SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The P1.6-billion Subic Freeport Expressway (SFEX) Capacity Expansion Project is ongoing to further ease motoring in and out of this growing business and leisure hub.

The North Luzon Expressway Corporation (NLEX), which operates the SFEX, is undertaking the expansion project designed to improve traffic flow in the area and promote road safety, said Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) chairman and administrator.

Eisma said it will also complement the SBMA’s infrastructure development program which includes widening of Freeport roads and improvement of the airport, seaport, and other logistics facilities.

She said that the project also involves raising the Maritan Highway-Rizal Highway-Tipo Road junction by one or two meters, and fixing the drainage system in this area.

“This is the solution to the flooding problem that we have been experiencing in recent years,” Eisma said.

She said that with the start of the project on July 13, part of the Maritan-Rizal-Tipo junction will be closed to traffic and motorists will be redirected to alternate routes along the Causeway Road and the Argonaut-Kalayaan Access Road.

“I know this would exact some toll on the quality of work and leisure environment in Subic, as we have several infrastructure projects going on at the same time. But let us bear in mind that all these are meant to improve the business environment in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone,” Eisma said. “These are, in fact, our investments for a better future.”

According to NLEX project manager Elvin Cruz, the SFEX widening project entails construction of additional lanes to convert the 8.8-kilometer road into a four-lane highway.

This includes building new spans alongside the Jadjad and Argonaut bridges, and boring through the mountainside to create another two-lane tunnel beside the existing one.

Cruz said the first phase of the project is expected to be completed by October, in time for Subic’s hosting of 16 sports in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games to be held from November 30 to December 11.

The second phase, which will involve construction in the opposite lane, will start in January 2020.

Eisma said that Subic residents and visitors should expect “the usual dust, noise, and other small inconveniences” during project construction. “So I ask you to bear with us for 18 months until the whole project is completed,” she said.

“The pay-off to our patience will be a better road in and out of the Subic Bay Freeport, and we can then say goodbye to the heavy traffic that we occasionally suffer from during weekends when tourists flock to Subic,” she concluded.

The expressway widening project has been contracted out by NLEX Corp. to Sta. Clara International Corporation, a leading full-service engineering, construction, development and management enterprise in the Philippines which recently received a Quadruple A or “AAAA” license from the Philippine Contractors Association Board.

NLEX Corporation, which is the toll road subsidiary of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., is the builder-concessionaire and operator of two major expressways that link Metro Manila to North and Central Luzon: North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX).

The SFEX, which is also known as the Subic-Tipo Expressway or NLEX Segment 7, connects the Subic Bay Freeport to the 94-kilometer SCTEX, which in turn links with the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway. (Ric Sapnu)

Source: sunstar.com.ph

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Subic worker Roberto Duran proudly shows his award as one of “The Outstanding Workers of the Republic”. (Contributed photo)

A MECHANIC from one of the locator-companies in the Subic Bay Freeport has been honored as one of The Outstanding Workers of the Republic (Tower) for 2019, the first Freeport employee to receive the award.

Roberto Duran Jr., who works as pipe repairman at the Philippine Coastal Storage and Pipeline Corporation (PCSPC), became one of the seven workers from among the more than 43 million Filipinos in the labor force to be given the award this year.

The other awardees are Benigno Acasio of Manila Water Co.; Isaiah John Duyag, Nestle Philippines; Gerald Taguiam, SIA Engineering; Johnny Talaban, Noceco; Allan Unabia, Wyeth; and Robert John Uy, Moog Controls.

Duran, who left his family in Cagayan province to look for a job in Subic, first landed as a contract worker at the PCSPC. His job included sweeping the street in the PCSPC compound and assisting other workers.

But his dedication to work soon earned him the trust of supervisors who helped him get hired for a regular position. He is now in charge of the maintenance and repair of assets such as pipelines, valves, meters, and pumps.

“Being away from my family is hard to bear. But I really thank this company for the trust and continuous training they provide for their employees which I used to reached where I am today,” Duran said in Filipino. “I have a wonderful job that helps my family and sends my children to school.”

On Monday, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) also honored Duran during the flag-raising ceremony.

SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator for Support Services Ramon Agregado described Duran’s award as “a clear testament that local workers are not only the best in the Subic Freeport, but also among the best in the country.”

PCSPC Human Resource manager Catherine Tipan-Stewart said the management regards Duran an inspiration to his co-workers: a young father who started out simply wanting a job to earn money to send to his wife and children in Cagayan, but ended up as an outstanding worker in the company.

“He started out as all-around worker doing anything he was told to do. But with a strong desire to learn, he soon picked up other skills, got the chance to become part of the maintenance team, and later got promoted to become industrial mechanic,” Stewart said.

She added that in the 19 years that Duran had been with PCSPC, he had not only shown devotion to duty and enthusiasm for work, but also ingenuity that contributed to the efficient repair and maintenance of assets with minimal disruption to everyday operation.

Duran’s outstanding performance not only earned him recognition at PCSPC, but also from the SBMA which chose him in November last year as one of the Ten Outstanding Freeport Workers for 2018. Six months later, Duran became a Tower awardee.

The Tower Awards, which was founded in 1975 by the Rotary Club of Manila, honors the nation’s most outstanding non-supervisory workers and recognizes their importance and contributions to the economic and technological progress of the country.

It also serves to inculcate pride in excellent and outstanding work, and helps develop critical, innovative/inventive and creative thinking at the workplace and a mindset for quality and productivity in the workforce. (Ric Sapnu)

Source: sunstar.com.ph

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SMUGGLED GOODS. Task Force Aguila and Bureau of Customs personnel unload boxes containing mobile phones, tablets, and other items at Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga. Photo by Jun Malig

PAMPANGA, Philippines – An anti-smuggling task force at Clark Freeport Zone confiscated hundreds of boxes of misdeclared and undervalued mobile phones and sports watches from Hong Kong as they were being brought into Metro Manila on Friday, July 12.

Arnel Maguillo, deputy director of Task Force Aguila (TFA), said about 6,900 units of Vivo, Huawei, and Xiaomi phones and tablets, and 1,090 sports watches were found inside two trucks.

He said the two vehicles with plate numbers CAP 6868 and CAK 7736 were intercepted at the TFA checkpoint near the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) tollgates here around 11 am.

The task force set up a checkpoint after receiving information that “voluminous boxes” of imported electronics were being loaded into two aluminum canter vans at the United Parcel Service facility here and were set to be transported outside the freeport zone.

The apprehended trucks were brought to the TFA compound here and the task force coordinated with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Clark office for the inventory of the seized items, which turned out to be misdeclared and undervalued.

Maguillo said the truck drivers and the shipment’s consignee identified as Marvin Magalicar, who allegedly introduced himself to TFA operatives as a mere helper of the drivers, were questioned about the attempted smuggling.

When TFA director Retired Major General Francisco Cruz Jr personally interviewed Magalicar, the latter admitted that the confiscated items were consigned to him but added that his name was allegedly just used by his boss, Jefferson Gan, a BOC officer.

The task force also learned that one of the trucks carrying the seized items is owned by Gan, while the other one is owned by one Jairus Reyes, also a BoC employee here.

The two truck drivers told TFA that they had picked up shipments from the UPS facility here and delivered them to a building along Arellano Street in Makati City several times in the past.

An initial inventory showed that hundreds of boxes of seized items contained the following:

1,820 units of Vivo V15 Pro
160 units of Xiaomi Mi Pad 4
425 units of Huawei Ascend 6520
1,050 units of Huawei Honor 7S
1,672 units of Xiaomi Mi 6A
1,760 units of Xiaomi Redmi 7
480 units of Xiaomi Redmi 7A
400 Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
20 Xiaomi Mi 6A
103 pieces of Oppo BLP 583 battery
1,090 pieces of sports watches
600 pieces of USB drives
8 pieces of HDMI cables
a unit of the latest iPhone model
a speaker
Online sellers in the Philippines offer the Vivo V15 Pro at around P24,000 per unit, while a Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 can be bought at around P15,000.

Maguillo said the misdeclared and undervalued shipment and the two trucks had been turned over to the BOC here for proper legal disposition and the filing of appropriate charges for the attempted smuggling of the electronic gadgets.

“Customs authorities have estimated to not less than a hundred million (pesos) the total value of the confiscated items,” he said.

Source: rappler.com

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ONCE considered to be the country’s most popular theme park before being closed to give way to the expansion of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the Nayong Pilipino has since been barraged by controversies.

During the time of PGMA, the government-controlled park got relocated at the 3.5-hectare section of the polemical Clark Expo (formerly Expo Pilipino) which was closed by former President Joseph Estrada after the unfinished theme park accumulated losses.

Former CDC president and visionary, the late Levy Laus (may he rest in peace) had made a statement that the move was supposed to boost local tourism as venue for live presentations, multi-cultural events, exhibits, festival activities, and even liturgical services including weddings inside the replica of the historic Barasoain Church.

But instead of weddings or liturgical mass, it was rather a mass firing of officials and board members that got served last year after President Duterte discovered about the lease contract which the theme park granted to a foreign firm that was allegedly “grossly disadvantageous” to the government. It was a Landing project that will not be set on the ground.

Fortunately, the calm has already arrived after the storm. By good fortune, the once most famous park has acquired a new face that would provide the proper kick-start required for the revival.

On her first days in the office, executive director Michelle Aguilar-Ong has vowed to make a comprehensive review on the park’s operations and possible mismanagement to identify the factors which contributed to the deterioration of the government’s tourist destination in Clark Freeport.

Moving forward, Aguilar-Ong has already set a good pace on the major rehabilitation of Nayong Pilipino before the holding of the upcoming South East Asian games, targeting participants including domestic and foreign visitors.

To give some new taste and flavor, Aguilar-Ong is already working on to provide additional activities and attractions, such as the one similar to the Giant Lantern Festival of City of San Fernando, and also demos showcasing the culinary expertise of Kapampangans.

Without a doubt, under the leadership of Michelle Aguilar-Ong, the revival of the Nayong Pilipino will reintroduce our Filipino culture in the right manner with honesty and integrity.

Source: sunstar.com.ph

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 11) — All foreigners planning to work in the Philippines must sign up as a taxpayer with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) before applying for a work visa.

In a statement, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced that they are making it a requirement for all foreign workers to present have their Tax Identification Number (TIN) from the BIR before they can secure a work visa.

“This ensures that the BIR will be able to collect taxes from them,” Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said in a statement on Thursday.

The requirement comes as the Duterte government tightens its watch on foreign workers, with the Department of Finance saying foregone taxes amount to billions of pesos yearly.

Morente said all applicants for working visas need to have a TIN. This comes after a series of meetings of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Employment of Foreign Nationals.

Foreigners are likewise limited to taking “highly-technical” positions in the country, leaving all other jobs to Filipinos.

“These new rules do not impose added burden to professionals,” Morente said. “It was put in place to protect jobs for Filipinos. It ensures that blue collar jobs will not be given to foreign nationals.”

The BI issues special work permits to foreigners who have an employment contract of three to six months, while work visas are required for those who plan to stay longer.

The booming Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) industry has been bringing in thousands of workers to operate online casinos based here, most of them Chinese.

Also yesterday, members of the inter-agency task force signed Joint Memorandum Circular 001 that outlines rules covering all foreign nationals eyeing to work in the Philippines. Apart from the BI, the new rules designate the Department of Labor and Employment, the Professional Regulation Commission, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Justice, and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau as agencies authorized to issue work permits to foreigners.

Prior to issuing any permit or visa, all agencies need to secure a Certificate of No Objection from DOLE. If there’s an objection, the agency will perform a “labor market test” to see if there really is no Filipino qualified to take on the specific job.

A government-wide database will also be created to track all permits and visas, while a joint inspection team composed of DOLE, BI, and BIR officials will carry out joint inspections among companies employing foreigners to monitor compliance, according to the circular.

Other agencies who signed the new rules are the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Finance, and National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.

Source: cnnphilippines.com

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