liabilities” of the NFC.

Gov. Marcos Jr. on March 21, 1984 sent a memorandum to his mother, Imelda, then Human Settlements Minister containing a detailed proposal for the founding of a “food and vegetable processing plant and hybrid seed production” in his province, which would become the NFC. The company was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 1984, just five days before Marcos Jr. wrote to the First Lady.

The following day (March 22, 1984) he sent the same memo to his father, President Marcos Sr. asking for immediate approval and the release of funds for the project, which was conceived by Agriman Consultants, “an agribusiness firm with several joint venture activities with the Ministry of Human Settlements (MHS)and Philippine Packing Corporation (Del Monte),” Ariarte wrote in Vera Files.

Marcos Jr. wrote that “upon the request and encouragement of the Provincial Government, [Agriman Consultants] set up an experimental tomato hybrid project in Bacarra, Ilocos Norte. The project was adjudged a success by Del Monte.”

“In view of the favorable results,” the memo went on, “Agriman is now proposing to undertake an integrated food and vegetable production and processing project in the province similar to the PPC/Del Monte Bukidnon facility.”

He confidently told Imelda that aside from the income, the project would also generate “new jobs and business opportunities.”

In August 1981, then President Marcos Sr. issued EO 715 recognizing KKK, a declared priority program headed by Marcos Sr. with MHS as secretariat and implementing agency. EO 866 of January 1983 formed the KKK-Processing Center Authority (headed by Imelda) capitalized at  P1 billion and initial budget off P300 million under the General Appropriations Act of 1984. KKK-PCA provided part of the initial capital of NFC.

But by June, Marcos Jr. said the P70 million was inadequate given “recent developments specially the high cost of money” and NFC was in “imminent danger that . . . may not be undertaken at all.”

By late June 1984, P130 million of public funds were committed to NFC and then Gov. Marcos Jr. leased to the NFC for 25 years 4.3 hectares of land in San Joaquin, Sarrat, for the NFC tomato processing plant, which operated by October 1984.

When a new management took over NFC after the 1986 EDSA revolt, they discovered a “six-figure cash advance made by Agriman.” Subsequent audits by COA advised Agriman to make a formal request to write off all obligations, which it did not comply with. In 2000, the NFC became part of the DA until President Duterte shut it down.

It is unclear when President Marcos reversed Duterte’s Memo No. 58 and approved the P100 million funding to revive NFC.  But with the support of his powerful uncle, the reelected governor of Ilocos Norte is a winner twice over.

Last July 19, PhilStar reported that Ilocos Norte LGU with DA and the San Joaquin Multi Purpose Cooperative, opened the World Bank-funded Quality Tomato Production, Consolidation, Storage and Marketing Enterprise Facility.

The cold storage facility is equipped with advanced technology to ensure optimal storage conditions for tomatoes and other perishable goods. It also includes a consolidation area where farmers can bring their produce for sorting, grading and packaging, enhancing the overall quality and marketability of the products.

The P33.46-M worth WB-funded facility was constructed under DA’s- Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) as part of a broader initiative of the LGU and partners to strengthen the agricultural value chain, improve food security and promote sustainable farming practices not only in the province but across Region I.  ROSE DE LA CRUZ

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