By: Henry Empeño

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – A native Olongapeño has taken over the highest executive position at the Subic Bay Marine Exploratorium Inc. (SBMEI), which operates the popular Ocean Adventure theme park and Camayan Beach Resort in this free port.

Robert Ianne Gonzaga, formerly the firm’s communication director, was elected president of the company during the annual shareholders’ meeting held last month, a statement from the SBMEI said.

Gonzaga, who is the first Filipino CEO of SBMEI, started out in the local broadcast media in Olongapo City, became a news correspondent for the BusinessMirror in 2014, and also wrote for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and an international wire agency.

Gonzaga stepped into the position previously occupied by Scott Sharpe, who founded SBMEI, along with Timothy Desmond and Gail Laule, 17 years ago.

Other officials elected to the SBMEI board of directors were: Jack Lin, chairman; Alfredo Alex S. Cruz III, secretary; Susan L. Dudley, treasurer; and Manuel W. Quijano, board member.

SBMEI, the company that controls Ocean Adventure and Camayan Beach Resort and Hotel, has been in the tourism industry for 17 years as a company providing family-oriented activities and educational entertainment.

It built Ocean Adventure as the first open-water marine theme park in Southeast Asia. The park features animal shows, dolphin, encounters and other animal-encounter programs.

Subsequently, it opened the Camayan Beach Resort nearby, known for its clean beaches and natural setting.

Gonzaga said the SBMEI is now eyeing the opening of its Adventure Beach Water Park this year and will be expanding its tourism activities in the coming years.

Source: Business Mirror

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SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – Three custom brokers involved in an attempted smuggling here of expensive liquor amounting to P40 million were blacklisted.

Wilma Eisma, chairwoman and administrator of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), said the blacklisting was the initial action of the agency in connection with the smuggling attempt that was foiled by the SBMA Law Enforcement Department (SBMA-LED) just before Christmas.

The SBMA Seaport Department identified the blacklisted brokers as Ellen Baylon, an authorized representative of the brokerage firm Alava Alliance Inc.; John Louie Pabico, a processor of Phil-Hohan International Corp.; and Cherry Springael, a freelance processor and authorized representative of Alava Alliance.

Eisma said the said brokers have been banned from doing business with the SBMA Seaport, and the companies they represented have been placed on indefinite suspension pending the final results of investigation by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

She said the BOC, which received custody of the smuggled items from the SBMA, will also file appropriate criminal charges against the brokers for violation of the Customs and Tariff Act, as well as Republic Act 7227, or the Bases Conversion and Development Act.

“Let this serve as a warning that Subic authorities won’t tolerate illegal activities in the Freeport, and we will apply the full measure of the law in cases like this,” Eisma said.

Earlier, the SBMA said that its law enforcement operatives seized a total of 1,321 boxes of liquor from a closed van that was about to leave the Freeport on December 24, and from a 40-footer container van parked at the Subic Seaport Terminal on December 28.

The seized contraband included 54 bottles of Remy Martin Louis XIII, which sells as much as P170,000 per bottle, and eight boxes of Remy Martin Centaure De Diamant, which fetches P60,000 per bottle.

The SBMA police began the operation on Christmas Eve after a tipster informed them that a closed van and a Nissan Patrol SUV would attempt to smuggle contraband from the Freeport.

Subsequently, SBMA-LED operatives posted along the Argonaut Highway leading to Subic’s sea ports monitored the vehicles and tailed them to the 14th Street Gate where they were stopped by sentries.

The Fuso van, bearing File No. 036404 of BCR Trucking, was found to contain 275 boxes of Remy Martin Cognac Champagne, 448 boxes of Martini, 66 boxes of Remy Martin XO, 17 boxes of Remy Martin Champagne, eight boxes of Remy Martin Louis XIII, eight boxes of Remy Martin Centaure De Diamant, seven boxes of Remy Martin Club, and seven boxes of Remy Martin.

The driver, identified as 41-year-old Julio Flores, as well as the helper, 46-year-old Marvin Arcega, failed to present necessary documents when accosted by the police.

Under investigation, Flores reported that he picked up the merchandise from the Subic Seaport Terminal Inc. at the Boton Pier upon instruction of a certain “Ed” who rented his truck for the pickup.

Flores said that a certain “Cherry” assured him that the goods were ready for exit at Subic’s Tipo gate even without any document because two other trucks with similar load were able to exit. (Ric Sapnu)

Source SunStar Pampanga

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Global Marine

CHELMSFORD, UK – Global Marine, a market leader in subsea fibre optic cable installation and maintenance solutions to the telecoms and oil & gas sectors and part of the Global Marine Group (GMG), announced today that its maintenance contract with SEAIOCMA (South East Asia and Indian Ocean Cable Maintenance Agreement) has been extended for five-years, running to the end of 2022.

The SEAIOCMA maintenance zone agreement, which is a co-operative club managed by 46 cable owners, provides the repair of submarine cables that carry international telecommunications traffic. SEAIOCMA spans the area between Djibouti in the west, Perth in the south, Guam in the east and the northern tip of Taiwan. This is the third and final of Global Marine’s three long-term maintenance contracts renewed since the beginning of 2016 (NAZ (North America Zone) announced March 2016 and ACMA (Atlantic Cable Maintenance Agreement) announced January 2017).

Under the terms of the extended contract, which came into effect on 1 January 2018, and expires on 31 December 2022, Global Marine will provide a newly constructed depot in Subic Bay, Philippines. The new depot will continue to serve as the base of Global Marine’s vessel the Cable Retriever, a purpose-designed cable ship equipped with a 600 horsepower ROV (remote operated vehicle), capable of burying cable up to three metres below the sea bed and mobilising within 24 hours of a call-out. The Cable Retriever is operated by experienced and fully trained personnel and features specialist equipment.

Global Marine has been providing maintenance services continuously to SEAIOCMA since its inception in 1986 and has completed more than 600 repairs. During that time the network has expanded from 34,000 km of cable maintained to encompass more than 111,000 km. The extension of the SEAIOCMA agreement demonstrates continued customer recognition of Global Marine’s reliability in support of long-term contracts, and its ability to deliver leading subsea maintenance to customers around the world.

“There is no greater endorsement of your success than a contract extension from an existing customer,” said Bruce Neilson-Watts, Managing Director of Global Marine. “SEAIOCMA has again placed confidence in our capabilities, primarily because we provide certainty and minimise disruption. Over our long and successful history, Global Marine has proved time and time again that we are both resilient and flexible enough to provide new solutions that aid future market development.”

Global Marine currently delivers support in three of the world’s six cable maintenance zone agreements. Combined with its joint venture, SBSS, Global Marine maintains 33 percent of fibre optic cable lying across the world’s ocean floor. In the past five years the Company has achieved 99.7 percent of the contractual KPIs across all of its maintenance agreements.

source: www.fibre-systems.com

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In the first quarter of the year, facilities to get athletes ready for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games and several international competition will most likely be ready.

Around 100 elite athletes will be sent to Iba, Zambales, while 200 more will travel to Baguio to get them in shape.

Philippine Olympic Committee President Jose “Peping” Cojuangco said this following talks with Foreign Affairs secretary and SEA Games Organizing Committee chairman Allan Peter Cayetano and Philippine Sports Commission chairman William “Butch” Ramirez.

“We can start (training athletes) right away,” said Cojuangco.

In March last year, athletes preparing for the 29th SEA Games were sent to the Zambales Sports Complex for the first time to prepare.

“They do have facilities there (in Zambales) that can accommodate a hundred athletes and they can live comfortably,” added Cojuangco

The SEA Games working committee that Cojuangco, Ramirez and Cayetano formed is set to bring in former PSC Chairman Ricardo “Richie” Garcia.

Cojuangco brought up Garcia’s role before Cayetano and Ramirez last month.

Garcia is expected to help in out the organizational and operational aspects of handling the Games.

The role of Makati Congressman and taekwondo association secretary general Monsour del Rosario is also being finalized.

Cojuangco will go into final discussions with Del Rosario if he will be the chef de mission in 2019.

Source: >Manila Standard

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CLARK CITY, Philippines – Clark International Airport (CRK) has surpassed its passenger target accommodated this year, CRK Corp. President Alex Cauguiran reported.

Clark International Airport, in file photo by bworldonline.com

From January to 30 December 2017, the airport registered more than 1.5 million passengers, surpassing its highest record of over 1.3 million passengers served last 2012.

Cauguiran attributed the significant rise to President Rodrigo Roa Durerte’s declared policy to distribute development outside the peripheries of Metro Manila, which was then pushed into reality by Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur P. Tugade.

“This achievement proves the high level of our public’s trust and confidence in President Duterte’s vision for a multiple gateway under the administration’s Build Build Build program,” Cauguiran said. “Secretart Tugade, although very silent, worked very hard to turn the President’s vision into reality. That is why from only seven domestic flights a week in the previous years, we now have 200 international and domestic flights from Clark. All these happened in the first year of the Duterte administration,” he added.

On assuming office, Tugade encouraged airlines to launch more flights from Clark in order to decongest NAIA, and also transferred some general aviation activities there. He likewise instructed CIAC to provide incentives to airline operators willing to fly from Clark.

Apart from improvements in policy decisions, Cauguiran cited strict implementation of security measures by airport personnel, as well as improved customer service, passenger comfort and convenience, among those that attracted travellers to flock to Clark. The former baselands – home to America’s largest overseas air base – is envisioned to be a premier gateway to both local and international destinations.

Recently, top government officials, such as former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Senator JV Ejercito, Senator Dick Gordon, Executive Secretary Savador Medialdea, DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade, and Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) President and CEO Vince Dizon graced the groundbreaking ceremony of the new CRK passenger terminal building.

During the ceremony, Tugade said the new terminal will complement other infrastructure projects in the area: Manila-Clark Railway, Subic-Clark Cargo Railway, and the New Clark City.

“Ikakabit po natin ang proyektong ito sa Manila-Clark Railway. Not later than 06 January 2018, we will mobilize the construction of the first segment from Tutuban to Malolos, and hopefully we will complete the entire line to Clark before the end of President Duterte’s term,” Tugade said.

For his part, BCDA President and CEO Dizon said the CRK expansion project will decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, as the new passenger terminal would accommodate an additional 8 million passengers per year.

House Speaker and former transportation secretary Pantaleon Alvarez also expressed excitement over the opportunities the new terminal will be bringing to the Philippines.

Senator Gordon, who played a vital role in establishing freeport zones in Luzon, likewise expressed his joy in finally seeing the airport being fully-utilized, calling it “a new beginning for our country.”

“Infrastructure is not a project of a government. It is a project of the people. It is a project of vision. This is about opportunity, the great equalizer. This is about making the future our friend,” he said.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez noted,
“Before, projects take an average of 30 months under PPP. I assure you that this will not happen in the infrastructure projects of the Duterte administration.”

He said the Clark expansion project is considered the fastest to be implemented by the national government. It broke ground just six months after getting NEDA Board approval.

Former President and now Pampanga Representative Arroyo, whose term saw the building of the CIA, was the special guest at the groundbreaking.

The construction of the new terminal is the first hybrid project under the BuildBuildBuild Infrastructure Program of the Duterte administration. Under the hybrid model, the government will build the infrastructure using its own funds to ensure fast delivery of the project.

source: interaksyon.com

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