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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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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SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has generated a total of P65.73 million in income from participating in the government’s crew-change program that facilitated the safe and speedy travel of Filipino and foreign seafarers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the additional revenue was realized after 16 months of processing seafarers following the designation of the Subic Bay Freeport as a crew-change hub in September 2020.
The total income came from the P14.64 million that was earned from September to December 2020, and the P51.09 million that was collected in the 12 months last year.
Eisma pointed out this did not include income earned by local hotels and other tourism-related businesses that provided quarantine rooms and other services for the disembarked seamen.
“The P65.7-million income is an additional windfall that SBMA earned by banking on Subic’s strict enforcement of health safety protocols,” Eisma noted.
“And it was realized after Subic took the opportunity—despite initial disapproval by some neighboring LGUs—to provide much-needed service at a time when only a few ports wanted to take in seafarers because of the virus threat,” she added.
Eisma said that the SBMA decided favorably on the crew-change project because it would not only bring crewmen home to their families, but would also help unlock congestion in ports and reboot the global supply chain that has been heavily impacted by the pandemic.
According to the SBMA Seaport Department, a total of 254 crew-change operations were undertaken in Subic in the 16 months since September 2020. These involved 62 vessels in 2020 and 192 ships in 2021.
On the average, around 12 to 15 ships arrive in Subic each month for crew change, said Seaport general manager Jerome Martinez. But on busy times as many as 25 ships could call in Subic in a month, as they did in June last year, or even 33 as they did last November.
The ships arrive either to take in new on-signers to refresh the crew, or disembark off-signers who must go on vacation or visit their families.
Martinez said that in the last 16 months, the port of Subic was able to process a total of 2,001 on-signers, of which 1,931 were Filipinos and 70 were foreigners of various nationalities.
At the same time, a total of 1,927 off-signers came onshore through Subic. These included 1,743 Filipinos and 184 foreigners, Martinez said.
The seafarers arrived in all kinds of ships like the MT Dapeng Star, a liquified natural gas tanker which was the first vessel to call in Subic under the crew-change program; MV Mindoro, a Panama-flagged vehicles carrier; MT Jason, a chemical tanker from Marshall Islands; MT Euro Integrity, a Liberian-flagged crude oil tanker; MV Nine Eagle, a Panama-flagged livestock carrier; and CS Cable Retriever, a dredging and cable-laying ship based in Singapore.
Aside from Subic and the Manila South Harbor, the other designated crew-change hubs in the country are in the port of Batangas, Port of Cebu, Port Capinpin in Orion, Bataan and Port of Sasa in Davao.
Under the crew change program, disembarking seafarers have to quarantine in facilities designated under the One Stop Shop (OSS) for Seafarers until testing negative in RT-PCR Covid-19 test which is taken on the sixth day after arrival.

WITH the Supreme Court Decision favoring his petition, Stefani C. Saño, former Senior Deputy Administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), is hopeful that some four (4) years after retiring from government service he will finally receive his retirement benefits.
Saño’s benefits had to wait pending resolution of his petition contesting the Formal Charge and Order of Preventive Suspension issued against him in August 2012 by then SBMA Chairman & Administrator Roberto V. Garcia in connection with a smuggling attempt of 420,000 bags of rice to the Subic Bay Freeport.
Implicated in the controversy in an ensuing Senate Hearing, Garcia issued a Formal Charge against Saño citing Grave Misconduct, Gross Neglect of Duty, Dishonesty and Conduct Prejudicial to the Interest of the Service, placing him under a ninety (90) day preventive suspension.
Saño assailed Garcia’s actions claiming, among others, “that he was denied due process and that said order was issued with manifest partiality, bad faith and grave abuse of authority.”
In May 2013, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) ruled in favor of SBMA (Garcia) and subsequently the Court of Appeals (CA) in April 2015 and February 2016, prompting Saño to seek relief from the Supreme Court, questioning the authority of Garcia to issue the Formal Charge and Preventive Suspension “as it is the Disciplinary Action Committee that has such authority pursuant to SBMA’s own rules on Administrative Discipline.”
Garcia, for his part, argued that the Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service (RRACCS) repealed the SBMA’s own Rules on Administrative discipline and thus, he is the disciplining authority with the power to issue an order of preventive suspension.
In a decision promulgated on October 13, 2021 but released only recently, the Supreme Court’s 1st Division “reversed and set aside” the 2015 decision and 2016 resolution of the CA. “The formal charge and order of suspension are hereby declared invalid and without legal basis,” the Supreme Court said.
NO MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION
SBMA tends to accept the SC decision and may no longer file a Motion for Reconsideration (MR).
“While the option to file a Motion for Reconsideration yet remains with the SBMA, it would appear that the Agency has already exhausted its arguments during previous court proceedings,” the SBMA Legal Department said in response to Subic Bay News’ query, “Although we have yet to receive our copy of the Supreme Court decision… we welcome this new development in this long-standing issue of concern to which the agency is party.”
“If we don’t do an MR, then we will follow the instructions of the SC (have the 90 days monetized at the current rate),” SBMA Chairman & Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said, “that is the right thing to do absent an MR.”
Garcia declined to comment.

VINDICATION
“The favorable decision of the Supreme Court brings joy not only to me but also to my family, colleagues and friends who all suffered because of the unjust and atrocious treatment I got from certain officials of a previous administration of SBMA,” Saño said, “we all felt much relief with this vindication.”
“As this decision becomes part of Philippine Jurisprudence, this may guide officials, managers and employees on the rights and proper behavior and handling of cases in the workplace,” Saño told Subic Bay News,” I hope this vindication sends strong signals to tyrants and would-be tyrants in the agencies and offices, government and private alike.”