AFAB going stronger at 12. Photo by Ernie Esconde
MARIVELES, Bataan — The Freeport Area of Bataan here has remained strong and continued its drive towards the paths of further development despite experiencing downturns because of the pandemic, the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan that operates FAB reported Friday.
AFAB administrator Engr. Emmanuel Pineda compared the challenges faced by FAB during the past year to sailing in rough waves and stormy seas.
“Despite the economic downturn, the FAB continues to be financially viable and has managed to continue to contribute to the government. From January to August 2021, AFAB remitted a total of P164 million to the national coffers,” the administrator said.
Records, he said, showed that new enterprises were registered this year and employment even increased compared to that of last year.
Paul Robert Salapantan, AFAB corporate affairs technical officer, has said that around 85 to 90 companies have returned to operation with 50 percent of the total 40,000 workforce allowed inside the freeport per day.
Health and safety protocols are properly observed, he stressed.
In terms of investments, AFAB recorded a total of P40.6 billion actual investments to date. In committed investments, a P26.4-billion increase has been noted from the end of last year’s P14.2 billion, Pineda said.
He noted that the Philippine Statistics Authority has cited AFAB to be the only investment promotion agency (IPA) that attracted more foreign investments in the first quarter of this year and also included among the IPAs that generated foreign investments during the second quarter of this year.
“As gleaned from the registered values of export and import transactions with positive net trade value generated, FAB-registered enterprises have successfully performed,” Pineda said.
The freeport has also opened its doors to the digital market by launching a global trading platform. A significant increase in port activities and revenues this year was also attained, he added.
Pineda considered this year as also momentous with the declaration of nine more FAB expansion areas, now totaling 16, in towns outside Mariveles.
“While keeping our focus on Covid-related issues, we cannot set aside pre-pandemic priorities like accelerating infrastructure developments, improving the ease of doing business in the FAB and most importantly, our soft heart strategy,” Pineda said.
In line with this, he said, they continued to pursue their commitment to infrastructure development for the FAB community despite the delays due to the pandemic.
For the past year, they have successfully completed 15 projects with total amount of P188 million while another 27 projects costing P721.1 million are either ongoing or nearing completion.
“These projects will provide additional business advantages and social benefits for the FAB main zone and barangays Malaya, Maligaya and Baseco which are within the freeport territory,” the administrator said.
Pineda also cited projects last year and this year for the improvement of power distribution, flood control, waste management and handling services, among many others.
AFAB was created in October of 2009 by RA 9728 from the former Bataan Export Processing Zone turned into the Bataan Economic Zone.
In 2019, a decade after its inception, FAB was its peak posting a 267 percent growth in the number of registered enterprises from 39 to 143 and a 244 percent leap from 12,777 employees to 43,990 with regularization rate at its peak at one point to more than 80 percent.
Coping with Covid
Pineda said the freeport had gone through the most trying circumstances in its operation as Covid–19 continued to hit the homes and workplaces. They were pressed to figure out how to go about their business under this new normal where safety and health, given more concerns, are needed to be balanced with sustained economic activities.
“There is no need for our work to stop but we just need to adapt. We conducted massive information and education campaigns and heightened our response to ensure the safety of workers and to contain the spread of the virus,” he said.
Granular lockdowns to enforce contact tracing and workplace mapping in 12 enterprises were ordered by the AFAB incident management team.
Thirty-one Covid-related advisories and memorandum circulars were published and town halls disseminated with critical information to guide all FAB enterprises, zone workers and key stakeholders.
The AFAB health unit was established. Isolation and quarantine facilities put up and vaccination of workers undertaken in full swing.
“With these actions coupled with rigid inspections and disinfections conducted and the need for cooperation and instituting discipline and shared accountability emphasized to all, we were able to manage the worst outbreak in Mariveles and inside the freeport,” Pineda said.
“We were able to respond beyond our core duties by bringing agencies, institutions and individuals together through our FABayanihan, our umbrella program that brought out the heroes in us all day after day,” he said.
“As such, the local government of Mariveles has approved the recommendation of the AFAB to allow up to 100 percent operation of companies in the FAB subject to staggered working hours, vaccination rate targets among workers and shifting schedules,” Pineda added.
In partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the offices of Senator Bong Go and Bataan 2nd District Rep. Jose Enrique Garcia III, the payout for the assistance to individuals in crisis situation in the amount of P25 million were distributed to 8,339 FAB workers.
Payout for an additional of P57 million to another 19,000 workers started last October 12.
He attributed the accomplishments of AFAB even during the difficult times to the support of the freeport employees and officials, the board of directors headed by chairman Atty. Pablo Gancayco, the factory workers, and the multinational firms.
Pineda also thanked provincial officials led by Gov. Albert Garcia in his 4th State of the Freeport Address during the 12th anniversary of the enactment of the law creating FAB.
