Marcos appoints GAB chief, SBMA board members

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has appointed a new chairman of the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) and eight board members of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

Palace press briefer Daphne Oseña-Paez said Marcos has appointed lawyer Richard Santos Clarin as chairman of the GAB, which regulates and supervises professional sports and allied activities to combat organized illegal gambling.

Clarin will succeed Abraham Mitra, who was appointed to the post by former president Rodrigo Duterte in 2016.

Paez said the President has also named new members of the SBMA board of directors – Allan Troy Dandan Baquir, who represents the national government; Edilberto Salgo Mozo and Tomas Fausto Lahom III, both of whom represent the business and investment sectors.

Named as acting members representing the private sector were Honorario Cabaguio Allado III, Jose Mari Balandra Ponce, Kenneth Lemuel Go Ramentilla, Amable Bancod Tolentino and Maria Cecilia Bobadilla-Bitare.

SBMA is mandated to develop the Subic Special Economic Zone into a “self-sustaining, industrial, commercial, financial and investment center” to generate job opportunities in and around the zone and to attract and promote productive foreign investments.