Coca-Cola External Communications and Sustainability Area Manager Ma. Rommin Diaz and Bacolod Plant Manager Bernard Engada took questions from the media during a press conference at the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant in Barangay Mansilingan, last week. (Jerome S. Galunan Jr. photo)
By Jerome S. Galunan, Jr.
Following the press release from Coca-Cola last week, assuring the company uses 100 percent local sugar, Bacolod Plant Manager Bernard Engada recently said the practice has been a “tradition” since the facility opened.
“Since the bottling facility commenced operations 19 years ago, the company has not failed to use locally-produced sugar,” he stated.
“At present, all our products produced here are only distributed and consumed in the Negros Island,” the plant manager added.
In terms of statements by Department of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, indicating the company needed time to adjust their processing and install new clarification machines to convert a larger volume of raw sugar into syrup, Engada clarified their current facilities are not capable of storing a larger volume of sugar.
However, Engada ensured the beverage maker receives daily deliveries of raw sugar.
“In order to ensure the company continues to support the sugar industry in the province, another P850 million bottling facility is being constructed inside the Bacolod plant,” he added.
In response to boycott efforts initiated by provincial leaders, Coca-Cola External Communications and Sustainability Area Manager Ma. Rommin Diaz said the company is still “doing well.”
Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) head, Atty. Anna Rosario Paner, earlier said, while she cannot “quantify” the impact of sugar industry’s Coca-Cola boycott, she expressed confidence that it was successful.
“I don’t have personal information or firsthand information about the extent of the impact, but there is some impact,” she asserted.
Diaz also pointed out factors in which Coca-Cola benefits the community, including the Store Training and Access to Resources (STAR) program, which they say has benefitted over 5,000 women micro-entrepreneurs; along with the Coca-Cola Agos program, which provides fresh water and has benefitted 25 communities throughout the province.
Company officials also said they are continuing to welcome a dialogue, however, last week, Sugar Alliance of the Philippines (SAP) spokesperson, Atty. Dino Yulo, called the beverage maker’s integrity into question.
“All their pronouncements will be doubted and their sincerity will always be questioned,” he explained. “How sure are we that they are being truthful in their claim it’s pure sugar?”/WDJ