SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) on Monday began checking for vaccination cards among persons entering the Subic Bay Freeport to prevent further transmission of Covid-19 in the area and maintain the health and safety of stakeholders in this vital economic zone.
SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said this is just one of the stricter measures implemented by the Subic agency after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) placed Olongapo City, along with Zambales, Bataan and 11 other areas in the country, under Alert Level 3 late last week.
Under the new SBMA guidelines, interzonal travel and intrazonal movement are allowed in Subic upon presentation of vaccination certificate showing completed doses. Meanwhile, unvaccinated persons would have to show negative RT-PCR test results taken with 24 hours prior to arrival in Subic, Eisma said.
Subic, which boasted of zero Covid-19 cases among its residents until Christmas day, had reported a total of 36 active cases just after the holidays.
“The rate of increase—36 cases in just two weeks—is quite alarming, so in consonance with IATF resolutions, we have put in place stricter border controls and prohibited certain activities that could further spread the virus,” Eisma said on Monday.
“I have ordered our law enforcement officers to be thorough in checking for vaccination cards at the gates because we cannot afford another lockdown that would curtail business and industry in Subic. We have to be strict because we have to keep the local economy running, too,” she added.
Eisma said the SBMA has considered interzonal travel as high risk because eight of the recent Covid-19 cases in the Freeport involved residents who reported travel to Metro Manila, while five said having visited other areas outside of the Freeport.
She added that monitoring by the SBMA Public Health and Safety Department showed that these 13 travelers had, in turn, transmitted the virus to 12 close contacts. Still two others were infected after receiving visitors from outside Subic.
Eisma said that aside from requiring vaccination cards at the gates, the SBMA also limited the access of some public areas only to fully-vaccinated individuals. These include venues for meetings and social events, amusement parks and recreation venues, visitor or tourist attractions, venues for in-person religious gatherings, as well as restaurants, and gyms and personal care shops, which should all take in customers at 30% of their indoor capacity and 50% for outdoors.
Unvaccinated persons, however, may be allowed in supermarkets and groceries where 30% maximum capacity should be maintained, and inside malls but “only for the purpose of accessing essential goods and services,” the SBMA chief said.
At the same time, the SBMA allowed 70% maximum capacity for public transportation; 30% indoor capacity for face-to-face classes in higher schools; and 60% on-site capacity for government offices.
Meanwhile, the SBMA prohibited the operation of karaoke bars, indoor entertainment venues, kid amusement places, and venues for contact sports except in bubble-type setup.
Eisma said the Subic agency will enforce other measures that will arrest the current surge of Covid-19 cases in the greater Subic Bay area while encouraging stakeholders to get vaccinated for either basic doses or booster shots.
“We intend to contain this upsurge with vaccines and sound science behind basic safety protocols like masking, handwashing and social distancing,” Eisma added.

LONDON – Britain on Saturday reported more than 10,000 new Omicron coronavirus variant cases as the new variant-related death toll rose to seven.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed an additional 10,059 cases of the new variant, three times as many as Friday and taking the total number detected to 24,968.
The country registered 90,418 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, the second time cases have been higher than 90,000, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 11,279,428, according to official figures released Saturday.
The country also reported a further 125 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 147,173, with 7,611 COVID-19 patients still in hospital.
The latest figures came as London mayor, Sadiq Khan, declared a “major incident” in the British capital following a “huge surge” in Covid-19 cases fueled by the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant.
A major incident enables different public agencies to cooperate and coordinate more closely, but also acts as a warning that emergency services and hospitals are unable to guarantee their normal level of response due to unusual circumstances.
Khan said in the past 24 hours London had logged more than 26,000 new infections, the largest number since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Meanwhile, leaked minutes seen by the BBC of a meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies said that without government intervention beyond the recently announced plan B measures, hospital admissions in England could reach “at least” 3,000 a day.
The Omicron coronavirus variant has been reported in 89 countries and the number of cases is doubling in 1.5 to three days in areas with community transmission, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
More than 89 percent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 81 percent have received both doses, according to the latest figures. More than 47 percent have received booster jabs, or the third dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines. (Xinhua)

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the SBMA management has recently green-lighted the operation of Mask Secure King Inc. (MSK) to help increase the country’s production capacity for PPEs and other medical consumables.

Mask Secure King Inc., which is under the umbrella of Taiwanese construction and engineering giant MSK Group Work Inc., will set up a manufacturing facility here at the Subic Bay Gateway Park II where it has leased a 1,860-square meter building space from the Taiwanese real estate developer Xantheng Subic International Corp.

Eisma said the MSK has committed US$500,000 for the manufacturing project and will employ 35 workers during its first year of operation.

The firm, which will do business under the trade name “Secure Masks and Protective Gears, will be the first Subic-registered company to engage in the manufacture of health and safety products and personal protective gears.

According to the SBMA Business and Investment Department for Manufacturing and Maritime (BID-MM), the Subic agency approved MSK’s proposal early this month after it filed for a Certificate of Registration and Tax Exemption (CRTE).

The firm’s registered business activity focused on the manufacture of medical devices, medical tools and equipment, medical consumable products, and personal protective gears and equipment.

Among the PPEs MSK will produce are medical disposable masks, gloves, foot and eye protection devices, protective hearing devices like earplugs and muffs, hard hats, respirators, and full body suits.

BID-MM manager Karen Magno said the SBMA has already endorsed to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) the purchase by MSK of mask machines from Taiwan, as well as the importation of non-woven mask materials for its Subic manufacturing operations.

Another firm, which had since relocated to Bataan, previously produced in Subic only hospital textiles and garments.

Eisma said the operation of MSK will boost local production of N95 medical masks, PPE coveralls, as well as ventilators which had no known local producer prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the same time, she said it will bolster the growing confidence of Taiwanese manufacturers in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and further enlarge MSK’s development footprint here. 

The SBMA chief noted that the MSK Group had begun a P2-billion luxury residential project here in 2017 while Xantheng followed it up with a P15-billion green industrial park development project last year.

“Taiwanese investors, particularly the MSK Group, have been thriving here and continuously supporting and contributing to the development of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. This manufacturing project by MSK will be another welcome addition to our list of timely business projects here in Subic,” Eisma added.

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“The 44-year-old female foreigner who tested positive from swab samples taken on Aug. 25, underwent another swabbing on Aug. 28 and the results of her second RT-PCR test released on Aug. 29 indicated she is negative of the Covid-19 virus,” Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Wilma T. Eisma said in a statement on Tuesday.

Tagged as patient SBFZ-G09 for being classified as a “guest worker,” she “displayed mild symptoms” and “was admitted to a hospital in the Subic Bay Freeport,” Eisma said without disclosing which hospital in an earlier statement.

A subsequent statement from Eisma said “she is now in a quarantine hotel to complete a 14-day isolation period.”

A Subic Freeport doctor consulted by Subic Bay News who requested not to be named for lack of authority to speak on the matter, said there is “no definitive explanation” as to why a test result could reverse in a matter of three (3) days.

The positive reading on the female foreigner prompted the SBMA Public Health and Safety Department to order the lockdown of the company where she works, as well as the mass testing, at the company’s expense, of all 132 personnel in the compound, described by Eisma as an “industrial-residential facility.”

Despite the negative 2nd test result of the female foreigner, however, the mass testing revealed three (3) more covid-19 positive results in the “industrial-residential facility” which include a 2-year-old boy (SBFZ-G12), a 10-year-old girl (SBFZ-G11), both children of different stay-in workers, and a 28-year-old male foreigner (SBFZ-G10), also a stay-in worker.

As with the female foreigner, SBFZ-G10’s nationality was not revealed in Eisma’s statement.

Contact tracing allegedly has not yet been completed to determine if the contaminations were related.

As of Tuesday (Sept. 1), the total confirmed Covid-19 cases among SBFZ-guests/transient workers has risen to twelve (12), with five (5) active cases and seven (7) recoveries.

Subic Bay Freeport residents found positive of the virus as of last report was at ten (10) with six (6) active cases and four (4) recoveries, while four (4) SBMA employees infected are all still active cases, according to Eisma.

“Again, we advise all stakeholders of the Subic Bay Freeport to exercise further caution, strictly observe health protocols, and practice health safety measures both in workplaces and at home. (VVV)

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There is no plan yet, however, to temporarily shut down the terminal as SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma instead offered its community isolation facility at the Subic gymnasium for the care and isolation of SBITC workers who have tested positive of the new coronavirus disease.

“If more Covid-19 cases are discovered among SBITC workers, and if local medical facilities can no longer accommodate them, then we offer the Subic gym community isolation facility,” Eisma said.

The container terminal has a total of 124 employees, according to an earlier press statement of SBITC president Roberto Locsin, thus, the number of Covid-19 positive workers already comprise more than 20% of its workforce.

However, there are other non-SBITC personnel working or doing business in the terminal, including port users, security personnel, canteen staff, and SBMA checkers.

The SBMA has ordered SBITC to have all its employees tested through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in order to prevent a total shutdown of operations.

Eisma said she sounded off in a meeting on Wednesday with officials of the Department of Health (DOH), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Subic Bay International Terminal Corporation (SBITC) the offer to use the community isolation facility at the Subic gymnasium to defuse the health crisis at the Subic container port.

“This is a situation that could blow bigger, but by isolating those who tested positive, we can help arrest local transmission. Otherwise, the contagion would spread and may get out of hand. We don’t want that to happen,” she added.

The Subic gym, which has just been refurbished last year as venue for the Southeast Asian Games, has been converted by the SBMA into a 32-bed care and isolation facility complete with work and rest quarters for medical care personnel.

Eisma said the SBITC may use the facility at its own expense, as the DOH has not yet designated any level-2 hospital in the community to manage it as a Covid-19 facility.

The facility became a DOH-certified community isolation unit for Covid-19 cases effective July 29, 2020, under a certificate signed by Dr. Cesar Cassion, director of the DOH Central Luzon Center for Health Development.

Aside from the Subic gym, the SBMA also transformed the six-storey Leciel Hotel building into an additional care and isolation facility with 81 rooms. This, however, is still awaiting DOH accreditation.

The Subic container port terminal, as run by SBITC, has remained operational throughout the different stages of quarantine imposed in the Freeport due to the pandemic.

But despite having no manifestation from SBMA officials and SBITC management of plans to temporarily halt operations, the sudden spike of Covid-19 positive cases among SBITC workers may yet force a shutdown that will heavily impact various businesses here and abroad.

SBITC services cargo ships from China, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, among others, as well as truckers and haulers from all over Luzon. (VVV)

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“July pa usap-usapan na may positive dito sa SBITC pero ngayon lang nila inilabas,” said a port worker who requested not to be named for fear of losing his job, “wala naman kami choice kailangan maghanap-buhay pero sana naman nasabihan kami.”

“Araw-araw may update ang SBMA pero walang binabanggit na meron nang positive sa SBITC kung hindi pa dumami,” another told Subic Bay News, “lagi na lang kami kinakabahan dahil puro tsismis lang sa terminal ang aming nalalaman.”

The proliferation of Covid-19 positive cases at SBITC was made public only on Monday (August 17) when SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said in a press release that a total of 14 positive cases have already been recorded among SBITC workers since July 30 and that she has ordered the SBITC to have all their employees tested for the new coronavirus disease.

“It was either mass testing by RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) or shutdown of terminal operations—that’s the only choice left if we wanted to contain the outbreak,” Eisma said.

She said the SBMA also required disinfection of the whole terminal complex, closure of engineering and maintenance areas subject to focused disinfection, and daily in-house disinfection.

“Thankfully, the SBITC management was very cooperative in our strategy to contain the spread, as we knew that closure is a last resort because testing is the key to preventing the spread and that the Red Cross lab at our doorstep makes for fast turnaround for results,”  she added.

She said that SBITC president Roberto Locsin has given the assurance that aside from those already traced and tested after some workers turned out positive, all other personnel working in the container terminal will undergo RT-PCR test.

These include a total of 238 shift workers, port users, security personnel, canteen staff, and even SBMA checkers.

According to contact tracing records received by the SBMA Public Health and Safety Department, at least 50 employees have been identified as close contacts after the first Covid-19 infection at SBITC.

The PHSD said that after the first worker tested positive, tracing identified 15 contacts in the workforce. When three of the 15 contacts tested positive on Aug. 7, 25 close contacts were identified in turn and of these, seven came out positive. Since then, three other positive cases were recorded.

Of the 14 infected workers, nine are from Olongapo City, four from Zambales, and one from Aurora.

Only two of the confirmed cases have been admitted to a hospital, as the rest, who are mostly asymptomatic, were placed on home quarantine.

In messages to Chairman Eisma, Locsin said that they have also initiated other measures to arrest the infection in the workplace, according to the SBMA statement.

Aside from contact tracing and immediate quarantining of close contacts, the firm had since closed the administration building to visitors, started issuing gate passes online, encouraged online payments, closed the operations barracks, ordered the mandatory wearing of face mask and face shield, and prohibited dine-in at the company canteen.

Locsin also said terminal facilities have been disinfected first by the SBMA Fire Department on Aug. 8 to 10, and the next by a third party contractor on Aug. 11. More disinfection was made on Aug. 15 and 16.

For the mass testing scheduled on Monday, Eisma said that swabbing booths have been set up by SBITC at the terminal, with two mobile swab booths loaned by the SBMA for contingency.

Two medical technologists were assigned at the container terminal to take swab samples starting at 9 a.m. from 80 SBITC staff already stationed at the terminal, while three others at the SBMA swabbing center near the Subic main gate for samples from the other 158 SBITC workers who would be coming mostly from Olongapo City.

Eisma said that test results can be generated within 24 to 48 hours, depending on the volume of samples tested at the Red Cross molecular laboratory here in the Freeport.

SBITC is among several businesses in the Subic Bay Freeport which remained active throughout the different quarantine stages due to the pandemic, servicing cargo ships from various Asian countries, including China, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. (VVV)

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He arrived in the Philippines in 2018 to work for the POGO firm Tele Empire, but according to Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman & Administrator Wilma T. Eisma, the interpreter that interviewed the patient said he has already resigned.

However, the interpreter could not say when the Chinese POGO worker resigned, if indeed, he really had resigned.

According to Eisma, the interpreter said the patient left the Philippines in Nov. 2019, but, again could not tell how and when he returned and where he stayed between then and June 6, 2020 when he checked in at the hotel where he has staying at the time of his test.

“Only OFW’s and returning Filipinos are being allowed in,” Eisma said in response to Subic Bay News’ query. “There is a travel ban and an exemption has to be asked from the DFA before anyone is allowed. While some might want to think he slipped in, how?” she said.

But the interpreter said the Chinese Covid-19 positive patient “had not been to the POGO service company since March 18, 2020,” implying that, if true, he still could have had ties with the POGO company at least until the said period.

“He submitted himself for a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test on Aug. 5 as a travel requirement,” Eisma said in her official statement, “and the results that came out from the Philippine Red Cross Laboratory on Aug. 6 indicated that he is POSITIVE of the Covid-19 virus.”

There are thousands of Chinese POGO workers from Communist China working in several POGO firms in the Subic Bay Freeport, catering to gamblers online.

Residents have expressed concern on their health and sanitation practices, even prior to the Pandemic. “There is more reason now to be more wary of what’s going on inside the POGO companies, their Chinese workers need to be safe from the virus so as not to become carriers and spreaders of the deadly disease,” a Subic Freeport resident who requested not to be named being an SBMA employee, said.

POGO firms in Subic occupy hotels, former schools, and a former hospital and SBMA authorities have little or are unable to closely monitor their activities, once even denying entry of an SBMA inspection team in their premises.

Recently, authorities arrested six (6) Chinese while trying to spirit out of the Subic Bay Freeport’s Tipo Gate a kilo of Shabu worth some P6.8M, prompting Cong. Robert Ace Barbers to seek a Congressional Probe on the links of POGO and illegal activities, including drugs and prostitution.

Barbers also think the one (1) kilo haul is unrealistic considering the involvement of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and Intelligence Service-Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) in the operations that collared the 6, some, if not all, could be workers of POGO firms in Subic.

Eisma said SBMA welcomes the House Probe “to thresh out and expose any party illegally operating in Subic.” (VVV)

Accusing each other of politicking and spreading disinformation in the midst of the pandemic, the social media has become a battleground for both camps, with officials, employees and alleged “trolls” joining the fray.

“Kung may malasakit ang pamunuan ng SBMA sa atin, dapat kinu-konsulta nila tayo at ipina-alam ang plano para makapag-tulungan nang hindi nailalagay sa panganib ang kalusugan at buhay ng mga taga-Olongapo,” Paulino, Sr. told Subic Bay News in a phone interview, “bagamat mga kapwa natin sila Filipino at wala tayong tutol na sila ay makauwi ng matiwasay sa kani-kanilang pamilya.”

He added that the SBMA leadership also owes it not only to Olongapo but other outlying communities, namely, the towns of Subic, in Zambales province, Hermosa, Morong and Dinalupihan in Bataan, to, as a matter of courtesy, talk with the local leaders. “Pag-uusap lang po ang hinihiling natin,” Paulino, Sr. said.

SBMA Chairman & Administrator Wilma T. Eisma, however, said in a press release “that as early as April this year, the OWWA and DOT have been talking about OFW repatriation with the tourism departments of both the SBMA and Olongapo City.”

“If former Olongapo Mayor Rolen Paulino is saying we did not consult them about this plan, then he is promoting disinformation,” Eisma said, “he is barking up the wrong tree, and prematurely at that,” citing that the plan to use Subic as gateway for OFWs is not an SBMA initiative, but a program managed by the National Task Force on Returning Overseas Filipinos (NTF-ROF).

Olongapo City Tourism head Fifi T. Gavino, however, belies Eisma’s contention of a consultation on the matter in April this year.

“We had the group chat conversation regarding hotels nga daw to open, magkakaroon ng inspection sa mga hotels together with the PNP, Provincial Health Office of Zambales, Tourism and Bgy. para sa OFWs pero na-abort iyon kasi as per OWWA and DILG, may instruction na walang lalabas sa provinces, dapat Manila lang lahat and at that time ECQ pa tayo lahat,” Gavino told Subic Bay News.

“Since then, wala nang usapan nangyari,” Gavino added, “ and I also mentioned to ChAd (Eisma) na dapat si Mayor Lenj (Paulino, Jr.) ang kausapin niya para derecho na head to head mag-usap, ‘wag ako kasi sundalo lang ako na may Boss, gaya niya Boss niya si Senator Dick dahil involved ang Red Cross.”

Eisma said she has “already advised concerned government agencies about the demand for consultation,” clarifying that “Subic is being considered only for any spillover of OFWs being repatriated through the Manila and Clark Airports, as the SBIA still has no night-landing capability.”

“We’re still working on that capability, so until then, OFW flights cannot land in Subic and we would only be available for the spillover. If the hotels in Manila, Clark, and Angeles City can no longer keep up with the number of returning OFWs, then that will be the only time that Subic would come in,” Eisma said, adding that at the local level, “the repatriation plan would still have to be approved by the SBMA Board.”

Paulino, Sr., however, said the plan is already in place, proof of which is SBMA’s move last week requiring hotels in the Subic Freeport to confirm the number of rooms they are allocating for the returning OFWs. “Hindi ba malinaw na siya ang nagdi-disinformation?” Paulino said, “mga hotel owners at management mismo ang nagsabi.”

Identified with the Gordon family which used to dominate local politics in Olongapo in the past, Eisma is touted to be gunning for city hall in the coming elections, thus, despite her repeated denials of having political plans, she is alleged to be undermining the current city administration for political ends.

Eisma said she has tried to reach out. “believe me, it’s not for the lack of trying on my part,” she said, “instead of talking in social media, we should talk to each other so when we talk to the public, we have complete information.” (VVV/LRGO)

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This came as the Freeport’s four (4)-month long zero Covid-19 positive case record was shattered when two residents, a 22-year-old female who had a visitor from Manila, and a 42-year-old male who had travelled to Laguna, tested positive of the virus.

“It is with a heavy heart that I bring to you the news that we have several confirmed positive Covid-19 cases who have visited the Subic Bay Freeport Zone recently,” Eisma said in a statement.

SBMA’s statement did not mention any other SBMA official nor employees who could have possibly been exposed to the DND official’s presence nor of any office being shut down to be disinfected.

Asked, Eisma also did not reveal the nationalities of the 2 Covid-19 positive Subic residents, and which residential area of the Freeport they are from and are currently on “self quarantine” pending being moved to an “isolation and care” facility, raising concern among residents fearing possible exposure to the virus unknowingly because of withheld information.

She has assured, however, that she “shall continue to work and see to the operations of the SBMA while quarantined”, renewing her “call for vigilance and strict adherence to established health and safety protocols.”

Along with many parts of the country where community quarantine phases have been eased up mainly for economic reasons, the Freeport was placed on Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) status on July 1, after some 4 months of zero Covid-19 positive case record.

“While this may be the price of economic revival when we have to open our gates to help heal the economy, it becomes clearer that our only road out of this crises is eternal vigilance and mutual responsibility,” Eisma said in her statement. (VVV)

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