Westlake Village, California – Thursday, May 14, 2009 – Dole Food Company, Inc. today announced that Dolefil, a Dole operating subsidiary in the Philippines, has been awarded the 2009 KAPATID Award for Outstanding Achievement on Social Accountability and Outstanding Achievement on Productivity and Quality by the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP).

The award was presented to Dolefil at an April 29 ceremony in Manila attended by Her Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

"Lasting investments in the community and our people are central to Dole’s way of doing business around the world," said Kevin Davis, General Manager of Dolefil. "I am very proud of the Dolefil family and am happy that their tireless commitment to excellence in everything they do has been recognized."

Established in 1995, the KAPATID Awards are a biennial activity of ECOP, which recognize companies that have excelled in the field of industrial relations, quality and productivity, social accountability, strategic vision, business partnerships and job survival. The ECOP looks for these practices amongst candidates that demonstrate close enterprise-level cooperation between management and employees, whether in a unionized or non-unionized setting.