• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Negros remains an important strategic site for Tanduay Distillers Inc. (TDI), as it is the source of molasses, the primary ingredient in rum-making, and its plant in Murcia produces about 55,000 cases of rum a day.
“We’re very happy with the way Negrenses have responded to Tanduay (and their support) throughout the years that we’re operating here,” TDI senior vice president/chief risk officer Nestor Mendones told reporters during a tour of the Negros plant Aug. 16, as part of the 4th Bacolod Rum Festival that ended Aug. 18.
TDI is the main sponsor of the festival.
The Negros plant, now with around 400 employees, mostly Negrenses, started operations in Nov. 1994. It is located in Barangay Blumentritt, Murcia, with total land area of 211,845 square meters, and is a top corporate taxpayer of the town.
“Negros is the source of our primary material, the molasses (or the syrup from sugarcane juice). To us, Negros is very important strategically. We make sure that we always hold the number one position in Negros, that is part of our short and long-term plans,” Mendones said.
He said Negros is “a rum country”, and the products that the 30-year-old plant manufactures are distributed all over the Visayas.
These include the Tanduay Five Years, ESQ, the Rhum 65, and Rhum Light.
The plant has about 7,184 oak barrels in its ageing facility; a compounding facility for blending operations, liquor storage syrup preparations, and demineralized water collection; as well as a water treatment facility.
Mendonez clarified that the TDI Negros plant does not manufacture the alcohol itself. “Our distillery in Batangas buys the molasses, turns it to alcohol, then send it to us, and we mix it with the ingredients required for a product.” | CGC
