Senior Deputy Administrator Amethya dela Llana, head of Ecology Department of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said she “will issue a show cause” order to the Philippine Coastal Storage & Pipeline Corporation (PCSPC) for the fuel oil slick that currents carried across the pristine waters of Subic Bay.

“I will call for a technical conference when I issue a show cause”, dela Llana said.

Diesel is considered as “one of the most acutely toxic oil types” that can taint and impact marine life like fish, crabs, sea weeds and corals, but may also affect birds “by direct contact”.

According to dela Llana, the slick “might be diesel” based on the pictures taken by Subic Bay News from 11:03 AM to 12:24 PM showing the fuel oil slick, estimated a hundred meter long and around 15 meters wide at some point, travel several kilometers from the PCSPC ports to the shores of Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA).

PCSPC did not respond to messages sent by Subic Bay News to inquire on the matter.

PCSPC denied the possibility of their piers being the source of a spill, according to dela Llana, when she called the company’s attention.

“Ako po mismo ang nagtanong,” she said, but was told “no operation and wala pong barko ang Coastal (PSCPC) ngayon”. However, it appears that PCSPC lied to dela Llana because at least three vessels were at the company’s piers on Thursday morning, namely MT Jag Parth, MT Chelsea Excellence and MT Hoya Grace.

The source of the spill may not necessarily have come from vessels, though, as it could also have come from PCSPC’s own fuel pipes on the piers leading to and from the company’s several storage tanks with a total capacity of around one billion liters.

PCSPC, also referred to as Coastal, may face stiff fines and penalties, on top of a tarnished image if found responsible for the Maundy Thursday fuel oil spill in Subic Bay. (VVV) ###

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) padlocked this morning (July 14) the warehouses of two cigarette manufacturing companies here for illegal activities uncovered under the agency’s Tax Compliance and Verification Drive (TCVD).

            No less than BIR Commissioner Romeo D. Lumagui, Jr. led the inspection of the warehouses where dozens of unregistered cigarette manufacturing equipment, as well as cigarette packing and raw materials were found.

            “Na-confirm natin na hindi rehistrado lahat ng makina ng dalawang kumpanyang ito at hindi rin rehistrado ang mga brands na ito,” Lumagui said clarifying that the non-registration is a violation that could draw not only fines, penalties and seizure but imprisonment as well.

            According to the TCVD mission order issued by OIC BIR Regional Director Emmanuel S. Ferrer, Jr., the two companies maintaining the now padlocked warehouses are OneSubic Premier Manufacturing Corporation (OPMC) and Hongcim International Corporation (HIC), sister companies operated by the same group of owners whose names are yet to be released.

            The country is losing around P100 B yearly in taxes due to the unscrupulous practices of manufacturers in the cigarette industry alone, according to Lumagui, denying government much needed funds that could help provide services to the public.

            He said the BIR has been receiving reports that cigarette brands supposedly made for the international market, such as those found at the OPMC and HIC warehouses, namely RGD, Baisha, Liqun, Saat, Furongwang, Nanjing, Shuangxi, Brustun, Azalea and Chunghwa find their way in the local market, skipping the payment of excise tax and other fees.

            Subic Bay News tried to get a reaction on the closures from Chairman and Administrator Jonathan D. Tan of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) which administers the Subic Bay Freeport but he has yet to respond as of this writing.

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“I only need one 1500 gpm (gallons per minute) rated capacity pumper and one tanker to water supply and the historical building could have been saved,” Magno said in disappointment, suggesting that Manila Fire officers and personnel undergo schooling and training.

“If you have a 40,000 square foot building that is all ordinary group 1, the calculation would be 1,500 x 0.15 (density) = 225 + 250 (hose demand) = 475 gpm total for the fire pump,” he said, “if the structure has multiple hazards, the hazard with the highest gpm calculation dictates the pump size.”

“These are simple fire ground hydraulic calculation that all fire officers must learn,” he reiterated.

Magno also took exception to a Manila Fire Department statement using the term “mopping up” operations which, he said, is not part of the Fire Service’s language. “Ano kayo sundalo?” a visibly irked Magno said.

“Ang tawag diyan ay “overhaul operations, the objective of which is to seek out and extinguish all remaining fire, control loss, stabilize the incident scene by providing firefighter safety and to secure the structure.”

The fire hit the Manila Post Office in Manila late Sunday night and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) said the blaze reached the first alarm at 11:41 p.m. Sunday and reached general alarm shortly before 6 a.m. Monday.

PREMATURE 

It was declared fire under control as of 7:22 a.m., Monday,  Manila Fire Department Fire Superintendent Christine Doctor-Cula said in a Facebook post, an announcement that Magno said was premature, righly so as the fire raged on for another day before finally being put out on Tuesday.

LOOTING?

Seventeen (17) fire personnel and a civilian were reportedly injured, strangely so, according to Magno, because they must have been donning PPEs (Personnel Protective Equipment). “They may have sustained injuries because they took off their PPEs for some reason, like attempting to sift through the parcels for what they can take,” he told Subic Bay News.

Magno said he is offering the services of the SBMA Fire Department to train and provide schooling for Manila Fire Dept. officers and personnel.

The SBMA Fire Department is a multi-awarded unit, both locally and internationally, and has been tapped to provide services in several major disasters, the latest of which was the deadly magnitude 7.8 earthquake that rocked Turkiye and Syria in February this year, killing close to 60,000 people in both countries.

Magno, a fireman of the US Naval Base in Subic Bay in the past, himself, headed the 82-man Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team of the Philippine contingent which heaped praises from the Turkish government and was cited by the Philippine senate for a job well done.

“May kirot sa dibdib ang pagkatupok ng Manila Post Office buiding,“ he said, “wala na nga tayo halos ganoong klaseng gusali na nakatayo pa hanggang sa kaslukuyan tapos ganoon na lang, napabayaan. (Vic V. Vizcocho, Jr. with reports from PNA)

THE Subic Bay Freeport Zone has a “unique” advantage in having both an airport and a seaport at the same time, according to Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Sr. Deputy Administrator (SDA) Ronnie R. Yambao.

“The SBMA, as an enabler of free trade and commerce, is ready to offer its airport and port facilities as a logistics supply chain solution for the distribution of aquamarine and agricultural commodities locally and abroad,” Yambao said, “its intermodal network by land, sea and air is a game changer that will accelerate growth in the logistics sector.”

SDA Yambao made the remarks on Tuesday at Subic’s Mansion Garden Hotel during the Philippine Aquamarine and Agriculture Development Concession Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signing ceremony that aims to put up a “state of the art” Logistics Hub in the Freeport.

The project, touted to generate trading worth some $420 M annually when launched, would bring Japan’s Tokushima Auction Market and its marketing arm Global Trade Venture (GTV) Company Ltd. to Subic.

GTV/TAM President and CEO Yoshihisa Arai and Japan Medicinal Association (JMA) Chairman Dr. Kazuo Hara led the signing MoA signing along with lawyer Manuel B. Quijano, President of Magbukun Agri-venture Inc., Ayta Chieftain Berlina Rostum and Subic Indigenous People Assistance Group (SIPAG) Acting President Aurelio Pineda.

Amin Javadi, Iran’s Ambassador to the Philippines graced the MoA signing with his presence along with senior Japanese consultants Kazuo Sato and Nobayasu Sugimoto.

“By bringing in this group that will not only be investors but will be joint venture partners of SBMA that will allow huge trading volumes,” Quijano said in the press conference that followed.

A day before, GTV/TAM had just consummated a similar MoA with the officials of the Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA) and Asia Pacific Precision Agriculture Group (ASPAC AG) in Davao City. (VVV)

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LAWYER Randy B. Escolango has taken his oath this morning as Undersecretary of the Dept. of Labor & Employment (DOLE) before Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III.

His appointment was signed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte last February 22, 2022 to fill in the permanent vacancy created by the mandatory retirement of USec. Philip A. Paredes last February 3.

“I am deeply honored and thankful to be entrusted with a very important office in the Dept. of Labor & Employment,” Escolango told Subic Bay News, “It is another avenue where I can make myself productive in helping people feel and experience the government’s sincere care and concern for their welfare and well being.”

 He said it is but proper for the administration “to place the country’s labor sector among its top priorities, striking a fair and mutually acceptable balance of interest with the business sector.”

A Deputy Commissioner of the Insurance Commission (IC) since 2017 where he also headed the Legal Services Group, Escolango was Deputy Administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and had a stint as Officer-in-Charge of the said Government Owned and Controlled Corp. (GOCC) before moving to the IC.

“In between, he managed to serve as a professor at the local Columban College where he first enrolled to take up AB English in 1993 before completing his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science as a Dean’s Lister from the New Era University. Earning his Master’s in Public Management in 2010, he went on to become a Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration in 2014.”

Still not through with his appetite for education, Escolango is currently enrolled for a bachelor’s degree in Accountancy at Far Eastern University where he previously earned his Bachelor of Laws Degree in 2001, the same year he passed the Bar Examinations.

His various engagements in and out of government service was not a deterrent to USec. Escolango to serve as an officer of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary (PCGA) where he is currently a Rear Admiral. He is also president of the New Era University Alumni Association, Inc., member of the International Bar Association, Certified Treasury Professional, Accredited Financial Analyst, Professor of Law on Insurance and other Commercial Laws, and Lecturer in Mandatory Continuing Legal Education for Lawyers (MCLE). He also writes a regular column for the national newspaper The Manila Times.

USec. Escolango, 45, is married to Michelle Cortez-Escolango, a Pharmacist and businesswoman with whom he has four children, namely, Ranchelle, Marielle, Randy Jr. and Mirand.

Among his favorite dictums, USec. Escolango always puts emphasis on kindness and helping others. “Kindness and helping others will return to you when you least expect it, and maybe when you need it,” he counsels his family, friends, and anyone else who care to listen. (VVV)

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SBMA Chairman Wilma T. Eisma said these will be released to the eight neighboring LGUs next week.

The LGU shares are broken down as follows: P32,859,441.37 for Olongapo City; P21,145,468.61 for Subic, Zambales; P16,883,070.73 for San Marcelino, Zambales; P12,831,070.73 for Castillejos, Zambales; P11,968,060.18 for San Antonio, Zambales; P17,509,805.94 for Dinalupihan, Bataan; P15,003,180.96 for Hermosa, Bataan; and P12,402,469.66 for Morong, Bataan.

The shares, which are sourced from the five-percent taxes paid by business locators in the Subic Bay Freeport, are meant to promote parallel development in communities near the Freeport and enhance LGU projects in tourism, infrastructure, education, peace and order, health, and livelihood generation.

Eisma said the new allocation is 18 percent smaller than the LGU shares released in August last year, which totaled P166.16 million, but surpassed by more than 12 percent the P123.1 million total distributed in February 2021.

The LGU shares for the first half of the year is released in August, while that for the second half is released in February the next year.

Eisma said, however, that the SBMA will do away with the usual check-releasing ceremony as a precaution in face of the recent surge of Covid-19 cases nationwide, including in local communities.

“For the first time, I won’t be releasing the checks personally because I want to avoid crowding in pursuit of health protocols that we are enforcing in the Subic Bay Freeport. So, we advise LGU representatives to please claim their checks at the SBMA Treasury instead,” Eisma said.

According to SBMA records, the Subic agency has now distributed a total of P2.83 billion in LGU shares since 2011 when the SBMA started releasing shares directly to the LGUs. Previously, the distribution of LGU shares were coursed through the National Treasury.

The LGU shares are computed according to population (50%), land area (25%), and equal sharing (25%).

The biggest LGU beneficiary ever since is Olongapo City, which received a total of P672.73 million since 2011. It is followed by Subic, Zambales with P427.35 million; Dinalupihan, P353.89 million; San Marcelino, P341.03 million; Hermosa, P293.12 million; Castillejos, P255.68 million; Morong, P246.28 million; and San Antonio, P245.6 million.

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is now enforcing stricter safety protocols to ensure the health and safety of visitors to the Subic Bay Freeport amid the recent surge in Covid-19 infections.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said hotels and accommodation facilities here will now require guests to present negative results for Covid-19 antigen tests taken in the past 24 hours or RT-PCR tests released 48 hours prior to check-in.
The new requirement was made effective Monday, January 24, following Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) guidelines placing the surrounding areas of Zambales, Olongapo City, and Bataan under Alert Level 3 on January 6, Eisma said.

“While interzonal travel is allowed under Alert Level 3, we want to take the extra step in ensuring the health and safety of, not only our visitors in the Freeport, but also our local businesses, workers, and stakeholders,” Eisma said.

She added that the SBMA is also checking for vaccination cards among visitors entering the Freeport and required negative RT-PCR test results for the unvaccinated.

Previous Alert Level 3 guidelines from the IATF did not require antigen or RT-PCR tests for interzonal travel except when required by establishments or event organizers. “However, because of the recent surge in Covid-19 infections, there is a need for us to enforce stricter measures for the sake of both visitors and locals, and to keep Subic businesses going,” Eisma stressed.

Recently, Olongapo City, which provides most of the workers in the Subic Bay Freeport, was named as one of the cities with the highest rate of Covid-19 infections. The Subic Freeport, meanwhile, logged 78 active cases for SBFZ residents and 17 for Freeport transient workers and guests as of January 18.

“This is why we have to be more vigilant, and why we should not relax our guard,” Eisma explained.

Along with the hotel requirements, the SBMA also reminded Subic business locators and stakeholders to report possible cases of Covid-19 to the SBMA Public Health and Safety Department, pointing out that failure to do so shall be grounds for the cancellation of their certificates of registration.

Eisma said that under Republic Act 11332, or the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act,” persons and entities who will not report Covid-19 cases or respond to Covid-19 health events may be fined from P20,000 to P50,000.

Business establishments in the Freeport were also required to announce to the public if they have been temporarily closed because of any recently confirmed Covid-19 case in their premises, she added.

Eisma said that both the SBMA and neighboring local government units have been increasing their target vaccinations and booster rollout to keep Covid-19 cases low and not overwhelm the healthcare system. “As the SBMA and neighbor-LGUs have proven well in the past, we are stronger together in every common undertaking,” she said.

She added that while the SBMA is not an LGU, it has initiated a vaccine drive primarily for Freeport employees, health workers, and residents. “At the end of the day, we can only beat Covid-19 if we practice malasakit and help each other,” she said.

The Subic chief also reminded the general public that while restrictions are in place, the Subic Bay Freeport Zone is still very much open to everyone and will continue to be the premier business hub in this part of the country.

“As long as we follow the minimum health and safety standards like always wearing mask, keeping safe distance, frequent handwashing or disinfection, and, of course, getting vaccinated, we will get over this new surge as we have had before,” Eisma said.