SBMA to Honor “Magnificent 12” Senators on its 10th Year
The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is celebrating its tenth year anniversary on March 13 starting off the yearlong activities and festivities by honoring the twelve Senators who voted against the extension of US Bases Treaty.
“It has been ten years since the Bases Conversion Law was enacted creating the SBMA, and because of the immense progress of the Freeport, it has become one of the leading growth economic areas not only in the country but in Asia as well,” SBMA Chairman Felicito C Payumo said.
The monument to the adulation of the so-called “Magnificent 12” Senators was erected in front of the SBMA administration building to pay tribute to the 12 Senators who opposed the extension of the US Bases Treaty, consequently creating Republic Act 7227 better known as the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992.
Handprints of Senators Jovito Salonga, Teofisto Guingona Jr., Aquilino Pimentel, Rene Saguisag, Wigberto Tañada, Victor Ziga, Agapito Aquino, Ernesto Maceda, Orlando Mercado, Juan Ponce Enrile, Sotero Laurel, and Joseph Estrada were inscribed on the monument.
“With the scheduled opening of major investment sites along several tourist spots and events, we are looking forward to a great year,” Payumo exclaimed.
Thir will be complemented by the improved Rizal-Maritan-Argonaut highway that will accommodate the growing traffic movement and coincides also with the opening of the modern sanitation landfill, a state-of-the-art equipment guaranteed to protect ands monitor the waste disposal in Subic.
At the same time, more investors are expected to open their new manufacturing plants including Sankyo Sieki, a Japanese electronic firm that would hire about 5,000 workers, while several other existing investors are undergoing expansion efforts to keep up with the growing demand of the global market.
In a span of ten years, Subic Freeport is on its way to double the 30,000 former US base workers as the present total workforce created by SBMA has already reached more than 50,000 employees both hired by investors and SBMA as well.
