Last Jan. 10, 2025, Benguet Corp.'s top management celebrated 75 years of its listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange by ringing the exchange's bell. The invitation came from the PSE Board of Directors, led by Chairman Jose T. Pardo, and President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon. Just two years prior, Benguet Corp. celebrated its 120th anniversary. Founded in 1903 as an American incorporated company, it became majority Filipino-owned after the termination of the 1947 Parity Rights Act, which granted Americans equal property ownership rights in the Philippines.
Benguet is primarily a mining company. As an Independent Director and Chairman of the Board of this publicly listed corporation, I am proud that our company continues to produce mineral products like copper, nickel, and gold. Today's Industrial Revolution 4.0 (Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Robotization, and Data Analytics) would be impossible without digital devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops. And these devices could not be produced without metals like copper and nickel—not to mention the solar panels and windmills essential for a clean environment.
Benguet is well-positioned for the coming "copper boom." As the Financial Times reported on Jan. 15, 2025, "Outside China, the mining companies that made their fortunes selling materials into the Chinese real estate boom have rapidly been reorienting themselves towards what they hope to be a new copper boom...As the energy transition requires more electrical cables, more electric vehicles and more solar and wind farms, the resulting surge in demand will be huge. Copper demand is expected to increase 50 percent by 2040...” Some economists even suggest the next war will be a war for metals. This can only mean higher prices for copper, nickel, gold, and other mineral products. Benguet indeed faces a bright future as a mining company.
BC introduced modern mining to the Philippines in 1903 during the American occupation. It trained numerous mining professionals and skilled workers over the years. It was once the world's 16th largest gold producer and Asia's biggest supplier of refractory chromite. Its Dizon mines in Zambales exported copper concentrates. With approximately 9,000 employees in its various mining operations, BC was the largest employer in the country and the Far East in the mid-1990s. Led by highly qualified executives, it learned early on the importance of diversification for sustainability. From 1950 to 1970, it diversified into finance (United Finance Corporation, House of Investments, Inc., and Investment Managers, Inc.), engineering and construction (EEI), lime quarrying (Irisan project), and forestry (Heald Lumber Co.). BC also ventured into warehousing and logistics (Arrow Freight Corporation) and industrial supply trading (Benguetrade). In the 1980s, it established Benguet Management Corporation (BMC) as a holding company for its non-mining projects and further invested in agribusiness, foundry, and real estate development.
Part of its vision was overseas operations. In the 1960s, it acquired the Grand Bahamas group of companies for port operations and real estate, entertainment, and tourism ventures abroad. Benguet Corp International managed foreign operations, including mines in the U.S. BC was the first Philippine company whose shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) until it voluntarily delisted in July 2000.
As a diversified conglomerate, BC experienced financial setbacks due to man-made and natural disasters, as well as market forces affecting metal prices. BC was forced to shut down mining operations and shelve non-mining projects, selling or dacioning assets to service heavy debt in the early 1990s. Today, BC is a leaner organization with six operating companies: the parent company (gold and lime production); Benguet Resources and Management Corporation (nickel ore mining and export); BMC (real estate); Arrow Freight and Construction Corp. (logistics); Keystone Port and Logistics Management Services (port management); and Benguet Laboratories (healthcare).
Soon after celebrating its 120th anniversary, BC resolved its 30-year debt burden. In the fourth quarter of 2024, it finally declared cash dividends, a strong sign of its recovery. This recovery is timely, allowing Benguet to contribute significantly to the current administration's goals, including achieving high-middle-income status for the Philippine economy in the next two to three years. Benguet's future projects include a 650-hectare solar energy farm for sustainable development and a bulk water supply project for Metro Baguio. This water project will address a major obstacle to developing Metro Baguio as a major tourist destination. Complementing tourism is the real estate sector in La Union, Baguio, and Itogon. Benguet plans to develop medium-rise real estate projects on its land assets in these increasingly urbanized areas. To support these projects, Benguet plans to re-enter construction, drawing on its experience with EEI in the 1970s.
Perhaps its most significant contribution to the administration's programs is its application for 10,000 hectares of forest land in Eastern Visayas for agribusiness. The current administration is pursuing a two-pronged approach to food security and agricultural growth. To achieve 3 to 4 percent average annual growth in agriculture (comparable to Thailand and Vietnam), the small farming sector (rice, corn, vegetables) needs government support: farm-to-market roads, irrigation, post-harvest facilities, agricultural extension services, cold storage, etc. This focus on small farmers and fisherfolk is crucial for reducing poverty. However, significant increases in agricultural value-added require private sector investment in large-scale agribusiness, similar to the pineapple and banana plantations in Mindanao.
The success of these large agribusiness enterprises in banana and pineapple cultivation must be replicated with other crops like coconuts, coffee, cacao, mangoes, avocado, bamboo, durian, and pili nuts. This sector will drive significant productivity increases and economic growth. Focusing on small farming and fisheries will provide the most effective solutions to eradicating mass poverty. By leasing 10,000 hectares of forest land from the DENR, Benguet can lead the way in long-term capital investment to improve coconut productivity and develop higher-value coconut products (coconut water, milk, syrup, and sugar) that are in high demand in developed countries. Locating these coconut projects in regions like Eastern Visayas, Quezon Province, or Negros Island will allow companies like Benguet to significantly reduce poverty, which is often high in these coconut-producing areas.
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