Subic’s top man bares all in first state address

SUBIC Bay Freeport: Dubbed as the energizer, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chairman and Administrator Roberto Garcia bared in his first State of the Freeport Address his 5-year plan which will aims to revive the agencies thrust to make Subic generate more employment and investments.
Garcia presented several plans of the agency such as making it the top tourism capital of the Philippines by way of increasing sports tourism, bidding as a cruise ship destination and enhancing eco-tourism activities inside the Freeport.
He also plans to increase maritime activity, which he said has a good backing by the Department of Transportation and Communications.
“I have already talked to several shippers and they all agreed that Subic is the best place and had positive feedback,” he said.
Garcia also cited as a good start the arrival in Subic of the London-based MV Spirit of Adventure, the first cruise ship to arrive here this year with 378 passengers on board, mostly Europeans.
“Tourism Secretary Robert Jimenez specifically told me that Subic will become a cruise ship destination. And that is true because all of the passengers expressed their happiness in coming here, especially after seeing our rich eco-tourism facilities,” Garcia said.
Plans of building residential housing are also in the works, Garcia said.
Grand plan
One of Garcia’s grand plans is to convert the unutilized airport into a Sentosa-like resort, the one in Singapore, which hosts a resort and different tourism facilities in one place.
During his presentation, Garcia presented a map of the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) which he intended to divide into a water front villas, water-themed park, family hotel, golf course, BPO city, convention center, international theme park, hotel/casino science and technology park, duty free stores, office and residential, a super yacht club and luxury villas.
Challenges facing Subic
Garcia is the only top official since Subic was created in 1992 to formally say that the Freeport has lost a total P7billion cumulative loss.
To date, Garcia said, the Subic Freeport has only 300 hectares of leasable land out of the total 2,959 hectares leasable area.
Subic Freeport has a total land area of 67,452 hectares, 53,852 hectares of these are protected, while 10,341 are undeveloped and the rest are leasable.
The growth of the Freeport was at a standstill last year after Malacañang failed to appoint members of the board of directors to form quorum to tackle issue and new investments.
Job generation only grew by 0.50 percent from 88,450 in 2010 to 88,957 in 2011.
Committed investment grew by only 2 percent from $1.20 billion in 2010 to $1.210 billion in 2011.
Up for the challenge
Garcia is respected as a seasoned business executive and entrepreneur with over 40 years of experience in manufacturing, food and leisure industries.
He has been the man behind the success of Oriental and Motolite Corp. He served the company for more than 34 years before being appointed as the top man in Subic last year.
“The opportunities that exist today are very tremendous, believe me. And our plan is very bold and very ambitious but with the support of everyone, this plan will come true,” he said.
Just like any other top man who was appointed for the post, Garcia banked on the vision of former-chair-turned-Senator Richard Gordon to make Subic a thriving business and leisure destination in the region.
“Let the lessons of the past and the opportunity of today help us realize the vision of the new Subic that we dream of.” Garcia said.

Source: http://subictimes.com/2012/03/08/subics-top-man-bares-all-in-first-state-address/