SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—The new management team of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority has revealed its 10-Point Agenda, which defines the direction of the agency in the next six years.
The agenda “is a set of priorities we would like to achieve. It is a direction that would guide us where we want to go and that is revitalizing the Subic Freeport,” SBMA Administrator lawyer Wilma “Amy” Eisma said.
The points, she said, focus on Locator Service Excellence, the Green Initiative, Safety and Security, “Build, Build, Build,” Subic Freeport as the Gateway, Community Engagement, Policy Reforms and Good Governance Program, Foreign Direct Investments and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the Freeport Expansion, and Tourism Star.
Under the Locator Service Excellence program, the SBMA will create a “Non-Stop Shop,” a 24/7 online customer service and virtual complaint desk, and a “One-Stop Shop” that would receive suggestions and complaints of the visiting public to Subic Bay through Dial 888 Hotline or personal appearances at their offices.
Along with this, the SBMA is institutionalizing the “Red Carpet Treatment” to all locators and investors by implementing the “Cut the Red Tape Project,” which will shorten to three days the releasing of certificates of registration and tax exemptions, building permits, and Environmental Compliance Certificate, among other licenses.
For the Green Initiative, the SBMA will start its improved climate change adaptation program through broader coastal cleanup drives and tree planting activities, and the use of renewable energy to mitigate any negative effect of the agency’s operations on the environment and, possibly, to secure ISO 14000 certificate compliance before the end of the year.
SBMA will institutionalize safety programs across the Freeport by improving its safety and security capabilities in land, sea and forest with the acquisition of new equipment such as speed boats, motorcycles, patrol cars, as well as the prohibition of walk-in vendors and mendicants, Eisma said.
These also include the establishment of security protocols, like using the SBMA website and the radio station, and the intensified campaign to make the Freeport drug-free area.
“The Agenda focuses on SBMA’s investment campaign to meet our vision of becoming a highly-urbanized Freeport in the near future. We must immediately start building and improving our facilities,” Eisma said.
Under the national government’s “Build, Build, Build” program, agency’s engineering department will be able to finalize the feasibility study on Subic’s port development plan, the Tipo Road expansion, bulk terminal expansion for PPP, improvement of access roads to Morong and surrounding municipalities, and the construction of SBMA’s corporate center that will house all of the agency’s offices and departments.
Meanwhile, Subic Freeport will be promoted as the gateway to Southeast Asia and the world by intensifying marketing campaigns for its airport and seaport, with the former reviving domestic and international flight operations, regaining status as an international airport and settling pending issues with CAAP, and the latter by introducing more competitive port-related tariffs and fees and promoting ship-to-ship business model to increase container traffic by at least five percent annually.
Complementing its infrastructure development programs, SBMA will step-up promotion the of high technology industries prioritizing research and development (R&D), creative, BPO and ICT while maintaining Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and USA as key sources of foreign direct investments (FDIs).