SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority has released a total of P150.5 million in revenue shares for the second semester of 2016 to eight local government units adjacent to the Freeport.
SBMA Administrator Atty. Wilma Eisma said the LGU revenue shares this time is 6.4 percent higher than the P141.4 million posted in the first semester of 2015, and 30.6 percent more than the P115.23 million for the second semester of 2015.
“We are proud to turn over to you the result of the hard work of our SBMA workers who made everything possible for the agency they serve, as we continue to attract more investors and create more jobs,” Eisma told the local officials.
Municipal and city executives who attended the LGU share turnover ceremony at the SBMA Boardroom were Vice Mayor Jong Cortez (Olongapo City), Mayor Joseph Inton (Hermosa, Bataan); and Mayors Jefferson Khonghun (Subic), Dr. Estela Antipolo (San Antonio), Jose Angelo Dominguez (Castillejos) and Elvis Soria (San Marcelino) of Zambales.
Dinalupihan and Morong in Bataan were represented by their respective municipal treasurers.
The shares handed over to LGUs were derived from the five percent of gross revenue taxes paid to SBMA by locators and investors operating inside Subic Freeport.
Of that five percent, three percent goes to the national treasury, while two percent was distributed by SBMA among the eight LGUs.
The share each LGU receives is based on the following: population (50 percent), land area (25 percent), and equal sharing (25 percent).
Based on SBMA records this semester, Olongapo City remains the highest revenue share recipient with P35.1 million, followed by Subic with P22.96 million and Dinalupihan with P18.73 million.
Other municipalities were San Marcelino (P18.05 million), Hermosa (P15.65 million), Castillejos (P14 million), Morong (P13.07 million), and San Antonio (P12.92 million).
The funds are to be used to finance community development projects on health, education, and peace and order, as well as livelihood programs to enable communities near the Freeport to keep pace with the developments in the special economic zone.
Hermosa Mayor Inton thanked the SBMA for its continuous effort in improving the investment climate in the Freeport, which generates employment opportunities for the residents around it.
“These revenue shares will be used for improving the basic services the local government units are providing for their constituents, since these services were already devolved in the discretion of the LGUs,” he said.
Meanwhile, Eisma urged LGU officials to start looking for possible areas to be developed as industrial parks, as the SBMA eyes to extend the fenced areas of the Freeport to its neighboring communities to meet the land area requirements of new investors.
“We need more lands to be developed as industrial parks for our new investors. We should start making our master plan now. Currently, Subic Freeport has not enough land it could offer to new investors,” she said, adding SBMA is willing to help on the technical side of the planning.
The sooner these industrial parks are created, Eisma said the sooner SBMA would be able to accept big investment proposals, which would mean more jobs and bigger LGU shares.