Key Facts
Number of Employees: More than 4,000 (as of February 2013)
Main Brands:
Marlboro, Philip Morris, Hope, Fortune, Champion, Jackpot, Westpoint, Bowling Gold, Miller, and Stork
Welcome to PMFTC Inc. The history of our company began when Philip Morris International (PMI) entered into a licensing agreement with La Suerte Cigar and Cigarette Factory to manufacture and sell Marlboro in 1955. After 40 years of success, Philip Morris Philippines Inc. (PMPH) was established to handle all sales and marketing aspects related to the Marlboro and Philip Morris brands in 1995.
In the year 2000, with the liberalization of the investment climate in the Philippines, PMI reached a decision to invest US$300 million to build a state-of-the-art cigarette manufacturing plant in Tanauan City in Batangas. It was the single biggest investment of PMI in the Asia-Pacific region at that time. In the same year, Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. (PMPMI) was established to handle all aspects of the business in the Philippines, including manufacturing operations. PMPH was subsequently merged with PMPMI.
Commercial production at the Tanauan plant started in 2003. Today, the factory in Tanauan rolls out more than 30 billion sticks a year. PMPMI also started exporting Malboro and L&M cigarettes to Thailand in 2003.
A landmark development took place on February 25, 2010. PMPMI and Fortune Tobacco Corporation (FTC) entered into an agreement to combine their business operations and selected assets in a new company called PMFTC Inc. (PMFTC).
PMFTC is now the market leader in the local cigarette industry with over 90% percent share of the adult cigarette market. Its Marikina plant produces more than 70 billion sticks per year. PMFTC also owns the country’s leading low-priced brands such as Fortune, Champion, and Hope.
We are committed to the responsible manufacture, marketing and distribution of our products. In 2003, the Philippine government enacted the Tobacco Regulation Act and the company steadfastly supported the passage and implementation of this law.
We are also dedicated to making a difference in our communities. We have an active charitable contributions program that has had many successes. Embrace embodies the wide-ranging corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs of PMFTC that cater to the many needs of the communities we work with.
We partner with government and organizations that work to make a positive impact in the areas of education, environment, poverty alleviation, culture and arts, social services and disaster relief. While initially focusing in areas where it directly operates, particularly in the Batangas province and in tobacco-growing communities in the provinces of Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Isabela, and La Union, PMFTC has now successfully implemented its Embrace projects nationwide.
Pursuant to PMI standards, PMFTC avidly promotes Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) Guidelines & Assessment and the Agricultural Labor Practices (ALP) Code in all PMFTC contracted farmworkers and traders. This initiative covers a comprehensive campaign against child labor and forced labor in all facets of tobacco farming, fair treatment to all tobacco farmworkers, observation of fair working hours with due compensation, ensuring a safe work environment, freedom of association, and compliance with the law on labor and employment.
PMFTC has also created an employee volunteerism program that encourages employees to do their part by devoting some of their free time to volunteer work, such as helping refurbish public school buildings (Brigada Eskwela Program, Adopt-A-School), mentoring and teaching children in need, and participating in environmental sustainability initiatives, such as reforestation.