Following its swift growth in the Philippines, one of the country's trusted pest control companies, Pest Science Corporation, will open branches in the United States territories of Saipan and Guam.

The Pacific expansion comes 20 years after the company's inception.

Pest Science Corporation president Rayner Lorenzo said the overseas branches are expected to open early next year with personnel coming entirely from the Philippines.

"Guam and Saipan are in the Pacific with tropical weather. So, they have the same pests as the Philippines, and we can use our products there. Also, there are a lot of Filipinos in Guam and Saipan," Lorenzo, a biologist by profession, said.

The company was established in 2002, which then was housed in a rented apartment, to bring both science and service together to undertake pest management.

Under the Lorenzo Group of Companies of which 500 personnel are employed, Pest Science has an authorized capital base of P30 million operating in 28 branches throughout the country.

Its entry position in the market is as a service provider with a high level of expertise in pest management.

Since its inception, the company has already worked its place as one of the top service providers in the country, and their services are being hired by top hotels and establishments, namely Okada Manila, the whole Resorts World complex including its allied hotels Marriott and Sheraton Hotels, Makati Medical Center, Shangri-La Malls, Rockwell, top manufacturing plants, and ABS-CBN, among others.

Pest Science also holds three ISO certifications, namely Quality, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, as well as a certification for an Integrated Management System.

Headwinds blow

According to Lorenzo, the pest control business was not spared from the pounding of the Covid-19 pandemic. For more than three months during the surge of the health crisis, the company let go of some of its employees as most establishments that they are servicing for pest control have shuttered.