All appears quiet at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) in the past few days, as officials and employees alike awaited Malacañang decision on the leadership row that pitted its head of agency against its chief executive officer. Workers at the Subic agency said on Monday that they have no inkling on who is going to stay as top official after business locators and concerned local government units called for President Duterte’s intervention to settle the issue.

SBMA awaiting Palace verdict on leadership

“Between Chairman Martin Diño and Administrator Wilma Eisma, we still don’t know who’s going to be chosen by President Digong,” said a female utility worker at Bldg. 229, the agency’s main office along the Waterfront Road here.

“But of course, we want somebody who can manage the SBMA well and really has malasakit for the Subic Freeport, and one who can relate with foreign investors and represent Subic with dignity and pride,” said the employee who asked not to be named.

Still, the management of the SBMA, which prides itself for the high morale and excellent work ethic of its employees, said that the agency is going through its businesses and services as usual.

“We are all awaiting the President’s verdict, whatever it will be, but that doesn’t mean the world has stopped revolving over here,” said Administrator Eisma, a lawyer who started with the SBMA as a volunteer in 1992. “Our employees continue to work hard; we in the management likewise continue to work hard, and it’s a busy schedule for everybody on the ground,” she added.

Eisma herself had been to Taiwan the other week to make a pitch for the Philippine government at the Philippine Investment Promotion Plan (PIPP) Investment Roadshow in Taipei and Taichung City.

“Despite the leadership issue here, the SBMA has, in fact, been doing well,” Eisma said. “So well, perhaps, that even Chairman Diño, who has been criticizing the SBMA and describing it as on the verge of financial collapse, had lately announced to the media our accomplishments in terms of revenue, investments, jobs, exports, and other economic indicators.”

Eisma also said that despite the uncertainty of retaining her SBMA post, she has faith that whatever President Duterte’s decision will be, it would be for the best of the Subic agency.

“If it’s Chairman Diño who’d be chosen, then I’ll gladly go quietly into the night, so to speak, because after all I’m just here to serve Subic, which is my home and the home of my fellow volunteers,” she said.

“On the other hand, if President Duterte chooses me to stay, then he can be sure that I’d give the best of what I learned and experienced in the private sector to bring the SBMA and the Subic Freeport to their rightful place as catalysts of economic development and inclusive growth in the community,” Eisma added.

The leadership tussle between Diño and Eisma, who are both Duterte appointees, started last May when Diño issued Administrative Order No. 01-2017, which interfered and encroached upon the duties of the Administrator and CEO, as well as on the board’s oversight functions.

Diño had also quarreled with the OIC-administrator that Malacañang had appointed before Eisma.

The SBMA conflict sparked an investigation by the House of Representative on Executive Order No. 340, which separated the position and functions of the SBMA chairman from that of the SBMA administrator, who was originally the sole appointee under Republic Act 7227, or the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992.

Lately, business locators in Subic had asked Malacañang to intervene, and called for the appointment of a capable administrator-chairman to lead the SBMA.

Before this, seven local government executives around the Subic Bay Freeport had expressed support to Eisma in the ongoing leadership tussle and decried Diño for making “a series of inappropriate, unfitting, baseless and disruptive actions” that adversely affected the SBMA.

First Published: subicnewslink.blogspot.com

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The Port of Subic posted an impressive 11 percent growth in revenue in the first five months of this year, despite less ship calls recorded in the same period. According to Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Administrator and CEO Wilma Eisma, total port revenue logged from January to May 2017 in Subic reached P488.82 million, which was 11 percent higher than the P440.99 million recorded in the same period last year.

Port of Subic revenue grows 11%

“Considering that there were less ship calls this year than last year—we had a total of 1,164 in January to May 2017 compared to P1,414 in 2016—then that was still a remarkable achievement for Subic,” Eisma said.

Aside from this, she said that the Subic port also registered a 23 percent increase in export value, with total exports reaching US$1.06 billion in the first five months of 2017, compared to just US$865.26 million in the same period last year.

Similarly, Subic’s import value also rose by 9 percent in the same period, or from US$628.65 million last year to the current US$682.18 million, she added.

Eisma said that much of the growth in port business in Subic involved containerized cargo, which increased in volume from 51,346 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in January-May 2016 to 55,516 TEUs this year, for an eight percent increase.

However, non-containerized cargo volume suffered a five percent decrease, as only 2.96 million metric tons (MTs) passed through the Port of Subic this year, compared to 3.12 million MTs last year.

Still, the Port of Subic continues to attract more business, as 10 shipping lines now regularly call on Subic, said Ronnie Yambao, head of the SBMA port marketing office.

The shipping lines, Yambao said, include major players like the Taiwan-based Evergreen, which is the fifth biggest shipping company in the world; the Singapore-based American President Lines (APL); Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) of Japan; Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) also of japan; SITC Container Lines of China; and Wan Hai Lines, also of Taiwan.

The other shipping firms that call on Subic are: Bow Ship Management, Inc.; T. Madsen Shipping Philippines, Inc.; Soriamont Steamship Shipping; and Uni Ship Incorporated.

Yambao said the SBMA under Eisma’s administration seeks to increase container traffic in the Subic Bay Freeport and actively promotes Subic as an ideal shipping port for businesses in Central and North Luzon.

First Published: subicnewslink.blogspot.com

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The country’s premier Freeport will host Ad Summit Pilipinas 2018, which will mark the return for the third time here of the biggest learning event in advertising and marketing industry in the country.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Administrator Wilma T. Eisma and Norman Agatep, chairman of the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of the Philippines (4As), recently signed a memorandum of agreement for the holding of the conference at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center here on March 7 to 10 next year.

SBMA Administrator & CEO Wilma T. Eisma and 4As Chairman Norman Agatep sign a memorandum of agreement for the holding of Ad Summit Pilipinas 2018 at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in March next year. Witnessing the signing are SBMA Director Stefani Saño (right of photo) and members of the Ad Summit Pilipinas 2018 working committee.

Organized by 4As, Ad Summit Pilipinas is a biennial gathering of industry professionals that highlights discussions by some of the best in the world of advertising and marketing today, and also showcases a trade exhibit featuring cutting-edge business ideas, industry trends, and state-of-the-art technologies.

“It means a lot for us this vote of confidence from 4As and the organizing committee,” said Atty. Ramon Agregado, who is SBMA senior deputy administrator for support services.

He added that the decision of organizer to bring back Ad Summit Pilipinas to Subic shows a strong partnership between Ad Summit Pilipinas and SBMA. “We guarantee that we will work twice as hard to make the third edition of the Ad Summit a great success,” Agregado remarked.

With the theme “DIY Your ROI” (or do-it-yourself your return of investment), Ad Summit Pilipinas 2018 is said to challenge current mindsets on the way marketing campaigns are being evaluated. It will also explore new ways of determining brand success beyond the return of investment (ROI).

“What we hope to accomplish in Ad Summit Pilipinas 2018 is to open our eyes and minds to see the different ROIs that can helps us sharpen our measure of returns for our brands,” said over-all event chairperson Norman Agatep.

The event aims to examine ROIs through the lens of clever customization, where a brand’s performance is measured against objectives that go beyond commercial success and cross over to such returns as brand love, behavioral change, social good, environmental impact, and pop culture influence.

“The world has changed today; it is not only the opportunity of measuring money, as there are lots of forms of return of investment to consider,” Agatep explained.

“If we look at a hammer, we only see a nail. But if we look closer, we will see ideas or innovations, or influence. Return of investment could be redefined as return of insights, return of intelligence or return of impact,” he noted.

As a convention tradition, Ad Summit Pilipinas will also be home to Creative Guild’s Kidlat Awards, which is intended to establish “Kidlat” as the most prestigious advertising competition in the Philippines, honoring some of the country’s enduring luminaries and most creative and excellently-crafted campaigns.

“These are all in line with our mission to nurture a marketing communication environment that redefines creative excellence that’s in tune with an ever-restless and evolving industry,” Agatep added.

First Published: subicnewslink.blogspot.com

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The Philippines is now pushing to establish Central Luzon as the ideal destination for Taiwanese investments under Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy that seeks enhanced economic collaboration with countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Australasia.

Speaking as a member of the Philippine delegation in the recent Philippine Investment Promotion Plan (PIPP) Investment Roadshow to Taiwan, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Administrator Wilma Eisma urged Taiwanese business groups in Taipei and Taichung City to take a closer look at the so-called Central Luzon Manufacturing and Logistics Zone (CMLZ) as a prime investment destination.

Photos from Team Invest Philippines in Taiwan c/o Ms. Jem Camba

She said the CMLZ, which is composed of the Clark Freeport, the Subic Bay Freeport, and the Freeport Area of Bataan, covers a land area of more than 90,000 hectares, has several advantages that make it a haven for businesses, and is managed by devoted agencies that have come together as one unit.

The first advantage of locating in CMLZ, she told the businessmen, is its strategic location. Eisma said the CMLZ “is a critical entry point to the ASEAN region populated by some 650 million people, as well as a natural gateway to East Asian economies such as China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea.”

Moreover, the CMLZ is at the crossroads of international shipping and air lanes, and accessible to the ASEAN region within three to four hours by plane via the Clark International Airport and four days by ship to and from the Port of Subic.

She added that the three free port zones in the CMLZ are perfect for targeted key industries like electronics, automotive parts and aerospace products for Clark; shipbuilding and maritime industries, including cruise ships for Subic; and high-end garments manufacturing for Bataan.

The Taiwan investment roadshow was organized by the PIPP, an aggrupation of 19 investments agencies that seeks to create quality jobs by attracting high-impact, innovative, and inclusive investments.

The SBMA is one of the seven investment promotion agencies that make up the manufacturing and logistics/IT-BPM cluster of the IPP.

First Published: subicnewslink.blogspot.com

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OLONGAPO CITY—Hindi na umabot pa ng 24 oras sa ospital ang jeepney driver na si G. Dionisio Villegas, 61, residente ng Brgy. Kalaklan Olongapo City makaraang sumalpok ang minamaneho nitong jeep sa isang company vehicle Martes ng Hapon sa harap ng Marikit Park, Rizal Avenue Olongapo City.

Ulat ni Lolito Ramada Go

Sa inisyal na imbestigasyon na isinagawa ni PO3 Adrian Amigo ng traffic investigation unit ng OCPO, lumalabas na kasalukuyang namamasada noon ang driver na si Mang Dionisio nang bigla itong atakihin sa puso na naging sanhi ng kawalan nito ng kontrol sa manubela hanggang sa tuluyan itong bumangga sa isang owner-type company vehicle na binabagtas naman ang salungat na direksyon sa nabanggit na kalsada.

Samantala, ayon naman sa driver ng company vehicle na si John Henry Marto, 25 at residente ng Dinalupihan Bataan, nagulat na lamang daw sya ng walang anu-ano’y biglang kumabig pakanan ang dilaw na jeep na hindi na nya nagawa pang maiwasan. Maliban kay Mang Dionisio, agad ding naisugod sa pagamutan ang 13 pasahero nito na nagtamo ng maliit na pinsala sa iba’t ibang bahagi ng katawan.

Ayon sa ilang pasahero na nakapanayam ng SBC news, nagawa pa umanong pulutin ni Mang Dionisio ang mga nagkalat na barya na kanya pinampasada kahit pa sumusuka na ito ng dugo. Labis naman ang hinagpis ng mga naiwan ni Mang Dionisio sapagkat ang pamamasada na lamang daw nito ang tanging kabuhayan ng pamilya.

Sa ngayon, wala raw silang planong magsampa ng demanda. Ang tanging panawagan nila ay mabigyan sila ng tulong ngayong wala na ang kanilang masipag na padre de pamilya na solong itinaguyod ang dalawang anak nito at maybahay.

First Published: Subic Broadcasting Corporation @ Facebook

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