OUR HERITAGE

Charita's love affair with cacao began in 2003 when we leased a farm in Malagos, Baguio District, Davao City, which had existing cacao trees. Her dream for this new venture was to revitalize the cacao sector, which had crashed in the 1980s, and to make her very own premium Philippine chocolate instead of just exporting the cacao beans to institutional accounts. She always said, "We need to step up. We must put more value to our raw material. This way we could employ and empower more people, especially the farmers." This was the beginning of our incredible journey in making chocolate.

From 2003 to 2012, we improved our cacao growing and post-harvest practices. We built our factory, which we still use today, and further refined our chocolate-making processes in the latter part of 2009. Charita also saw that in order to grow the industry, she needed to garner both private and public support. She embarked on a campaign to make cacao a priority crop and was instrumental in seeking the support of ACDI/VOCA, an organization that provides technical assistance to support the cacao and coconut sectors in 2010.

In August 2011, Charita was the key person in establishing CIDAMI (Cacao Industry Development Association of Mindanao), which she ran for two years. CIDAMI is a cacao value-chain organization composed of farmers and farmer cooperatives, nursery operators, traders, processors, input suppliers, and academia.

Charita has already received three awards for her work in the cacao industry: the 2017 Outstanding ASEAN Woman Entrepreneur, the 2017 Leaders and Achievers of Davao (LEAD) Award, and the 2017-2018 Gawad Saka Award Outstanding Agricultural Entrepreneur, Department of Agriculture.

Finally, in 2012, after years of rigorous testing and quality checks, we established Malagos Agri-Ventures Corporation and started making premium single-origin cocoa liquor. It was a welcome addition to complement our already existing line of fine food products, Malagos Farmhouse Artisan Cheeses. We commercially launched Philippine-made Malagos Chocolate in June 2013, a single-origin fine flavor chocolate that is truly tree-to-bar.

Our first international award in 2015 was a definitive start for the Philippines on the world's cacao stage. This and the many awards thereafter have put the spotlight on our cacao. Today, the Philippine cacao is a priority crop. It is thriving with more farmers and new chocolate brands on board. Public interest has also grown exponentially, with people looking for more sustainable food options and supporting the local industry.