ATTY. LINA G. FERNANDEZ
President
Benguet Corporation ushered the beginning of the Philippine Mining industry. Attaining the remarkable age of over 120 years in a highly volatile, capital-intensive, market-sensitive, and over-regulated metals mining industry represents a significant milestone.
To say that the Company is strong and resilient is an understatement. Only a handful of business enterprises in the Philippines can look back and claim to have a history that spanned over a century. With a history crisscrossed by economic and political upheavals, world wars, and natural disasters, the Company emerged stronger with more vigor and determination each time.
Throughout its history, the Company has produced more than 14.2 million ounces of gold, 10.5 million ounces of silver, 776 million pounds of copper, and 15.52 million metric tons of refractory chromite. It also exported 12.91 million metric tons of saprolite nickel ore with an aggregate value of over US$36.08 billion at current prices.
The Company also prioritizes sustainability and corporate social responsibility in all our projects. Our initiatives encompass reforestation projects and community development programs that benefit residents living within our operations. We have planted over 25 million trees, supported thousands of company scholars and schools, created livelihood, and built infrastructure and various social facilities surrounding the mine site. These efforts have contributed to progress and improved the living standards of the host communities. Mining communities boast inter-generational workers who raised families in the mines and produced many professionals.
It is also noteworthy to mention that Benguet Corporation’s Endowment Fund at the Ateneo de Manila University was established in August 1981 by its late President, Jaime V. Ongpin. The Fund continues to the present, having awarded Professorial Chairs, research grants, and performance excellence awards to non-teaching personnel of the University.
While retaining its core mining business, the Company has crossed over to other industries to pursue business sustainability. It diversified into diagnostic health care, reforestation services, management services, trading, ports management, freight, logistics, and construction services. It has been involved in real estate development, shipping, ecotourism, and bulk water supply and is poised to enter exciting fields such as renewable energy and hybrid agribusiness.
The Company is looking toward a bright and challenging tomorrow with much hope and anticipation, aspiring to be the best in whatever industry it finds itself. Over the years, it takes pride in its positive contribution to the nation, its shareholders, employees, and their families. As in the past, the Company carries a legacy of trailblazing, innovation, and social responsibility into the future.
