Growing globally, giving back locally

STARTING ’EM RIGHT Galing ng Batang Mekeni has become the company’s flagship CSR program in the last 17 years, supporting the education of 135 students as of 2024. —Contributed photo

PAMPANGA, Philippines — The very first corporate social responsibility (CSR) project couple Felix and Medicia Garcia undertook with their two sons was to turn their small meat company into a creator of jobs and livelihood opportunities five years after founding it in 1986.

Their town, Porac, bore the brunt of Mt. Pinatubo’s June 15, 1991 eruption, and the Garcias, who were both public school teachers, wanted to help their town mates get back on their feet.

Aside from asking three more sons to quit their overseas jobs, the parents prompted all five sons to grow Mekeni Food Corp. “out of gratitude to the communities that helped them complete their education,” Prudencio, the current president, recalled.

So off they hired townmates and taught several families to grow hogs.

To date, Mekeni has grown into one of the largest food companies in the Philippines, earning awards and exporting its products to Australia, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, UAE, and the United States.

Flagship CSR

The Galing ng Batang Mekeni has become its flagship CSR program in the last 17 years. Starting with only 50 children of Mekeni’s employees, it has been supporting the education of 135 students as of 2024.

The yearly Christmas gift-giving has been donating gift packs to selected institutions in the last decade.

Mekeni has an Emergency Preparedness and Response Team that has been properly trained to execute protocols. They respond to emergencies in Porac or outside of it.

The Tunay na Bayani, which took off from the Mekeni product line Bayani and launched in 2021, honored 46 wet market retailers and wholesalers as well as online sellers and snack vendors with success stories to inspire others.

Last Oct. 2, Mekeni signed an agreement with the Pampanga State Agricultural University, Mabalacat City College, and Don Honorio Ventura State University for training and streamlining Mekeni’s recruitment of employees. Clearly, this homegrown company is hardly done giving back.