TVI

by Danilo Perez, Manager, TVIRD Materials Management and Purchasing Office

    Being mainly a support unit to the Operations group, the Materials Management and Purchasing Office – known within the Canatuan camp premises as the “Warehouse” – is a place to find some of TVIRD’s unsung heroes. After the successful decommissioning of the Gossan (Gold-Silver) Project last April, Warehouse personnel never stopped looking for company requirements for goods and services, as well as following up on purchases and deliveries. In fact, the challenges became more daunting: construction materials and equipment have to be delivered on time, and the machineries have to run efficiently all the time so that TVIRD’s second phase of operations in Canatuan, the Sulphide (Copper-Zinc) Project, will be able to commence production following schedule.

    Among those who have ably tackled the challenge is Pilarito Pantalita, driver-mechanic of one of the company’s delivery trucks. In the middle of one dark night several months ago, his truck broke down while he was transporting construction materials from Ipil, R.T. Lim, a town in Zamboanga Sibugay adjacent to Canatuan, a mountain village in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte and site of TVIRD’s operations.

    “I can never forget that night,” Pantalita recounts. “It was around 6 p.m and Danny Lahi, the truck helper, and I desperately needed to fix the problem so we could proceed to the site. We could’ve spent the night in the truck but construction activities will have to be stopped and, therefore, cause costly delays. After three hours of tense trouble-shooting, we were able to get the truck moving. We arrived on site at around 11 p.m. already.”

    Roger Dandana, Warehouse Issuing Clerk, is tasked to refuel company vehicles and rental heavy equipment. With a complete fleet of heavy equipment, more than 40 dump trucks running day in and day out, and service vehicles ferrying employees in and around Canatuan and to and commercial centers in the Zamboanga Peninsula, he oftentimes has to work long hours. This industrious Subanon refers to the times his services are need at night as “emergency duty”. The irony is that while his work deals with vehicles, he walks home on foot to Sitio Solonsangan, some two kilometers away from the mill plant.

    “I am proud to be of help to the company in my own little way, sometimes sacrificing time that I should be spending with my family, so that things can get done,” Dandana says. “Nothing beats working in a company that is right here in our own homeland.”

    Complementing Dandana’s tasks are fuel truck driver Albert Ponteras and gas man Alberto De la Pena. Both go around the Sulphide Dam construction area and mine pit to distribute fuel supply for the heavy equipment being used there. They do this even at night so that operations will run smoothly.

    Buried neck-deep in paperwork, purchase receipts and stock inventories are Warehouse Superintendent Raul Trayvilla, Purchasing Officer Jennyvie Escano and Warehouse Supervisor Jay Apilar. This awesome threesome hustle and bustle around the office with stacks of paper, or with a clipboard on one hand and the telephone on the other even as they transact business with suppliers. They even help in the unloading of new stocks. With their warehouse staffers, the three don’t mind the sweat and the pressure. They just get the job done.

    Also glued to their seats in front of their desktop computers are Mary Joy de Pedro, Documents Control Supervisor; and Marlyn Rafal, Purchasing Clerk. With the voluminous document their unit has to deal with day in and day out, these women make sure all transactions are properly documented and filed for quick access and retrieval.

    I cannot imagine what life would be like for the Canatuan operations frontliners without the contribution and support of employees like those in the Warehouse. Their selfless dedication for the company has time and again done wonders, even in the most difficult of circumstances. They literally deliver the goods to enable their fellow employees from other departments to achieve their own deliverables. I am truly proud to be part of this team.