Banana magnate passes away

Don Antonio O. Floirendo Sr., chairman of the Anflocor Group of Companies, a conglomerate that is
now in the forefront of Mindanao’s economy, passed away recently at the age of 97.

His is a real rags-to-riches story, propelled by industry, willingness and determination to embark on new
business ventures and make them succeed.

He was born on Nov. 20, 1915 in Bauang, La Union. During the Japanese era, he was already a budding
entrepreneur. His widow, Dona Nenita R. Floirendo, says her husband used to ferry passengers using his
kalesa for a fee. From there he established the first Ford dealership in Davao.

Business slowed down when the government imposed import controls. But the businessman was not
downhearted. He turned his energies to something locally available and would-be productive if he used
brawn and brains; he applied for 1,200 hectares of agricultural land. He would become a leading
agricultural magnate in the country.

In 1950, at the age of 35, he established Tagum Agricultural Development Company (Tadeco), starting
with abaca. With the help of foreign capital, Tadeco began phasing out abaca by 1968 and shifted to
banana. By 1971, the company was already exporting its produce to the Japanese market. From then on,
Tadeco continued to expand, hiring more people from the community and bringing prosperity to the
entire region. Soon after, other banana plantations began to sprout in Davao del Norte.

As a patriarch, Don Antonio treated his children the same way as he treated his employees.

One of his daughters, Linda, recalled that when they used to work at one of their father’s firms, she and
her younger brother Antonio “Tony Boy” Floirendo Jr. had to start early in the morning and end up in the
afternoon at five o’clock.

“He’d make us plant the bananas and do the boxes. He wanted us to work all the time, he didn’t want us
to be lazy at all,” added Maricris F. Brias, third among the children.

Marissa, the fourth child, recalled how their vacation wasn’t all rest and relaxation. “You will never get to
the top if you don’t start from the bottom” was the line that Linda remembered her dad telling her.

Linda described her father to be a bastonero. “He was super strict, but he had a big heart.”

Proof of that was her father’s being a philanthropist. “When he put up Tadeco, he made sure that [the
people there] had a hospital. He provided for their housing, and their electricity, as well as their
education,” said Mrs. Brias.

But while Don Antonio’s rise to prominence seems to look easy, he also had his share of hardships and
challenges which he had to overcome. All of his hard work and resilience, vision and gut-feel, did not
only repay him a bountiful harvest for him and his family. Through the years, what started out as one
business that expanded and became a conglomerate also continues to bless thousands of people in various
cities and municipalities where the Anflocor Group of Companies operates.

Because of Don Antonio’s holistic approach to management, Tadeco has emerged as the leader in the
banana industry, with many of its innovations becoming the standard in the industry. Its pioneering efforts
stretches far beyond the bounds of productivity, but more importantly, into the realm of social
responsibility.