Take-charge guy on top of livestock biological products

As a young man, Wilfredo C. Rivera Sr. had to make some hard choices to eke out a living and send his siblings to school. He was taxi driver for a time and an elevator operator at another. But he wanted something that would give him confidence and boost his self-esteem. A Fullbright scholarship in biomedical science at Iowa State University offered succor and hope for the future to the struggling student who would be successful entrepreneur.

After that, things can only get better for Rivera who never forgets to remind himself of his lowly beginning and come up with some products that would benefit the poor farmers. He makes sure that the vaccines and antibiotics he formulates come in sizes/doses at prices easily affordable to the livestock and poultry farmers.

At a recent field trip of the Philippine Agricultural Journalists to Rivera’s pharmaceutical complex in San Roque, San Rafael, Bulacan, Rivera summed up his mission thus: "I am here to give my poor fellow farmers a break from high-priced imported biological products, most of which are not suited to local condition, I can give them the products at very low prices compared with those of imported ones. I hope they would come to appreciate what we are doing. That would make me a man. Fulfilled."

At the sprawling 48-hectare Tryco Pharma Corp. complex in Bulacan, Rivera built a three-storey building that houses his laboratories; recent appraisal valued the property at P56 million. This is the hub of company operations that produce animal vaccines, sera and micro biotech products.

In the forum, Rivera discussed his most recent formulations – all of which when launched in the market – will give the multinational drug and veterinary firms a run for their money. Such formulations are those for FMD (foot-and-mouth disease), rabies vaccines, hemo-bac (short for hemorrhagic septicemia) for immunizing livestock, particu-larly cattle, carabaos and goats against septicemia or shipping fever. Hemo-bac is the only locally-made vaccine in the country while others costing 10 times more are imported.

He also has cheap but potent vitamins, steroids, boosters, gonadine (hormone for pigs) and most veterinary products needed by chicken, fowls, goats, cattle, carabaos, ostriches and other hoofed and winged animals. Rivera also produces a specially formulated dextrose in his laboratories.

Some people work far more seriously and successfully than others. Rivera began his pharmaceutical company in 1968 with a measly capital of only P40,000. There was no building, no office facilities, no workforce – just himself and his wife for moral support. Now he has a corporate building in Caloocan City, which serves as his main marketing center. Other than that, he turned a barren property in Bulacan into a bustling center that can easily become a showcase in agri-tourism.

Some people thrive best in the worst of possible setting. The challenge is more intense – and well, challenging.

In the early days, Rivera spent long nights preparing veterinary feed mixes and compounding medicines until dawn. By sunrise, he was up and about, ready to rush to Lipa, Batangas to deliver orders of his medicines and develop his market some more. By evening, he was back home all wrapped up mixing his medicines. In 1970, numerous and bigger orders started coming in. He hired a salesman who took care of the markets in Laguna and Quezon.

Riverdale Biological Laboratories Inc., the very first bio-laboratory in the country, manufactures animal vaccines, vitamins and other medicines to treat ailments of animals.

Hemo-bac won in 1992 a gold award – the highest titer (strength of a solution) tests from the animal blood sera conducted jointly by technical experts of Australia’s regional veterinary laboratory over blood samples from Asean countries. This vaccine is so potent that the effect of immunization lasts for one year compared to the usual six months of imported vaccines. Rivera can take pride in being the first in Southeast Asia to provide instant and full protection against the dreaded livestock disease called shipping fever.

When the stakes are great Rivera delivers, so much so that his Riverdale Laboratory has been honored with an award in Switzerland in March 2000: the "New Millennium Award for Technology and Quality" which is given to companies whose innovations allowed them to be at the forefront for the quality of their products and services. The recognition comes from European Editorial Office and Trade Leaders’ Club.

Riverdale is the only licensed commercial vaccine manufacturer in the Philippines whose veterinary antibacterial and antiviral vaccines passed the stringent standardized tests of two leading laboratories in the United Kingdom and France to merit the award.

In 1996, Riverdale was conferred the Gregorio Zara Medal of the Department of Science and Technology and was cited for outstanding technology commercialization, particularly for its active immunization program against hog cholera (swine fever) and chicken, quails, turkeys and gamecocks against the new castle disease.

Although not a veterinarian, Rivera’s knowledge of farm animals and farm households (and lifestyles) far exceeds the knowledge and appreciation of practitioners in the field.

Tryco and Riverdale companies have signed a bilateral agreement with one of Switzerland’s biggest and oldest livestock vaccine manufacturers; the agreement is designed to foster the health of both poultry and livestock animals here and abroad. The arrangement calls for a solid marketing approach of vaccines throughout the Far and Middle East countries.

The Tryco-Riverdale biotechnological combine’s links and concerns have also been established in Australia, Germany, England, Taiwan, Belgium and Switzerland.

Rivera’s son, Marlon, runs a commercial ostrich farm and Israel kabir chicken farm at the fringe of the property.

The fowl farms target the meat requirements of upscale markets, namely, hotels and restaurants and delis here and abroad. The hide of the ostrich is the best material for ladies’ bags and other accessories while the empty shells are made into decorative items painted with artwork.

Rivera takes pride in that none of his children opted to work and live abroad but like him would rather stay here and add to their (father’s) fortune.

For all these bounties that Rivera said were endowed to him by God, his wife built a huge church in the real estate property, which is regularly visited by Holy Week devotees from all over Luzon. Nearby, on a high ground of the flat terrain stood wooden crosses, male flagellants with their annual panata in asking the Lord’s forgiveness for their worldly sins have themselves nailed like Jesus on the cross.

As for the still dapper 72-yaer-old Rivera, with 34 good years of entrepreneurship behind him, he is a picture of contentment for having served the poor livestock and poultry raisers. Quite single-minded about the whole process – and very efficient at that, there’s no way he would fail in his mission in the eyes of friends, family circle, beneficiary farmers of his labor of love, business partners and employees/workers.