JTI, world’s leading tobacco company, vowed its long-term commitment to the Philippines with the inauguration of its new office in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig to accommodate some 300 of its total workforce in the country.
JT Group President and CEO Masamichi Terabatake led the formal inauguration of the new offices of JTI Philippines who emphasized that the relocation to a new office is a “reflection of JTI’s success” and an affirmation of the company’s belief in the “potential, not only of the Philippines as a market, but especially of its people.”
He stressed the story of JTI in the Philippines “underscored the same spirit that identifies the Filipino people so well, that of tenacity and resilience.”
Terabatake was joined in the ribbon-cutting ceremony by Japan Ambassador to the Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhiko, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director-General Tereso Panga, National Tobacco Administration (NTA) head Belinda Sanchez, and top JTI officials led by Yves Barbier, JTI Asia Pacific Regional President and JTI Philippines General Manager John Freda.
Ambassador Koshikawa said the inauguration of the new JTI Philippine office is another milestone for JTI after having built a factory in Batangas, acquired the Mighty business and opened its own global business services center which “also signals a strong vote of confidence in the Philippines, underpinning JTI’s commitment to creating jobs in support of national development even against the backdrop of the recent pandemic.”
For his part, PEZA Director General Panga, who represented Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual in the ceremony, said “JTI’s contributions are crucial as we facilitate the country’s overall economic growth and development in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s bid for the country to graduate to upper middle-income status by 2025.”
The new JTI Philippines head office, according to General Manager John Freda, marks an important part of the company’s continuous “journey” and “more than being a new physical space, it’s a place for collaboration, where everyone can work together as one team and a place that enables employees to bring their best to JTI.”
The new space can accommodate the 300+ employees of JTI’s head office in addition to its 38 sales branches nationwide. The move is a testament that the company has continued to grow despite the challenges of the pandemic.
Moreover, JTI operates its own business processing office, Global Business Services (GBS), in McKinley West, also in Taguig City, which employs 600+ employees, together with its manufacturing facilities in Malvar, Batangas, with a workforce of almost 900.
