The Japan International Cooperation Agency will update the masterplan for the development of Subic Bay and its surrounding areas, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.
Dominguez said during the plenary deliberations on the proposed DOF budget for 2020 that the government engaged the expertise of JICA for the project.
He relayed the information through Sen. Juan Edgardo Angar, chair of the Senate finance committee who sponsored the DOF budget.
“I was informed by the secretary that they are engaging JICA to update the Subic masterplan,” Angara said in response to Senator Richard Gordon’s interpellation regarding the government’s plan for the development of the former US naval base in his home province of Zambales.
Gordon was a former mayor of Olongapo City, which is adjacent to Subic. He was also the first administrator and chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
The Philippines and Japan signed on Dec. 6 a memorandum of cooperation signifying the latter’s commitment to provide technical support to the Duterte administration’s formulation of a regional development masterplan designed to maximize the economic potentials of the Subic Bay and its surrounding areas.