Traders ask gov’t to shield them from Thai ‘corporate behemoth’

Saying an international “corporate behemoth” has threatened to overwhelm the country’s food producing industry, businessmen and leaders of civic organizations have joined hands at an agriculture summit to stop Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand (CP) Foods Corp. on its track.

CP Foods Corp. has been granted a six-year tax holiday and a 30-percent tax incentive covering the importation of corn and other raw materials by the Board of Investments (BOI) for its plan to develop a P2.32-billion integrated production project.

“We ask the government to immediately revoke the incentives granted to [CP Foods Corp.] to [prevent] the local producers from closing shop,” said Rosendo So, one of the agriculture industry leaders who convened the 6th Multisectoral Agricultural Summit at Club Filipino in San Juan City on Friday.

The 300 participants adopted a resolution denouncing the national government’s “incoherent policy direction on agriculture.”

“The unlawful grant of incentives and tax breaks by the BOI to CP Foods Corp. will kill the swine, livestock, aquaculture and other allied industries in the Philippines,” the resolution said.

Jayson Cainget, executive director of Rural Urban Peoples Linkages, said CP Foods engages in mergers and acquisitions, as well as opens its own food manufacturing facilities when it deals with developing markets.

He said the Thai firm has been investing in countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, China and India, which have high growth potentials.

CP Foods was started by migrant Chinese brothers Chia Ek Chaw and Chia Seow Whooy in 1921 as a shop in Bangkok’s Chinatown. By 1995, CP Foods had emerged as the largest agro-industrial venture in Asia, with a reported turnover of $4.05 billion and a workforce of over 100,000, Cainget said.

But Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño said the Thai company’s incentives from the Philippines were tantamount to “treason.”

“It is difficult to think how officials would favor a foreign company [and dislocate] local stakeholders. CP Foods is already enjoying subsidies from the Thai government. We do not want to reach a point where they are in control and can do predatory pricing [in the Philippines],” he said.

If the preferential treatment of CP Foods is not withdrawn, other foreign companies may demand the same incentives from the government, further dislodging Filipino farmers and businessmen, he said.

Former Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco said handing out big favors to a foreign company was an example of the Filipino becoming a second-class citizen of his own country.

“The reason the BOI granted tax incentives to CP Foods is because it is investing P2 billion. What about the P300 billion collective investments by local players?” Cojuangco said.

So, who is also a director of the Swine Development Council, said demands for the revocation of incentives granted to CP Foods, as well as the need for a more effective antismuggling campaign, must be addressed by the national government.

“These two issues are our biggest concerns, although for hog and poultry producers, the incentives granted to CP Foods cause us our biggest headaches,” he said.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said he shared the industry leaders’ concerns, adding that he was bypassed by the BOI when it granted pioneer status to the Thai firm.

“We want the government to be forthright with us: Does it want local producers to close shop or does it want us to continue with our business? The government is targeting food self-sufficiency but its policies are killing the domestic producers. Does it want to leave the fate of our food security to a foreign country?” So said.