By Mar Supnad

FREEPORT AREA OF BATAAN — Governor Abet S. Garcia has declared that the proposed transshipment hub project on this Freeport is now on the pipeline that will play a major role in the shipping industry.

The sprawling Freeport Area of Bataan in Mariveles town. (Mar Supnad / MANILA BULLETIN)

Gov. Garcia who was behind the creation of Bataan Freeport said that this seaport project will not only decongest Manila ports but can become the gateway to South East Asian countries and the rest of the world, being located along the mouth of Manila Bay and Corregidor.

In an interview with Business Bulletin, Gov. Garcia said that FAB, being the only Freeport along Manila Bay, can become an alternate seaport of Metro Manila once the proposed transshipment hub project is pushed through.

“International cargo vessels can then drop their cargoes here since FAB has a sprawling coastal area for transshipment to various countries and this will make the cost of trade cheaper,” pointed out Garcia.

Garcia was the author and father of FAB law when he was a congressman, converting the defunct and bankrupt Philippine. Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) into FAB.

Since its creation, FAB has become successful and number one provider of jobs in this industrial province.

The establishment of Bataan Freeport has also drawn various investors-local and international- due to various benefits FAB is offering to them.

In support to the Bataan Freeport, the Rouvia Yacht Philippines, a Filipino owned company led by its president Naval Architect and Marine engineer Realito Rubia, has been attracting foreign markets for exclusively manufacturing state-of-the-art yacht whose clients are mostly international figures.

A native of Mariveles town, Engr Rubia is now getting in touch with Gov Garcia and FAB chairman and administrator Emmanuel Pineda and seeking their support for his expansion program to meet the growing demands of foreign traders which he said will make Bataan Freeport more conducive to the shipping industry.

So with the Seafront Shipyard and Terminal port services, a private firm in Brgy Lucanin that plays a major role in shipping industry owned by the Ignacio family.

Engr Ronnie del Rosario, a developer of Seafront, said that a massive expansion is now being implemented by Seafront to also meet the growing demand of the shipping industry.

One supportive of FAB’s success is hotelier businessman Goody Ilagan who successfully set up the Camaya beach resort and hotel in Mariveles town. Ilagan also operates Ferry boat services from Camaya to Mall of Asia (MOA) and the latest one is the ferry services from Orion port to MOA, making the province nearer to Manila as it travels one hour only.

“FAB, no doubt, will become the gateway to Asian countries due to its strategic location and deep sea level that is said to be deeper that Manila ports,” added Garcia.

Bataan Freeport will also play a major role on the so-called China silk road, a $900 billion scheme of China that some reports said can kindle a “new era of globalization”, that will benefit its neigbhoring countries, being adjacent to

China sea.

The Fastest Growing Freeport in the Philippines

FAB chairman and administrator Engr Pineda also said that “FAB’s efforts to meet the growing demands of a highly competitive global investment environment made the FAB the fastest growing Freeport in the country.”

He added that FAB prides itself for “its highly skilled manpower pool, capable of supporting operations in manufacturing, semiconductors and electronics, shipbuilding, logistics, BPO, energy and tourism.”

source: news.mb.com.ph

Continue Reading

HERMOSA, Bataan – Around 508 families were given initially the other day housing units by National Housing Authority in Barangay. Mabuco, Hermosa, Bataan.
By Mar Supnad

Photo credit: iorbitnews.com

Initiated by Hermosa Mayor Jopet Inton and NHA OIC director for Pampanga, Bataan and Zambales area, Ines Gonzales, the distribution of housing units and titles of land were actually given to the respective families as part of the mayor’s housing program called “Katibayan ng Alokasyong Pabahay”.

Once they were given titles, the beneficiaries can then formally occupy their housing units although it needs a little renovation as these units have long been idle and neglected in the past administrations.

According to Inton, he talked with the leadership of NHA in December so the idle housing units could be given to homeless people but qualified beneficiaries in his town.

Aside from giving his constituents a decent housing, Mayor Inton also wanted to prevent that these units would be taken over by professional squatters or land grabbers as what being happened in other areas where syndicates, the Kadamay group who are notorious in grabbing housing units and lands.

To ensure that these housing units are secured, Mayor Inton deployed security personnel to guard the area and secure the occupants.

The said housing units here was the first ever housing program initiated successfully by a local government unit through the coordination of NHA in a bid by Mayor Inton to provide decent housing to his constituents.

Among the beneficiaries are uniformed personnel from PNP and Bureau of Fire Protection.

source: news.mb.com.ph

Continue Reading

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.

An SBMA tour guide snaps pictures of disembarked tourists from the MS Ovation of the Seas cruise ship

“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.

An SBMA tour guide shepherds newly-arrived cruise ship passengers during a tour of the Subic Bay Freeport

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.

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

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.

source: subicnewslink.blogspot.com/

Continue Reading

After 14 years of bargaining, and hoping and praying, the Magbukun Ayta tribe of Sitio Kanawan in Morong, Bataan finally got approval on their claim for ancestral domain over some 12,000 hectares of land straddling parts of Morong town and the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

During the third and final hearing on the Magbukun tribe’s petition at the Subic Park Hotel here on June 18, the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) en banc found their claim valid and passed approval of the same.

Members of the Kanawan Ayta tribe of Morong, Bataan celebrate with SBMA Chairman Wilma T. Eisma following the approval of their Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title

The application was approved by the seven NCIP commissioners: Chairperson Leonor T. Oralde-Quintayo, Basilio Wandag, Norberto Navarro, Ramcy Astoveza, Dominador Gomez, Boi Era España, and Roy Dabuit.

The NCIP officials met with the Magbukun tribal council here to deliberate on the latter’s long-standing application for a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT), which would formally recognize the rights of the indigenous community over their ancestral land.

According to Rodelio Tamundog, tribal chieftain of the Magbukuns, they started applying for a CADT way back in 2004.

“It feels good,” an elated Tamundog said. “Now we have the freedom to decide on the land that we inherited from our forefathers and determine our own future.”

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma Eisma, whose agency has operational control over a good part of the Magbukun territory, described the approval as a historic occasion for Subic Bay.

“It was also in June, 27 years ago, that most of the Ayta tribes in Zambales, Bataan, and Pampanga, were displaced and dispossessed by the disastrous eruption of Mt. Pinatubo,” Eisma noted.

“But despite their sad plight, they were with us in protecting and preserving Subic when the Americans pulled out of this former US Naval Base,” she added.

Eisma also called for further assistance form the NCIP in the processing of a similar title for the Ayta tribesmen of Barangay Cawag in Subic, Zambales, whose land also form part of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

The Magbukuns of Kanawan now has ownership of a total of 12,301.354 hectares. Of this, 11,769.054 hectares consist of hills and forests, while the remaining 532.300 hectares are water bodies.

NCIP officer in charge for Bataan Michael Baldonado said that a lot hard work went into the Magbukun CADT. He recalled the years spent on preparing the claim, presenting proofs, producing evidences, as well as researching the tribe’s genealogies and checking available historical archives.

Betty Fielder, who heads the Subic Indigenous People Assistance Group (SIPAG) which is assisting the Kanawan Aytas, said she foresees better prospects for the tribe now that the NCIP has recognized their right over ancestral lands.

SIPAG, Fielder added, will be helping the Magbukuns in formulating a joint management agreement with the SBMA for the development of Ayta lands covered by the Subic Freeport.

The SBMA has entered into a similar agreement with the Pastolan Ayta tribe in Hermosa, Bataan, which was the first indigenous community within the confines of the Subic Freeport to be given a CADT.

The Pastolan tribe is now earning revenue for the use of their land by Subic Bay Freeport investors through remittances from the SBMA.

source: subicnewslink.blogspot.com

Continue Reading

Opposition Sen. Leila de Lima has urged the Duterte administration to enforce mechanism that would promote sustainable fishing grounds off Zambales province and improve the plight of Filipino fishermen.

Senator Leila de Lima (REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco / MANILA BULLETIN)

De Lima made the call after calling for an investigation into the reported harassment of Filipino fishermen by members of the Chinese Coast Guard in Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal which is more than 200 nautical miles off Zambales.

“The administration should champion the economic situation of our fisherfolk by standing up for their losses, enforcing mechanisms that boost their profit, and promote sustainable fishing in the disputed area,” she said in filing her Senate Resolution (SR) 766.

“With fisheries being a major industry in the country, it is incumbent upon the government to take positive action to preserve this trade and take a stand in protecting our fisherfolk from any untoward action,” she said.

Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc, located in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), falls within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

\Concerns about the plight of Filipino fishermen in Panatag Shoal were raised after a television report showed a mobile phone video of the Chinese Coast Guard boarding a Filipino vessel to take some of their catch.

Based on media reports, the Chinese Coast Guard personnel have been habitually taking the catch of Filipino fishermen in Panatag Shoal in exchange for noodles, cigarettes and water.

In an interview, one of the fishermen said they were always defenseless and could not do anything every time the Chinese would check their containers and pick their best catch.

The de Lima resolution stated that the Duterte administration should ‘’prioritize the well-being of its own people first before favoring yet again its foreign master that is China.’’

She reminded her fellow government leaders from the present administration that “upholding national interest is the essence of preserving democratic institutions.

“While diplomacy remains an important component of foreign policy, government should unquestionably put the welfare of our Filipino fishermen at the forefront and be steadfast in asserting their rights at any circumstance,” she added.

De Lima noted that the UN arbitration ruling invalidated China’s claim to almost the entire sea.

The ruling also stated that both China and the Philippines have “traditional fishing rights” to Panatag Shoal.

source: news.mb.com.ph

Continue Reading