Payumo to keep SBMA post

Subic Bay Freeport — Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Felicito "Tong" Payumo officially announced yesterday that he is setting aside his plan to run for governor of Bataan and decided instead to finish his term as chairman of the Freeport Special Economic Zone.

"I have valid reasons, one of them and most important is that the remaining tasks that we have to do in the remaining months of my term are far more valuable than what I can do in a three-year term of any elective position that I was contemplating running for," he told The STAR.

Payumo is referring to the P12-billion world-class port development project in Cubi Point and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac toll road, two complimentary flagship projects of the Arroyo administration. — Bebot Sison Jr.