SBMA generates over 50,000 jobs

Employment for more than 50,000 workers has been generated by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to date, more than double the employment provided by the US Navy when Subic was still a US naval facility.

According to SBMA Chairman Felicito C. Payumo, the total combined employees hired by various investors of Subic Freeport, the SBMA and its subsidiary, the Freeport Service Corp., has reached 53,185.

Payumo pointed out that the SBMA has lived up to its reputation as one of the top economic zones in the country and is steadily providing much-needed employment opportunities for Filipinos.

The Subic Freeport, Payumo said, has also achieved the objective of Republic Act 7227, the law which created the freeport in 1992.

Under RA 7227, the former Subic Naval Base was converted into a Freeport to generate on alternative source of income for residents of neighboring communities adversely affected by the withdrawal of the US Navy.

Based on SBMA records, 32,673 new jobs were created from September 1998 to April this year.

Most of the workers or about 50 percent still come from Olongapo City.

Bataan accounts for 17 percent of the employees in Subic, while Zambales accounts for 16 percent of the workforce.

The remaining percentage of 17 percent is accounted for by workers coming from Pampanga and other cities in Metro Manila.

SBMA labor department head Severo Pastor explained that it is the policy of the SBMA to adopt an equitable distribution of workers hired from communities surrounding the Freeport zone and not limit hiring only to Olongapo residents.

The SBMA regularly conducts job fairs in Zambales and Bataan.