Business at SBMA returns to normal

It’s business as usual at the Subic freeport zone in Zambales after the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) forged an agreement with striking employees late Friday.

The agreement ended the workers’ protest action and lifted the barricades in the various gates of the freeport.

The SBMA, its subsidiary Freeport Services Corp. (FSC), and the protesters signed an amicable settlement that focused on the employees’ desire to return to their jobs without any legal or administrative sanctions to be taken against them.

Meanwhile, President Arroyo confirmed yesterday that she would like to see former Navy chief Rear Adm. Guillermo Wong chairman of the SBMA, but respects the fixed tenure of the present SBMA chief Felicito "Tong" Payumo.

"I don’t want the SBMA to be politicized. I believe it should be headed by neither Tong nor Dick. The choice should be a technocrat acceptable to both," she said, referring to Felicito Payumo, the current SBMA chairman, and Richard Gordon, tourism secretary and former SBMA chairman.

Mrs. Arroyo said Wong, whose integrity she praised, "is a strong possibility" for the post, "if Tong is willing to resign in his favor."

"When you go up to flag-officer-in-command rank, you must have some ma-nagement capability," the President said.

The agreement at SBMA came after protesting workers sought an audience with Payumo as they wanted to personally talk to him about going back to their same positions.

There was no mention in the agreement of the economic demands earlier raised by the employees as these had been addressed in the first few days of the protest action.

But the workers conti-nued with their action which led SBMA officials to believe that the protest was instigated by Gordon and his wife, Olongapo City Mayor Katherine Gordon.

However, the agreement was reached after the mediation of labor officials led by Civil Service Commission regional chief Anicia de Lima, Department of Labor and Employment regional director Ana Dione, National Conciliation and Mediation Board director Juanito Mejia and conciliator-mediator Rodolfo Guevarra.

The Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce also sought a resolution to the stand-off since the protest hampered the operations of companies and businesses in the freeport.

The protesting employees admitted that their protest activity, including barricading the various gates of the freeport and preventing entry and exit of workers and tourists, was "contrary to law" and a "wrongful activity."

"That we, the protesting workers of the FSC, which having legitimate grievances against the management, admit and acknowledge that the manner by which we staged our protest action from Feb. 21 to March 9, 2001, was contrary to law," the agreement said in part.

Further, the protesters "hereby promise and commit that we shall not, in the future, engage in any similar wrongful activity and shall observe the rule of law and abide by the proper legal procedures for the expression of our legitimate grievances."

The agreement also included the formation of a pro-active grievance panel which employees would now use to air their grievances and resolve these peacefully.

The protesters also agreed to end the protest action and lift the barricades at the gates and return to work tomorrow.

The resolution of the protest came in the wake of a possible dispersal by the Philippine National Police which sent a large contingent from Camp Olivas under Central Luzon police chief Enrique Galang.

The first day of the barricade was on March 8 when a large group of Japanese businessmen arrived to witness the inauguration of the new plant of lumber products firm Juken Sangyo which will employ 1,000 workers. –With Joanne Rae Ramirez