Businessman denies being Binay's 'dummy'

MANILA, Philippines - Businessman Tony Tiu on Monday broke his silence and dismissed allegations that he served as a “dummy” for Vice President Jejomar Binay.

“I am not a dummy. I am engaged in legitimate business here and abroad primarily on agriculture. I made my fortune through sheer hard work and my determination to succeed. If we really want to count the number of farmers we have been providing job and market, it will run into more that 100,000,” Tiu, executive chair of AgriNurture Inc. (ANI) said in a statement released to the media.

Tiu said he would prove the allegations wrong when he appears before the Senate Blue Ribbon hearing which is now conducting a hearing on the Vice President’s alleged unexplained wealth.

In his statement, Tiu said his primary source of income is exporting bananas, mangoes and coconut water.

“I have joint venture with China's biggest agricultural firm Beidahuang in 2010, They have invested in developing hybrid rice in the Philippines to augment rice shortage.  Over the years, Beidahuang has spent more than $10 million in the field of research and development,” Tiu said in his statement.

Tiu said he pioneered the use of post harvest facilities, as well as the processing and marketing of coconut water and tamarind.

He said he helped market Philippine mangoes when nobody wanted to export the products at the height of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome epidemic. He also helped banana farmers when Iran was facing sanctions from the United States.

Tiu was dragged into the Senate probe when it was alleged that he served as the dummy owner of the farm in Rosario, Batangas for the Vice President. Tiu is the owner of the Sunchamp agri-nature farm that is also located in the Rosario, Batangas farm.

In the Senate investigation former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado had accused Tiu of serving as dummy to cover up the Vice President's alleged ownership of the Rosario property.

In his statement, Tiu said he obtained a master's degree in Commerce (International Finance) from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia in 1999, and a bachelor's degree in commerce degree in management from De La Salle University, Manila in 1996.

He is also a candidate for a doctorate degree in public administration at the University of the Philippines and was one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines for 2011.

After obtaining his commerce degree, Tiu worked in a small agriculture-based company and in 1997, founded AgriNurture, Inc., the first agricultural company to be listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The company was initially involved in the trade of post-harvest agricultural machineries, but later diversified into various agro-commercial businesses including the export of fruits and vegetables to China, Japan and Korea, as well as to the Middle East, North America, Europe and Australia.