Tadeco denies shortchanging gov’t on its profit-sharing scheme

The Tagum Agricultural Development Co., Inc. (Tadeco), the operator of the world's largest contiguous banana plantation, has welcomed the call for government to review their joint venture agreement for the sake of transparency, denying the allegation that it's been shortchanging the government on its profit-sharing deal with the latter.

This, after Davao del Norte Representative Antonio Floirendo Jr., who said to be the biggest campaign financier of President Rodrigo Duterte, was recently linked to the issue that his banana exporting firm, Tadeco, is not paying the government properly on its profit-sharing scheme.

“We are never remiss of our obligations both to the government and the workers,” Tadeco president Alex N. Valoria said in a statement on Monday.

It was House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez who said last week that an audit and probe will be launched to check the lease property agreement between Tadeco and the government where the latter should receive a guaranteed payment of R26.542 million per year.

Valoria said that "to set the record straight" figures that were cited in news reports were "wrong."

According to him, Tadeco paid the government R32.969 million in 2014 for guaranteed production share alone while it got R8.576 million for profit share.

"Last year, the guaranteed production share of the government ballooned to R35.327 million, while profit share went up to R9.527 million," he added.

Valoria said that aside from the figures mentioned, there are other benefits that go to the government that are not even included in the contract.

On the participation of Floirendo in the company, company documents showed that he already resigned from his position in 1999 when he became a member of Congress.

“He never participated in the negotiations while serving as member of Congress,” Valoria said, in reference to Floirendo who won back his seat in 2016.

The joint venture covers 5,308 hectares at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm reservation.