Subic Freeport business locators march for breast cancer awareness

Business locators in this free port lent a hand in raising breast cancer awareness by holding the Second Breast Cancer Awareness Fun Walk recently at the Subic Techno Park.

The event, now on its second year, is organized by the the Philippine College of Occupational Medicine (PCOM) in cooperation with the Subic-Olongapo Cancer Foundation, Inc. (SOCFI). The stakeholders also joined a slogan-making contest as part of the activity.

During the event program, Daisy Lorenzana, a breast cancer survivor, shared her experience in her battle with breast cancer.

“The key to my survival was early detection and a healthy lifestyle,” Lorenzana told employees who joined the march. “We have to share to other people what we have learned in order to save lives.”

According to Charo Simmons, vice president of SOCFI, the event was held to honor breast cancer survivors, as well as those who lost the fight to the illness.

She said that SOCFI aims to educate people that the threat of cancer is real and should not be taken for granted.

Simmons recalled that SOCFI was founded 10 years ago by two doctors dealing with cancer: Dr. Jaime Roco, an oncologist, and Dr. Resty Acosta, himself a cancer survivor.

According to the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology, breast cancer is the leading cause of death among women in the Philippines.

The country is said to have the highest incidence of breast cancer in the Asian continent. An estimated three out of 100 Filipino women contract the disease before age 75, and one out of 100 die before age 75, studies indicate.

The campaign on breast cancer awareness in the Subic Bay Freeport is actively supported by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority. (FMD/MPD-SBMA)

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Workers from various business locators at the Subic Bay Freeport march for a good cause during the 2nd Breast Cancer Awareness Fun Walk at the Subic Techno Park recently.

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2013 Olongapo Mardi Gras to bid for simultaneous street-dancing record

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – Revelers from Olongapo City, Zambales and Bataan will fill the entire stretch of Magsaysay Drive in Olongapo to groove to party music at this year’s Mardi Gras, which will run from October 23 to 25.

The street party will attempt to break the Philippine and world records for the most number of street party-goers on the last day of the event.

Dubbed as “Galaw ‘Gapo”, the event will have people dancing simultaneously to party music for one hour along the entire stretch of Magsaysay Drive, the city’s main entertainment venue.

The Philippine record is currently held by Manila with 8,000 street party-goers, while France holds the current world record with 10,000.

Meanwhile, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) will be joining the festivities by featuring performers from different tourism-business locators inside the Subic Bay Freeport during the event’s first day.

The SBMA tourism office said that local bands Vanity and Versus will play on the SBMA stage located in front of Casino Filipino-Olongapo.

The three-day street party will also be broadcast live online by DWSB 89.5 Subic Bay Radio, SBMA’s official radio station.

Other performers from Manila, as well as local artists, will provide entertainment during the upcoming street party.

Local and Manila-based DJs will make sure the party will never stop by providing dance music for three days, organizers said.

The Olongapo Mardi Gras is an annual street party organized by the city government of Olongapo and Metro Olongapo Chamber of Commerce, and supported by the SBMA. (FMD/MPD-SBMA)

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Fitness festival set

THE SUBIC Fitness Festival will be held on Nov. 15, 16, and 17 at Subic Free Port Zone Harbor Point, Camayan Beach and Ocean Adventure.

The festival starts its journey to Subic with free fitness sessions in Manila on all weekends of September and October.

Organized by F&F Events, alongside Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), the festival aims to promote a holistic approach to fitness amongst Filipinos.

Kicking off at the FTX gym along Tordesillas St., Makati on Sept. 6, 7 and 8, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., the series of events will feature all the fitness disciplines headed to the main gathering.

Reijo Maranan del Prado, 2008 Mr. Philippines title holder, challenges fitness buffs to break records through functional body weight and resistance training with Circuit Warz today (Sept. 6).

Learn the preparations involved to qualify in the Gladiator Circuit Battle, Extreme EnduroChallenge, Strong Man Competition and TugofWar.

The free circuit training is open to individuals and circuit teams alike, featuring speedrepetition, speedendurance and powerweight exercises.

Dance the workweek stress away on Sept. 7 with Urban Street Dance. Shed starched shirts for basic tees and move to your favorite groove for a funfilled, highenergy, cardiovascular workout.

Bring your family, round up your friends, and let the SFF crew teach you how to stay insync anywhere and everywhere.

Sunday is a treat for the spirit as International Metacoach, Imee Navarro, teach individuals how to unleash their greatest potentials. On Sept. 8, learn to express your power with neurolinguistic programming, selfcontemplation, and meditation techniques.

Move within your mind and experience results physically and mentally through the guidance of EQ Academy with Soul Fitness.

For more information, contact Ramon Domiquil at 09159425926. (BusinessWorld)

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GEARCON showcases Subic Bay as digital entertainment haven

With the participation of some 5,000 video game enthusiasts, a convention for gamers and cosplayers was held last week at the Harbor Point, showcasing this premier Freeport's potential as a haven for digital entertainment.

Dubbed as GEARCON 2013 and organized by GEAR, a local gaming community, the convention was a full gaming, e-sport and consumer electronics expo, which targeted both gamers and non-gamers here and elsewhere.

Marlo Zerrudo, officer in charge of the SBMA Information Technology Department, said that the event demonstrated that Subic Bay Freeport could easily be a venue for international gaming competitions.

He added that the gaming community in Olongapo and other nearby areas is quite a large market for digital entertainment.

“This is the first gaming convention of its kind in the Philippines, and we hope to follow this up with another,” Zerrudo said.

The major feature of the week-long event was a hands-on demonstration of all the current generation consoles (PS3, Xbox, WiiU). Participants, both professed gamers and non-gamers, got the chance to try out for themselves the latest innovation in gaming technology, including three-dimensional and aided and unaided motion-detection gaming.

An exhibit showcasing various consoles from the first (1972-1977) to the eighth generation (2012-current) was also put in place at the event venue.

Also part of the convention were competitions on Defense of the Ancients (DOTA), Tekken Tag Tournament Two, Magic the Gathering, and the Wii and Xbox dance contests.

Over P100,000 worth of prizes were awarded to competition winners and lucky participants who participated in the raffle draw.

According to the organizers, the goal of the event was "to celebrate the advancements in technology that has had a widespread ripple effect in our daily lives.”

“With the advent of high-speed internet connectivity, gaming has evolved from a solitary activity to massive multi-player games played across continents by millions of people. Once the exclusive domain of video-gamers, virtual simulation is now a crucial component in various professions. It has also established itself as a veritable medium for health and fitness,” a statement from GEAR also indicated.

The organizers added that "this gaming convention is dedicated not only to the gamers of today's generation, but also older gamers who used to play on the various Atari, Nintendo and Sega consoles, as well as handhelds during the eighties and nineties." (HEE/MPD-SBMA)

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SUBIC LABOR DAY

Workers from different locator-companies in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone take part in a dance contest in celebration of Labor Day.

The event, organized by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority’s Labor Department in cooperation with Ayala Malls’ Harbor Point, aimed to promote health awareness and camaraderie among business locators, customers and other stakeholders within the free port.

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Subic To Host Food Festival

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is pushing the boundaries of tourism by offering foreign and local visitors a variety of tastes at a week-long food festival that will be held during the Holy Week.

SBMA Deputy Administrator for Tourism Raul Marcelo, the Subic Pascha 2013 food festival is the first of its kind inside this premier Freeport and would provide tourists the different cuisines that can be found here.

“The SBMA and restaurateurs here have come up with this food festival to further spur the tourism industry during the Holy Week. Tourists love to go to the Boardwalk area, so why not give them a treat?” Marcelo said.

Restaurateur Raymund Magdaluyo, who spearheads the festival’s operation, says that the Boardwalk area will also have live bands performing.

Magdaluyo said that the festival will incorporate the sacredness of the Lenten season by showcasing the different religious areas of Subic Bay Freeport such as the San Roque Chapel and the Holy Land theme park. A performance by artist Karylle will also be held at the food festival on Good Friday. (Jonas Reyes, Manila Bulletin)

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Subic Bay welcomes 2013 with street party

Up to 13,000 people crammed the Waterfront Road and Boardwalk Park in this free port on New Year’s Eve to usher in 2013 and bid 2012 goodbye.

The revelers brought food for their traditional New Year’s feast, pitched tents and set up tables in the seaside venue, heard Mass and watched a mini-concert while awaiting what appeared to be the best fireworks display since the tradition started here in 2001.

“The New Year Countdown is our way of giving thanks for all the blessings in the ending year, as well as welcoming the coming new year,” Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) chair Robert Garcia said.

“This has become a tradition for the Subic Freeport community, a thing that also attracts visitors to the Freeport this time of the year,” he added.

Dr. Mariano Ridon, owner of a restaurant near the Boardwalk Park, said the New Year Countdown at Subic’s Boardwalk area began in 2000 during the Y2K craze, and was later adopted by the SBMA as an official activity under the Freeport Festival Executive Committee (FFEC).

Ridon, who was the founding chairman of the FFEC, added that the countdown also introduced the “potluck” tradition and sharing of food for the New Year’s feast when the SBMA, under then Chairman Felicito Payumo, prepared five roasted pig and three roasted calf to be shared among all the revelers.

“Since then, people brought food to the countdown to share with others, like Filipinos did during fiestas,” Ridon explained.

Light and Sound Show


Aside from the fireworks display that the SBMA puts up as the highlight of the New Year program, various establishments along the Waterfront Road had since adopted the custom, with the Lighthouse Marina Resort offering the grandest show along the strip, including music festivals as part of its holiday presentations over the years.

Other hotels along Subic Bay’s famous Waterfront Road have cashed in on the visitors surge, offering dinner buffets and a front-row view of the New Year’s Eve lights and sound show.

“I am sure it would attract more people if the other establishments shared some fireworks also,” Emmy, a countdown regular and resident of San Juan, Metro Manila, said.

Even families living in Olongapo City have begun bringing their sparklers and horns to the Subic countdown after the local government banned fireworks within the city limits.

“Most of our neighbors are here,” explained Josephine Cruz, a resident of Gordon Heights in Olongapo City. “We bring our food here and enjoy a grand fireworks display that we otherwise cannot afford on our own.”

Themed Parties

Others bring their parties and costumes into the scene, making the six-hour wait for the New Year countdown as colorful and as entertaining as the midnight fireworks.

“Because we’ve done this for 11 years, deciding what the theme is and what costumes to wear is tough. This year, we decided to have an activist theme,” Carrie Aspa-Empeño, a journalist, said.

Armed with toys guns made of wood and plastic, the Empeño family, together with their friends, set up camp along the Waterfront Road and put up a “picket line” that greeted other revelers with placards and banners.

One placard had an “OUST 2012!” call, a dig at Filipino activists’ penchant for calling for the ouster of every elected president.

Another read “Maki-New Year! ‘Wag matakot!” which was a parody of the local leftist chant of “Makibaka! ‘Wag matakot!” (Struggle! Don’t be afraid!)

Banner Year for Tourism


It is precisely because of these types of events that Subic Bay has become a tourist magnet.

Raul Marcelo, SBMA deputy administrator for tourism, said that the number of tourist arrivals in 2012 increased significantly as compared to the previous years.

And the uptrend is expected to continue well into the next years, he added.

“Next year will be basically the same (as far as major tourism events are concerned),” Marcelo noted. “But we still hope to improve on our record in terms of the number of visitors, and create more attractions to generate more arrivals in Subic Bay,” he added. (SBMA)

PHOTO:
A huge crowd awaits the New Year Countdown at the Subic Bay Freeport

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