Volunteers who 24 years ago protected and helped made Subic Freeport into a star investment and tourism location must honored for their sacrifices, according to Senator Richard Gordon.
As founding chairman and former administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Gordon said that without the volunteers’ integrity, hard-work and compassion, Subic Freeport would not have been acclaimed as the most globally successful military bases-conversion effort shortly after the Americans turned over the facilities on Nov. 24, 1992.
The Commission on Audit recently came out with a report saying that the previous SBMA administration declared a P4 billion in a “accounts receivable” status in 2015.
“We should honor the sacrifices of the thousands of volunteers who made Subic a flourishing investment and tourism hub,” said Gordon.
When the Americans left the Subic Naval base after more than two decades, Gordon said the volunteers guarded the facility and didn’t go the way of Sangley Point Naval Base in Cavite.
“We had not yet fully recovered from the devastation caused by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo and when the Americans left, our people lost their jobs,” said Gordon.
If they did not guard and maintain the facilities, Gordon said they could have lost even more. Even before the departure of the US forces, he already had a vision to convert the naval base into a Freeport, he added.
The senator said that through hard work and seamless service from investment to operations, foreign and domestic investors soon flocked to the Freeport so that 70,000 jobs were created, benefitting residents of Olongapo City, Zambales and the other nearby provinces.
He noted that SBMA also did not receive a budget allocation from the government, instead the Freeport contributed to the national government’s coffers.
“I want to see Subic Freeport back to its former glory. I hope the new administrator will work hard to get new investors. The airport should also be rehabilitated to entice investors,” he further stated.