SBMA Chairman's group, Operations group finalists bag SBMA Employee of the Year 2023 awards

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA)’s Chairman and Administrator’s group bagged both Employee of the Year (EOY) 2023 awards for Category 2 and Category 1 respectively, tying with the Operations group finalist in Category 1. 

Chairman and Administrator Group finalists Lex Byron Magrata of the Public Relations Office (PRO) and Ryan Joseph Garcia of the Planning and Development Office (PDO) were named EOY 2023 for Category 2 and 1 respectively; the latter tied with Operations Group’s Domar Reolizo of the Seaport Department. 

“This special occasion allows us to honor and celebrate the unwavering dedication, commitment, and excellence as demonstrated by our extraordinary team members,” SBMA Chairman and Administrator Eduardo Jose L. Aliño said in his welcome remarks. 

According to Aliño, the EOY is primarily selected by the Group Selection Panel (GSP) of their respective Strategic Business Units (SBUs), namely, Chairman & Administrator Group (ChAd), Business & Investment Group (BIG), Operations Group, Public Services Group (PSG), Regulatory Group (REG), and the Support Services Group (SSG). 

Aliño explained that at the very start of the nomination process, employees will be nominated according to their innovation &/or productivity, quality customer service, and malasakit and honesty. At the end of the year, their respective GSPs will come up with a finalist for Category 1 and Category 2 who will represent their SBUs. 

He also said that the finalists will undergo an interview by the Program on Awards and Incentives for Service Excellence (PRAISE) Committee which will decide who the EOY would be. 

Reolizo, hired by the agency as a clerk at the Port Management Division of the Seaport Department in 2018, made his mark with his proficiency in Google functions after barely six years in the government service.  

He automated the Trade Facilitation and Compliance Department’s and Seaport Department’s current system—the online overtime request, the seaport employee leave monitoring system, the Google scan image for seaport manual documents, and the online admission system--by maximizing the use of the G-Suite tools. 

In his acceptance speech, he thanked his family and the Operations group for the opportunity to be where he is now. 

Tying with Reolizo in Category 1 is Garcia, who initially was a driver-slash-messenger for the PDO in 2019. Still, he performed above and beyond his duties which made him one of the most reliable and integral parts of the department. 

He authored the guidelines for the procurement and distribution of the agency’s tokens to centralize the procurement of various kinds of tokens upon the request of the Accounting Department, Financial Planning and Budget Department (FPBD), and Procurement and Property Management Department (PPMD) to the PDO, being the expense account manager for tokens. 

Likewise, he expressed gratitude to everyone behind his success—his family, his superiors, and the agency. 

Meanwhile, Magrata, the EOY 2023 for Category 2, expressed his deep gratitude to OIC-DeputyAdministrator for Corporate Communications Armina Llamas for the trust and confidence accorded to him and his division’s staff. 

Magrata and his staff in the SDD were transferred to the PRO in November 2022 from the Ecology Center. 

In less than two years of his stint with the PRO, Magrata has been instrumental in securing a land area of more than four hectares at Sitio Kinabuksan worth P2.4 million in annual rental revenue when he worked promptly with the Office of the Solicitor-General (OSG) in drafting judicial affidavits that resulted to the court’s favorable decision to SBMA. 

He also assisted the court’s sheriff in delivering notices of Writ of Execution to informal settler respondents. Because of his engagement in a dialogue with respondents, 20 out of 38 have vacated the SBMA property. 

Other finalists were Frankie Ebidag (Business and Investment Group), Reynaldo Casimero (Public Services Group), and Rolando Cabrera (Support Services Group) for Category 1; and Jojit Catungal (Business and Investment Group), Capt. John Dulnuan (Operations Group), Rolando Lomboy (Public Services Group), and Raquel Bautista (Support Services Group) for Category 2. 

No representatives from the Regulatory Group were presented in both Category 1 and Category 2. 

The SBMA’s EOY awards program started in 2006. Initially, finalists were selected from an array of Employees of the Month of the SBUs, which in 2011 became Employee of the Quarter; and in 2019, Category 1 and Category 2 were launched to allow competition on their respective levels. (MPD-SBMA) 

Read More

Pacific Business Mission delegates explore SBF as among sites for future Aussie investments

This premier Freeport was recently among the sites considered for exploration by the delegates of the Pacific Business Mission for its future investments.

The Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) of Australia/New Zealand, in partnership with the Subic-Clark Alliance Development Council (SCADC) and the Board of Investments (BOI) accompanied Australian businesspersons to visit key viable investment sites in the Central Luzon area including this premier Freeport zone.

Headed by Philippine Ambassador to Australia Ma. Hellen De La Vega, the delegation also visited Clark Freeport Zone, Mt. Samat Flagship Tourism Enterprise Zone and the Province of Bataan before proceeding to Subic Bay.

The group was said to have expressed interest in possible investment projects related to tourism, automotive and electric vehicle manufacturing, agribusiness, and renewable energy.

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) employees, led by its Chairman and Administrator Rolen C. Paulino, received the delegates with a warm welcome at the Subic Bay Travelers Hotel in a luncheon briefing.

“As the global economy is struggling to bounce back from the negative effects of Covid-19 pandemic, we are glad to have this opportunity to participate in this investment mission and introduce or re-introduce the Subic Bay Freeport and Economic Zone to you,” the Chairman said.

Paulino encouraged the business delegates to make it happen in the Philippines, especially in Subic Bay, that the entire SBF community is looking forward “with much enthusiasm to work in partnership with all of you for the growth and progress of the Philippine economy, in general, and in the Subic Bay Freeport community, in particular.”

During the program, SBMA Business and Investment for Manufacturing and Maritime department manager Karen Magno gave the group a briefing on the business climate in the Freeport on behalf of Senior Deputy Administrator for Business and Investment Renato Lee III.

“We strive very, very hard to keep the confidence of our investors and maintain this site as an ideal site for investment. This is because of our core Filipino value we call ‘malasakit.’ Malasakit is the deepest form of caring. Malasakit to our stakeholders, malasakit to Subic, which we call home,” Magno said.

She added that because of malasakit, the business group, through the SBMA Board of Directors, was able to complete the processing of 63 new investments during the height of the pandemic in order to sustain the economy in the Freeport.

The said new projects with a committed investment worth US$24 billion required additional 682 employment opportunities for the residents of Olongapo, Bataan and Zambales areas.

Currently, the SBF houses 28 Australian locators with a committed investments totaling to US$11 million and an employment of 577 workers.

Hugh McDougall, President and CEO of Australia Farm Innovation, and Nick Fenwick, President and COO of Fabric8 Membrane Services, and both Australian locators in the Freeport, attested to the warm and professional reception of SBMA personnel, skilled and English-speaking workers, and the Fast, Friendly, and Flexible services that the SBMA has been extending them.

Australia Farm Innovation is the leading Philippines Supplier of Innovative and High Quality Prefabricated Agricultural Buildings and Equipment, while Fabric8 Membrane Services is a company that specializes in contract fabrication of textile materials used in major projects globally.

Meanwhile, SBMA Deputy Administrator for Business group Atty. John Aquino acknowledged the effort of the PTIC, SCADC, BOI and all the Investment Promotion Agencies as the Philippine Statistics Office recently announced that the Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) reached ₱46 billion for the second quarter of this year alone.

Aquino proudly said that 71.34 percent of the said FDIs, or ₱32.98 billion were approved by the SBMA. (MPD-SBMA) 

Read More

SBMA Statement on Cancelled Cruise Ship Visit

It is my duty to inform all stakeholders in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone that the scheduled port call of the cruise ship MV World Dream in Subic on Wednesday, January 29, has been cancelled by Genting Cruise Lines, the operator of the cruise liner, in face of the circumstances on the ground.

It has been two days of tedious representations with concerned government offices and negotiations with other interested parties, but now the Subic Bay Freeport community can breathe a sigh of relief in the outcome that, we hope, is acceptable and satisfactory to all.

I would like to reiterate here the continuing trust of the SBMA on the Department of Health and its Bureau of Quarantine, which has put in place various measures in order to assure the safety and security of Subic and other host communities that cruise ships visit.

We should also thank the vigilance and sobriety of the Subic Bay Freeport community in face of the hysteria caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak in other Asian countries, and for the malasakit of the people to decide and act for the common good.

Again, we have shown that together, we are stronger and that the seemingly impossible takes only a bit longer to accomplish. Maraming salamat po sa pagmamalasakit sa Subic!

AMY T. EISMA
SBMA Chairman and Administrator

Read More

SBMA honors 161 employees in 5th Loyalty Awards

A total of 161 employees who have rendered continuous service to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) from 10 to 25 years received well-deserved honor from the Subic agency recently.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma led the tribute at the 5th SBMA Loyalty Awards rites held at the Travelers Hotel here on September 13 and expressed gratitude for the workers’ dedication and loyalty.

“Today we honor all of you who have given their dedication, their faithful work, and even devotion to the agency. You have worked so hard for the SBMA, and we recognize that without you, this agency would not be where it is today,” Eisma said.

Twenty-two awardees with 10 years of service to the agency marched down the aisle of the event center, followed by 70 with 15 years of work, and 64 who have served for 20 years.

But those who received a standing ovation from their SBMA colleagues were the five employees who have completed 25 years of service. They were Armila Alviz, Emilia Canonizado, and Leonor Dulcero of Accounting Department, Renato Gayondato of Law Enforcement Department, and Alfredo Planea of Treasury Department.

In her inspirational message, Chairman Eisma defined what the loyalty award is all about, pointing out that the service award was not meant simply as a measure of the years spent with the agency.

“Loyalty should not be measured by just because you showed up for work; it should be measured because you showed up and worked hard. You showed up and showed the world that you are working and making a difference. And we are very lucky you did all that for SBMA,” she told the awardees.

Eisma also said that loyalty meant “looking after each other, looking after the SBMA every time, and making sure that every step we make for SBMA will bring us to a better future.”

In response, 20-year service awardee Severo Pastor Jr., who is manager of the SBMA Labor Department, said that SBMA employees had always been forward-looking workers.

“In my 20 years of service, I served six administrations with different thrusts, survived different economic situations, and welcomed several waves of multi-nationals, but in all these years I can proudly say that we have developed programs that promote relevance among the Subic Freeport work force,” Pastor said.

He added that in the last 10 years, his department has streamlined 16 processes, nine of which are in compliance with the Anti-Red Tape Act, while others are for various frontline services.

Pastor also took the opportunity to bid farewell to the SBMA, ending his speech with a song that he wrote as a parting message to SBMA colleagues.

The SBMA loyalty awards, sanctioned by the Civil Service Commission through the SBMA Human Resource Management Department, is being given to employees with permanent status who have rendered from 10 to 25 years of continuous and satisfactory service in the government.

The accolades given to the service awardees included plaques of recognition, certificates of service, and monetary reward. (RFD/MPD-SBMA)

PHOTO:

SBMA 25-year service awardees, accompanied by family members, receive recognition from senior agency officials led by SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma. (AMD/MPD-SBMA)

Read More

SBMA calls for SEA Games volunteers

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma has called for the participation of volunteers from the Subic Bay area in the 30th Southeast Asian Games that the Philippines will host late this year.

Once more tapping the wellspring of volunteerism that helped make Subic a model for military base conversion, Eisma urged local youths to take the opportunity to serve and be part of history.

“Make a difference and be a hero,” Eisma said in a call broadcast over social media.

“Come show your malasakit once again. Be a SEA Games volunteer and give yourself the chance to serve the country and be part of history,” she added.

Eisma made the call for volunteers after the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC) announced the need for some 12,000 volunteers for the regional sports spectacle that will be held in November 30 to December 10.

PHISGOC chief operating officer Ramon Suzara said that volunteers will be mobilized for the Games in Metro Manila, Subic, Clark Freeport, and other venues to help run the country’s hosting of the 56 sports and 529 events in this year’s sports meet.

Eisma said she has called for volunteers to show their malasakit for Subic in so many occasions in the past. “Today, I am calling on you again to join the SBMA team and help make the 30th SEA Games successful,” she said.

Out of the 56 sports slated in the 2019 SEA Games, 16 will be hosted in Subic. These are duathlon, triathlon, pencak silat, sepak takraw, chess, table tennis, muay thai, karatedo, vovinam, obstacle sports, modern-date pentathlon, beach volleyball, beach handball, and all water sports: sailing, wind surfing, and traditional boat race.

PHISGOC said around P100 million to P150 million will be allotted to the volunteer program from the P5-billion SEA Games budget of the national government.

The volunteers will be provided with uniforms, transportation, allowance and meals for an eight-hour shift.

Eisma said that those interested to join the SEA Games volunteer program in Subic may apply online at www.mysubicbay.com.ph. Applicants must be at least 18 years old.

Recruitment of volunteers will be conducted from April to July, with the online registration starting on May 15. Training of volunteers will be held from August to October. (MPD-SBMA)

PHOTO:

With the monument honoring Subic’s original volunteers in the background, SBMA Chairman Wilma T. Eisma renews the call for volunteers, this time for the upcoming SEA Games events to be held in the Subic Bay Freeport. (MPD-SBMA)

Read More

SBMA, Subic firms send P70k donation to Orion fire victims

Employees of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) as well business locators in the Subic Bay Freeport sent in more than P70,000 worth of donations to victims of the fire that razed more than 600 houses in Orion, Bataan late last month.

SBMA Public Relations Department manager Armie Llamas said the Subic agency mounted a donation drive for the fire victims and collected some 25 boxes of assorted supplies from various SBMA departments and companies operating in the Freeport.

The donations consisted of sleeping mats, water pails, plates and drinking cups, various toiletry items, blankets, pillows, canned goods, and used clothes. These were turned over last week to Orion, Bataan Mayor Antonio Raymundo, Jr.

In a separate project, the SBMA’s 89.5-FM Subic Bay Radio also collected a significant volume of donations as it asked listeners to contribute in the aftermath of the Orion fire.

Acting station manager Menandro Magcale said that good Samaritans from the Subic Bay Freeport and Olongapo City provided 5 cavans of rice, 6 boxes of canned goods, 4 boxes of noodles, 3 boxes of bread and biscuits, 2 boxes of assorted packed food, 3 boxes of hygiene products, assorted kitchen and house ware, and beddings and mattresses.

The station likewise collected some 100 pairs of shoes and slippers, as well as a dozen huge plastic bags of used clothes.

The radio station staff, along with volunteer students from Aura College in the Freeport, delivered the donations on Feb. 8 to social welfare workers at the main evacuation center in the Bataan School of Fisheries in Orion.

SBMA Chairman Wilma T. Eisma, meanwhile, lauded the SBMA employees, business locators and other stakeholders in the Subic community for showing concern for other people who are in need.

“Your gesture of love and kindness for others, especially our neighbors in Bataan, best exemplifies the culture of benevolence and malasakit that we are cultivating in this community,” Eisma added.

Reports said that more than 1 6,000 individuals fled to temporary evacuation centers after a fire broke out at Sitio Depensa in Barangay Capunitan, Orion on January 29.

Abetted by strong winds, the fire razed down more than 600 houses made of light materials that were home to mostly fishermen and informal settlers. (HEE/MPD-SBMA)

PHOTO:

SBMA Public Relations Department head Armie Llamas (center) and PRD Community Relations Officer Malou Dungog lead the turnover of goods donated by SBMA employees and business locators in the Subic Bay Freeport for Orion fire victims.

Read More

SBMA chief cites ‘corps of heroes’

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma congratulated on Friday the finalists and winner of the agency’s 2018 Employee of the Year (EOY award, saying it was her pride to lead a “corps of heroes” in the Subic agency.

“There’s no better way to celebrate heroism than by getting together and cheering them on, and making sure they are appreciated,” Eisma said during the awarding rites.

“They are here right now being feted because it is also a celebration of each and every one of us. We are the corps of heroes. You are the corps of heroes of the SBMA,” she added.

The SBMA chief also praised the agency’s employees for giving more than what they can give without expecting anything in return.

“That’s what makes me so proud to lead this organization. Because we have employees who exemplify what malasakit is, who exemplify integrity, character, passion, and love in every day that they come in for work,” Eisma also said.

The awarding, which took place at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center (SBECC) on Jan. 25, named Nida Linda C. Rojo as the agency’s 2018 EOY.

Rojo was nominated for excellence in supervising the tourism linkages and VIP services unit of the SBMA Tourism Department, and for delivering results above expectations.

Tourism manager Mary Jamelle Camba added that Rojo adapts well in both office and field activities, a trait that was key to representing Subic Bay in travel fairs and expositions locally and internationally.

Aside from Rojo, who was also awarded EOY of the Chairman and Administrator’s Group, five other finalists were named EOYs of their respective strategic business units (SBUs).

They are: Karren Balajadia of the Land Asset Development Department (LADD), who was named EOY of the Business and Investment Group; Christine Joy Robrico of Trade Facilitation and Compliance Department, EOY of the Operations Group; Alexander Canlas of Law Enforcement Department, EOY of the Public Services Group; Helen Castillones of the Ecology Center, EOY of the Regulatory Group; Ronald Rondez of Labor Department, EOY of the Support Services Group.

The winners were cited for their excellent performance beyond the call of duty and for various innovations in the workplace.

The SBMA Employee of the Year Awards is a project of the SBMA Human Resources Management Department to recognize and reward exemplary services rendered by employees in line with the Program on Awards and Incentives for Service Excellence (PRAISE) of the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

The finalists were selected according to the following criteria: industriousness and productivity, 50 percent; quality customer service, 30 percent; and malasakit and honesty, 20 percent.

Chairman Eisma said that some of the winners of the SBMA EOY awards had gone on to win Pagasa awards, the Civil Service Commission’s honor awards program for outstanding government workers. (RFD/MPD-SBMA)

PHOTOS:

[1] SBMA 2018 Employee of the Year Nida Linda C. Rojo accepts the torch passed onto her by the previous EOY (AMD/MPD-SBMA)

[] SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma (4th from left) congratulates SBMA 2018 Employee of the Year Nida Linda C. Rojo, along with (L-R) SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator (SDA) for Support Services Ramon Agregado, CSC-Zambales Dir. Jose Gea, SBMA tourism manager Jamelle Camba, SBMA Dir. Ma. Cecilia Bitare, SDA for Regulatory Amethya dela Llana, and SDA for Business and Investment Renato Lee. (AMD/MPD-SBMA)

Read More

‘Better together’: SBMA chief cites Subic volunteers and hails new heroes

After an army of volunteers more than 8,000 strong preserved the former Subic Naval Base 25 years ago and facilitated the growth of what would become the country’s premier free port, new heroes have since stepped up to take the cudgels for “malasakit” and sustain Subic’s economic miracle, Subic’s chief executive said on Friday.

In a speech during the commemoration of Subic’s founding anniversary here, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma cited the contributions of past and present volunteers and urged them to always stick together as one Subic community, regardless of when they got on board.

“Being a volunteer myself, I know for some reason that the volunteers of 25 years ago have this invisible bond,” Eisma said as she reminisced about sharing “baon” lunches with Subic workers in the early days of Subic.

“But let us not forget that Subic is not just about the volunteers,” she said. “Many heroes have risen since the day of the volunteers, since the very first heroes,” she went on.

“Many, many, many heroes have risen from what SBMA is today. We have evolved into an army of many volunteers, of many heroes,” she added.

“Those who come anyway on a weekend to work, those who come anyway on a weekend to volunteer, the hundreds and hundreds of people from Olongapo, Bataan and Zambales who come for coastal clean-up in a day’s notice, we have also developed a kind of bond with each other somehow because of our love for Subic, because of our hope and dreams that we will bring Subic to a new frontier many, many years from now,” Eisma also said.

Eisma, who won just last week a silver trophy in the 15th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business in New York City, led the Subic anniversary rites at the Volunteers Shrine here, where the names of the original Subic volunteers were etched in stone.

The commemoration ceremony kicked off a two-day program for the 26th SBMA anniversary celebration that would be capped by the ceremonial lighting of the SBMA Christmas tree and the start of a music festival at the Boardwalk Events Center here.

In her speech, the SBMA executive also urged various stakeholders in Subic to work together and create a better, more cohesive Subic Freeport community.

“We have come such a long way. Now, we have more dreams. Let’s not refer to the old volunteers and the new volunteer because we are from Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, we are from Subic Bay Freeport Zone,” she reminded the audience.

Eisma also stressed that “malasakit” or concern for one another is the only way for Subic to go and grow.

“We are one community and that’s what we should be,” she said. “We should always be together because we are stronger that way. We are better together.” (MPD-SBMA)

PHOTOS:
SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma pays tribute to Subic volunteers and hailed the emergence of new heroes during the 26th SBMA anniversary celebration on Friday. (MPD-SBMA)

Read More

SBMA urges neighbors to join recycling effort

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) urges communities around the Subic Bay Freeport to participate in its recyclable collection project to minimize the release of wastes into the environment and help raise funds for resource conservation.

SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator for Operations Ramon Agregado said during the 5th Recyclables Collection Event (RCE) here Thursday that gathering recyclable wastes is the flipside of SBMA efforts to clean up the coastline and waters of Subic Bay, which is acknowledged as the lifeblood of both tourism and trade in the greater Subic Bay area.

“We should not only endeavor to make this recyclable collection event a periodic institutional activity, but we should strive to make it something bigger that will also encompass the neighboring localities of Olongapo, Zambales and Bataan,” Agregado said.

“This war on waste should not be an exclusive mandate for the SBMA. It should, instead, be a communal effort on the part of various stakeholders in the Subic area so that we can produce more significant results,” he added.

Agregado admitted that since attending the RCE last year, he began to collect recyclable plastics in preparation for this year’s event.

“If this activity affected me and encouraged me to collect recyclable trash, I hope others would also realize that we need to help save the environment in our own small way,” he added.

SBMA’s recyclables collection project is part of the agency’s bigger “War on Waste” program, which has recently included an anti-littering campaign and a ban on the use of single-use plastics in SBMA workplaces.

SBMA Ecology Center manager Ameth Dela Llana said the RCE was undertaken in partnership with Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and in cooperation with the Bureau of Customs, as well as various treatment, storage and disposal (TSD) facilities like VAG General Merchandising in Pampanga, Genetron International Marketing, Evergreen Environmental Resources, Inc., and Semi-Recycling Joechem in Bulacan.

During the event, SBMA also presented tokens of appreciation to 10 companies inside the Subic Freeport, which delivered the biggest volume of recyclable trash during the 4th RCE.

These are Hanjin Heavy Industries Company (Phils.), Subic Water and Sewerage Co., Nidec Subic, PTT Phils. Corp., Subic Track, Koryo Subic, SGS Subic Bay, Petron Freeport Corp., Subic Bay International Terminal Corp., and Jack Electronics Corporation.

The recyclables brought in by the participating firms, as well as by the community groups and households, are paid for by recyclers.

In some cases, the firms pay for the trash brought in for treatment and subsequent disposal.

Dela Llana said that the SBMA collection program generated proceeds amounting PHP137,000 last year. During the 3rd RCE in 2016, the proceeds reached PHP230,000.

She said the cash proceeds are turned over to the ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, which funds the “Bantay Kalikasan” organization that promotes healthy environment for children, and helps communities earn revenue from protecting and turning their natural environment to tourism destinations.

The 5th RCE was held at an open space near the Boardwalk Activity Center here, drawing business locators and residents from both the Subic Freeport and Olongapo City to bring in their solid, hazardous, and electronic wastes to either sell or donate.

Some volunteers also took the time to teach the public techniques in making decorations out of wastes like plastic bottles, straw and food wrappers. (Malou Dungog, PNA)

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1054164

Read More

SBMA creates anti-littering task force

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) created an anti-littering task force to effectively implement its no-littering policy and set fines to discourage violations.

SBMA chairman and administrator Wilma T. Eisma said that the agency has started enforcing a policy that prohibits dumping or throwing of garbage, rubbish or any kind of waste in parks, roads, beach, forests, rivers, streams or on any open or public place inside the Freeport.

It is also illegal under the policy for anybody to urinate, defecate, dispose of cigarette butts, or spit in public places.

To ensure effective implementation of the no-littering policy, Eisma issued an order creating the SBMA Anti-Littering Task Force manned by marshals from the SBMA Ecology Center, Law Enforcement Department, Maintenance and Transportation Department, and Tourism Department.

She said these personnel are deputized to apprehend violators and recommend issuance of Notice of Violation (NoV) to any Subic Bay Freeport Zone establishment caught violating the policy.

She also said the agency has imposed a fine of PHP1,500 and four hours of community service for individual offenders and pet handlers found violating the policy.

The same fine of PHP1,500 and four hours of community service will be imposed for Subic Bay Freeport residents for littering, or improper or untimely stacking of garbage outside their residences.

Meanwhile, stiffer penalty will be given to violators among business establishments in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone: PHP50,000 per day of violation for each count of littering, improper or untimely stacking of garbage outside the establishment, and for garbage with leaking foul odor.

Eisma urged the public to help in enforcement and report incidents of littering, including the license plate number of violators, to the Law Enforcement Department at 911 (landline) or 9111 (mobile) or to the “No Kalat” hotline at 09176852528.

The no-littering policy took off from SBMA’s war on waste (WOW) program, as well as the agency’s thrust to enhance public awareness on environmental "malasakit" (concern).

Last month, the SBMA banned single-use plastic like stirrers, forks and spoons, straws, cups, and take-out food bags inside SBMA workplaces.

The SBMA advised canteens, stores and other food establishments here to use alternative food packaging.

“We should show good example and walk the talk,” Eisma said as she encouraged SBMA employees and Freeport companies to join the “straw-less” drive, ban on single-use plastics, and the agency’s recyclables collection program. (Ruben Veloria, PNA)

Read More

SBMA renews pledge to help develop Subic indigenous communities

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has reiterated its commitment to help develop indigenous people’s communities in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and renewed its vow to promote the rights of the tribes to their ancestral domain here.

During the kick-off of the celebration of the National Indigenous Peoples (IP) Month here on October 8, SBMA officials led by Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma recognized the contribution of the various Ayta tribes in protecting the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and promised to help them in in both development and conservation efforts.

Among those present were representatives of the Ambala tribe of Pastolan, Hermosa, Bataan led by chieftain Conrado Frenilla; Cawag tribe of Subic, Zambales led by chieftain Antonio Cabalit; and the Magbukun tribe of Kanawan, Morong, Bataan led by chieftain Rodelio Tamondong.

“Last week (October 1) our Ayta brethren from the Magbukun tribe in Morong declared the boundaries of the 6,000-hectare Indigenous Community Conservation Area (ICCA) under a project of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP),” Eisma said. “The SBMA will continue to promote the socio-economic development of our brother Aytas in Subic,” she added.

“This is not a job for one person, but for all of us, so I reiterate my call for ‘malasakit’,” Eisma also said. “Let us not forget that we all have a job to do, and we all have the duty to protect Subic.”

In June this year, the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) approved the Magbukun tribe’s ancestral domain claim over some 12,000 hectares of land that straddles part of the Subic Freeport in Morong. A similar claim has been won by the Pastolan Ayta tribe several years ago with the help of the SBMA.

Magbukun chieftain Tamondong, meanwhile, pledged his community’s support and involvement in the SBMA’s projects to develop the area.

“Magkaiba man tayo ng kulay, wika, at antas sa lipunan, pero iisa ang dugong dumadaloy sa ating balat. Kami pong mga katutubo ay kaisa ninyo sa pag-abot ng pangarap para sa isang masagana at malayang Pilipinas (We might have different color, dialect and status in the society, but we are of the same blood. The indigenous people are with you in working towards a progressive and free Philippines,” Tamondong said.

Meanwhile, Armie Llamas, manager of the SBMA Public Relations Department, said as part of the IP Month celebration the agency would undertake on October 26 the 1st Indigenous Peoples Conference that would tackle propagation of medicinal plants, as well as government programs that tribal communities can avail of.

The SBMA has also scheduled the blessing of a clinic and high school building at the Pastolan Ayta village in Hermosa, Bataan on October 24.

A medical mission was likewise set at the Iram resettlement area in New Cabalan, Olongapo City on October 16 by St. Theresa’s College Quezon City alumni batch ’74, in partnership with the Olongapo City Medical Society (OCMS) and under the coordination of Dr. Asean Briones of the SBMA Public Health and Safety Department.

The group will similarly hold a lecture on Early Child Development for special education and day-care teachers, and parents at the James L. Gordon Memorial Hospital conference room.

Under Proclamation No. 1906 of 2009, the National Indigenous Peoples Month is observed each October in recognition of the rights of indigenous cultural communities and the preservation of these rights within the framework of national unity and development. (RFD/MPD-SBMA)

PHOTO:

[1] SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma with Magbukun Ayta children during the declaration of the tribe’s Indigenous Community Conservation Area in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone on October 1. (MPD-SBMA)

[2] Tribal leaders of Magbukun show the boundaries of their conservation area to SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma (left) and Grace Tena, program analyst of UNDP, during the declaration of the tribe’s Indigenous Community Conservation Area in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone on October 1. (MPD-SBMA)

Read More

SBMA bans single-use plastics in workplaces

Starting October 1, single-use plastics which are used only once before they are thrown away or recycled, will no longer be allowed in workplaces of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the agency has banned single-use plastics as part of its solution to the growing global problem of pollution.

Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, include plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, as well as soda and water bottles which form part of most food packaging.

“We should show good example and walk the talk,” Eisma said in a September 19 advisory to SBMA employees. “I implore everyone in SBMA to refrain from using single-use plastics in their workplace,” she added.

She said that canteens, stores and other food establishments in SBMA buildings have already been advised not to use plastic articles anymore.

Exempted from this regulation are goods in original plastic packaging. These, however, cannot be placed in new plastic bag or container upon purchase by consumers.

Aside from enforcing the single-use plastics ban, the SBMA will urge business locators here to join the “strawless” campaign, the recyclables collection program, and cooperate in an intensified anti-littering drive that will be implemented this coming October to further strengthen the agency’s War on Waste (WOW) campaign.

Eisma said that single-use plastics account for most of marine pollution in the Subic Bay area, as could be seen from the trash that periodically pile up on the Freeport’s coastline mostly after typhoons or heavy rains.

“These plastic items are not only pollutive and harmful to wildlife and humans alike, but they also become an eyesore that negatively impact on the image of Subic as world-class Freeport,” Eisma said.

“There is already a standing ban on the use of plastic bags and Styrofoam packaging in the whole Subic Freeport, and now we are backing this up with the ban on single-use plastics and our strawless campaign because there is really an urgent need to save the environment — and this includes public health — from further degradation,” she added.

According to SBMA Ecology Center manager Amethya dela Llana, the intensified no-littering policy to be implemented in the Subic Bay Freeport aims to stop the dumping or throwing of garbage, rubbish or any kind of waste in parks, roads, beaches, forests, rivers, streams or on any open or public place in the Subic Freeport.

The same policy also makes it illegal for anybody to urinate, defecate or spit in public places, or throw cigarette butts anywhere in public areas.

Dela Llana added that it would also be illegal to dispose of litter from a boat or ship into a water body, and to transport uncovered, spilling, or leaking waste or waste containers within the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

The SBMA has set penalties for violators of the anti-littering rule: P1,500 for individual offenders and pet handlers, who would have the option to render four hours of community service instead; and P50,000 for companies or establishments per day until the violation is corrected.

The public is enjoined to report incidents of littering, as well as particulars like the license plate number of violators, to the SBMA Law Enforcement Department at 911 (landline) or 9111 (mobile) or to the No Kalat Hotline at 09176852528. (RAV/MPD-SBMA)

PHOTO:

Volunteers pick up wastes washed up along the shore in the Subic Bay Freeport. (MPD-SBMA)

Read More

SBMA community development officer to get Pagasa award

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), which stresses community volunteerism and malasakit among its employees and stakeholders in the Subic Bay Freeport, has produced another winner of the coveted Civil Service Commission’s Pagasa Award.

Rhea Jane Pescador-Mallari, who works as Community Development Officer at the agency’s Ecology Center, will receive the CSC Pagasa Award for individual category under Memorandum Circular No.15 Series of 2018 signed by CSC chairperson Alicia dela Rosa-Bal.

The CSC Pagasa Award is conferred for outstanding contributions resulting from an idea or performance that directly benefits more than one department of the government.

Mallari, who started out as a contract-of-service employee in 2007 and was hired as a permanent employee in 2013, was nominated for her initiatives in empowering members of the indigenous people in biodiversity monitoring, enforcement of environment laws, engagement of stakeholders in mangrove conservation, as well as for knowledge transfer among various community groups.

SBMA Ecology Center manager Amethya dela Llana noted that since her first appointment 10 years ago, Mallari had distinguished herself in initiating environment projects that engaged local community groups, particularly the Ayta tribe.

In last Monday’s flag ceremony, SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator Ramon Agregado congratulated Mallari for earning more honor for the agency, noting that she would be the fifth SBMA employee to be conferred the Pagasa Award since Security Officer Joel Viray received the accolade in 2008.

“This is to prove that SBMA employees continue to work hard to serve our people and the country in our own little way with excellence and malasakit,” Agregado said.

Meanwhile, Mallari shared her achievement with the Ayta tribesmen who had joined her projects in biodiversity management and conservation.

“The award is not my own alone. If the people I worked with did not believe in me, if the Ayta people did not believe in their capacity to improve themselves, then there will be no Pagasa Award for me, too,” Mallari stressed.

Mallari narrated the hardship she experienced in implementing environment projects while mentoring Ayta tribesmen to become biologists, foresters, reef checkers, and divers.

“Now, even in my absence, they can manage to perform their assigned tasks,” she said.

Mallari is a B.S. Biology graduate of the University of the Philippines in Baguio, and earned her Master’s degree in Biology from the Ateneo University in 2014 under a scholarship program.

She was named SBMA Employee of the Year in 2011, and received a special award as most outstanding graduate from the University of the Philippines Open University Faculty of Management and Development Studies in 2012. (RAV/MPD-SBMA)

PHOTO:

SBMA’s Rhea Jane Pescador-Mallari inspects a specimen of “tamilok”, or woodworm, as part of her work in mangrove biodiversity management at the Subic Bay Freeport.

Read More

Subic landslide clearing finished next week

With a small army of workers and volunteers, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) expects the massive landside that killed one person at the Aparri Road here to be finally cleared by next week.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the agency’s technical group estimated that it would take about 400 dump-truck loads to finally clear about 4,000 cubic meters of muddy soil that collapsed from a hill here early Monday.

“We are already working from both ends of the landslide to clear it faster, but at the rate the crew can go with the continuous rain, clearing operations that started last Monday may be completed only by Friday next week,” Eisma said.

“It’s good that we have enough pay-loaders, dump trucks and backhoes because a lot of locator-companies volunteered their heavy equipment, but what we lack is manpower. We need alternate operators because work continues until night time,” she explained.

Eisma also pointed out that continuous rains have resulted in other minor landslides in other areas in the Freeport. The multiple landslides started Sunday as heavy rains from Tropical Depression Josie and the southwest monsoon soaked the Subic Freeport and surrounding areas.

At least three companies in the Freeport were affected by landslides, while three others reported flooding that damaged some facilities, the SBMA Business and Investment Department said.

Meanwhile, two persons were caught in the Aparri Road landslide that occurred before 4 a.m. Monday, July 23. One was pulled out alive from the rubble after three hours, but the other one did not make it.

According to Engr. Marco Estabillo, SBMA deputy administrator for public works and technical services, aside from clearing Aparri Road, a lot of slope protection work needs to be done at the landslide site.

“As an interim measure, we are diverting water into the drainage through sandbagging, so that water will not seep into the soil further. The permanent solution, however, is to construct gabions, which are basically wire cages filled with rocks, to make the slope stable,” Estabillo said.

A report from the SBMA Ecology Center indicated that the heaviest rain in Subic since January 2013 fell last Sunday, July 22. The most amount of average precipitation, or rainfall, was also recorded this year at approximately 400.21 millimeters (mm). One millimeter of rainfall means that one square meter of space has one liter of water in it.

Before this, the heaviest average rainfall in the Subic Freeport since 2013 was posted in 2016 at 339.48 mm, while the least amount was in 2015 at 180.17 mm.

SBMA Ecology Center manager Amethya dela Llana added that landslides broke out in areas where the soil composition has poor water-holding capacity. Most areas in the Subic Freeport are considered “moderately susceptible” to rain-induced landslide, she added.

As of now, the SBMA is doing both prevention and cure—deploying sandbags to fortify erosion-prone slopes, while clearing eroded slopes of the rubble.

Eisma said volunteers from the SBMA, Philippine Navy and some business locators in Subic are working overtime and have produced close to 14,000 sandbags since Tuesday.

“We’re doing everything to hasten normalcy of operations that were disrupted by natural disasters,” Eisma said. “It may take another week for us to clear Aparri Road, but eventually we will.” (HEE/MPD-SBMA)

PHOTOS:

[1] SBMA firemen and maintenance workers clear the road of debris left by flooding and erosion in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

[2] SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma joins volunteers in filling sandbags for use in slope protection at erosion-prone areas in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

[3] A pay-loader and backhoe dump debris onto a truck, as the SBMA fast-tracks clearing operations at the massive landslide site in the Subic Bay Freeport.

[4] SBMA maintenance workers repair road damaged by floodwaters in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

(Photos by MPD-SBMA)

Read More

Subic training more tour guides to keep up with cruise ship arrivals

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has started training employees to help in guiding the growing number of tourists from large cruise ships that now frequently call in this free port.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said that the agency, in cooperation with the Department of Tourism, rolled out a Basic Tourist Reception and Guiding Program to keep up with the rising demand for more tour guides.

“So far, the SBMA had trained three batches of new tour guides since February this year when cruise ships began regularly plying the Subic Bay Freeport route,” Eisma said.

“With each cruise ship bringing in from 2,000 to 5,000 tourists at each port call, and with about 20 cruise ship arrivals scheduled this year, we really need all the help we can get to manage this unprecedented influx of visitors,” she also said.

The employee-tour guides will be on-call for the part-time work. “They won’t be earning huge amounts of money, as they are doing it out of ‘malasakit’ for the SBMA,” Eisma explained.

The SBMA tour guides are picked from various departments that serve as frontline customer-service units and are asked to undergo a two-day training program to enhance their oral communication skills.

The training includes delivery of spiel and a mock tour where trainees are given situations that required fast thinking and effective delivery, said SBMA tourism head Jem Camba.

Camba said that with each cruise ship arrival, a minimum of 20 tour guides are called on for duty. Bigger cruise ships like the MS Ovation of the Seas, the biggest in operation in Asia, require around 45 tour guides who would accompany Mandarin-speaking interpreters assigned to tour buses.

The SBMA tour guides, who are well-versed on Subic Bay and its environs, are tasked to provide precise information about local tourism destinations that will be passed on by interpreters to the mostly Chinese passengers of cruise ships arriving here.

Thompson Gatdula, an SBMA employee-tour guide, described the work as fun and educational.

“I get to know more about other people and their culture, as they get to know more about the Subic Bay Freeport and other local communities,” said Gatdula, who had accompanied tourists to as far as the Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar, an open-air museum and heritage site in Bagac, Bataan.

“We’re doing this out of ‘malasakit’ for the SBMA and the country. Whatever we do here would reflect on us as Filipinos, so we have to be our best each time we interact with cruise ship visitors,” he added.

Like Gatdula, the on-call tour guides get a message each time their services are needed. This gives the full itinerary for the day and identifies the areas that the tourists are scheduled to visit.

“The job usually entails working and being on the road the whole day, but believe me, it is worth it,” said Gatdula. “When you make visitors smile, when you make them fall in love with the Subic Bay Freeport, that gives you a deep sense of accomplishment.”

A total of 13 cruise ship arrivals have been recorded in Subic Bay since February this year, and seven more arrivals are scheduled until October 2018. Eisma said that by then, an army of SBMA tour guides would be ready to make international cruise ship passengers appreciate Subic Bay Freeport and the Philippines more. (JRR/MPD-SBMA)

PHOTOS:

[1] An SBMA tour guide snaps pictures of disembarked tourists from the MS Ovation of the Seas cruise ship. (AMD/MPD-SBMA)

[2] An SBMA tour guide shepherds newly-arrived cruise ship passengers during a tour of the Subic Bay Freeport. (AMD/MPD-SBMA)

[3] Tourists listen to an SBMA tour guide’s spiel on local culture during a visit at the Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar museum and heritage site in Bagac, Bataan. (AMD/MPD-SBMA)

Read More

Subic Bay community deals with storm debris the ‘bayanihan’ way

Stakeholders in the Subic Bay area gathered by the hundreds here on Monday to help the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) clean up a shoreline littered with tons of debris brought about by the storm last week.

Heeding a call for “bayanihan” from SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma, agency employees, company workers, and students trooped to four cleanup stations at the waterfront, armed with nothing else but rakes, shovels, brooms, and a strong sense of community.

A delegation from Olongapo City headed by Mayor Rolen Paulino and Vice Mayor Jong Cortez also arrived to boost both spirit and manpower during the clean-up, bringing with them two pay-loaders to help speed up the hauling of mostly tree branches, plastic materials and other solid wastes.

Meanwhile, Subic Grain Pro, a company based in the Freeport, donated gloves, broomsticks, garbage bags and empty sacks, as well as bread and sandwiches, water and noodles for use by the volunteers.

An automotive seller, the Subic Truck Boy, also lent a pay-loader and a dump truck to augment SBMA equipment used in digging, collecting and hauling trash from the beach.

SBMA Chairman Eisma made the call for beach cleanup and waste segregation over the weekend, as various trash washed up on the shores of this tourism center following a week of incessant heavy rains.

“We had to remove the debris that piled up, and then segregate and dispose of them, and that was a huge job,” Eisma noted. “It is really heartwarming to see the whole community responding to our call for assistance, for them to show their ‘malasakit’ for the Subic Freeport.”

Vice Mayor Cortez said the instantaneous collaboration between the SBMA and the city government “showed that the two government institutions can come together swiftly as one for the love of the community and concern for environment.”

“The residents of Olongapo, Zambales and Bataan have a deep sense of community, especially in matters of the environment. After all the sea, forest, air and water are resources that are common to all,” he added.

Eisma said the pile-up of storm debris is a constant problem during the rainy season for the SBMA, which has been promoting Subic not only as a business enclave, but also as a tourism center.

At least seven major rivers empty into the bay of Subic, which straddles a good part of the 67,000-hectare area of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. These are the Pamulaklakin and Boton rivers in the Subic Bay Freeport; Kalalake, Sta. Rita-Kalaklan, and Maquinaya rivers in Olongapo; and Matain and Calapandayan rivers in Subic, Zambales.

Subic Bay, which forms the communal waters of Olongapo, and Zambales and Bataan, had been described as a threatened resource largely due to trash inflows from its tributaries.

Eisma said this is an environmental problem that transcends the geographical boundaries of communities near the Subic Bay.

“We’re all affected by this problem, and that is why we—the Subic Freeport, Olongapo, Zambales and Bataan—should work together to deal with it and come up with effective solutions,” she said.

Eisma said that another clean-up has been scheduled this week to cover the rest of the two-kilometer waterfront at the Freeport’s Central Business District, and that she hopes again to muster support from various Subic stakeholder groups.

“We’re getting better at this bayanihan projects because we have ingrained upon our stakeholders the value of malasakit,” Eisma said. “Everybody helps, and everybody wins.” (HEE/MPD-SBMA)

PHOTOS:

[1] Volunteers troop to the waterfront in the Subic Bay Freeport to help clean up debris washed on the shore during Typhoon Domeng. (FLP/MPD-SBMA)

[2] SBMA Chairman Amy T. Eisma (in cap and eyeglasses) directs the clean-up project along the waterfront in the Subic Bay Freeport after Typhoon Domeng. (AMD/MPD-SBMA)

[3] Volunteers pass around debris to be hauled away by trucks during a shoreline clean-up project in the Subic Bay Freeport after Typhoon Domeng. (AMD/MPD-SBMA)

Read More