This developed as the number of SBITC workers infected by the virus have risen to 45 from fourteen (14), only ten (10) days after the SBMA first announced the mass infections on Aug. 17.

According to SBMA fire chief Ranny Magno, the firefighter, who remains asymptomatic, has been on quarantine at an SBMA isolation facility and is doing well.

NO SHUT DOWN

SBMA Chairman & Administrator Wilma T. Eisma has not commented yet on queries sent by Subic Bay News as of this writing. (pls. stand-by for updates if and when ChAd Eisma finally breaks her silence -Ed)

Despite the unparalleled large number of Covid-19 infections at the container port, SBITC management and SBMA officials have not initiated moves to shut down the company’s operations.

Since the different quarantine phases began in mid March due to the pandemic, the SBITC port remained bustling with activity, with cargo ships from China, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and elsewhere, delivering and picking up containers on a regular basis.

Truck drivers and helpers from various parts of the country also come to Subic to pick up cargo for delivery, and return empty containers, as required.

Earlier, some SBITC employees slammed the company’s management, and SBMA officials for the “lack of transparency” on the Covid-19 positive cases in the container terminal, with the latter officially announcing the infections only several weeks after the situation began to escalate as early as late July.

SBITC has some 124 employees, interacting with haulers and truckers, clients and SBMA employees within and outside the container terminal.

Other locators, as well as Freeport residents have already taken to social media concerns on SBMA and SBITC’s handling of the Covid-19 infections in the container port which, so far, appear to have not been effective enough to arrest the growing number of victims.

FIREFIGHTERS AS FRONTLINERS

Meanwhile, the SBMA Fire Department has already decontaminated a total of 110 buildings and offices, including 34 SBMA facilities, according to an SBMA statement.

At the same time, the Fire Prevention Division of the SBMA Fire Department has switched from its usual lecture on fire control and instead performed orientation and inspection of Covid-19 health protocols in locator companies that were allowed to operate during the quarantine.

“We know the risks of our job. We understand that we could be infected anytime. But we have to do our job to protect our locators and stakeholders,” Magno said.

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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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SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – This former US Naval Base turned Freeport has, to date, zero positive case of the Wuhan Virus (Covid-19) but, nevertheless the Pandemic has taken its toll on business and the labor sector here, as well.

According to the Labor Department of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), companies have “resorted to cost-cutting measures like forced leave, compressed workweek schedules, or outright termination of workers since February” when the Covid-19 outbreak began to hurt business activities in all levels worldwide.

Wistron Infocomm (Philippines) Corp., a computer device manufacturer and technical service provider tops the number of employees separated with 551, followed by port operator Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC) with 121, theme park operator Subic Bay Marine Exploratorium, Inc. (Ocean Adventure/Camayan Resort) 110, and Simon & Stanley International Trading & Development Co., with 74.

The report showed that as of June 2, a total of 2,435 workers underwent forced leave while 124 others were bumped off by compressed workweek schedules because of low demand for company products, or due to lack of materials and supplies for production.

Wistron also placed hundreds of workers on forced leave in February and March before finally separating the 551 of the employees last April.

MORE LAY-OFFS

Meanwhile, ship repair firm Subic Drydock Corporation (SDC) is scheduled to separate 52 employees on June 25 after implementing mandatory leave for 149 workers on May 1 to 15, according to the SBMA Labor Department report.

Subic Drydock administrative manager Diana Ross Mazo said in a statement that the imposition of Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) last March “forced the business to shut down for two months without revenue.”

Mazo said that despite the cancellation of project bookings, the SDC has recalled back to work 40 percent of its employees as the company reopened in a staggered fashion starting May 18.

“Over the next few weeks, SDC will gradually increase capacity in support of the ‘new norm’. However, based on careful review of our operation, we need to reduce manpower by separating some of our employees effective June 25,” she added.

Mazo said the company will abide by laws and regulations regarding the separation of workers and will provide the applicable 13^th month and service incentive leave pay, as well as half month pay per year of service. Payment for the affected employees will be given in two separate checks: one dated June 26 and the other dated July 26, she added. 

Mazo also said that SDC officials, along with representatives from the SBMA Labor Department and the Department of Labor and Employment’s satellite office in Olongapo City, met with the affected workers in six batches until June11 to process the termination.

SBMA Labor Department manager Melvin Varias said the SBMA Labor Department is closely monitoring the implementation by Subic companies of their retrenchment measures to ensure compliance with labor laws.

Prior to the Covid-19 crisis, various locators in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone employed a total of 138,940 workers, with close to 70 percent in the services sector and more than 15 percent in manufacturing, Varias said. 

MORE COMPANIES NOW OPERATIONAL

On Monday, June 1, SBMA approved the operation of close to 900 companies doing core business activities and providing essential services following the shift to general community quarantine (GCQ).

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the Subic agency lately gave the green light to 14 companies under GCQ rules, thus bringing the total number of open businesses here to 868.

Most of those allowed to operate under various levels of quarantine are manufacturers of export products, producers and suppliers of food and medicine, those involved in logistics operation, and utility operators, Eisma added.

Prior to this, the SBMA allowed 568 firms to remain open when the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) took effect on March 16, and then approved the reopening of 286 more companies after Subic transitioned to Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) on May 16.

“The total number of locators that are now allowed to operate is just half of the 1,648 enterprises registered in Subic, but we are expecting more reopening in the coming weeks, as more qualified companies comply with minimum safety protocols specified under government guidelines,” Eisma said.

“But we have to remind everybody that we don’t allow companies to just open—even if they are qualified to open under Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) guidelines—without first passing compliance assessment by the SBMA,” Eisma said.

Eisma explained the assessment entails an ocular inspection by SBMA health and safety officials, as well as the Incident Management Team, which coordinates the agency’s Covid-19 response program, and is based on guidelines on workplace prevention and control of Covid-19 issued by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). 

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