POST-ALL Saints’ Day roll through the main points of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, albeit via the “local” newspapers and news websites, make an interesting journey.
At Subic, the Freeport’s elite corps of veteran rescuers and emergency response teams prompted its being the training center – very soon, that is – of emergency rescue teams in the whole Philippines.
At the same time, the Red Cross for Asia-Pacific shall establish its regional headquarters here and develop a facility to enhance the skills of rescue workers from all over the country on emergency operations and disaster preparedness.
I don’t know but I thought I caught a glimpse of a smiling Philippine Red Cross Governor Richard Gordon there.
And then there is the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority readying itself to supply most of Central Luzon’s needs for seedlings under a national greening program that seeks to plant some 1.5 billion trees throughout the country within five years.
The SBMA is said to have “taken on a significant role in the government’s National Greening Program” after it signed a joint memorandum of agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Science and Technology for the establishment of an indigenous tree species nursery here.
“We are in the best position to supply planting materials for the greening program, because the Subic Bay Freeport has all sort of indigenous tree species in its well-protected forests.” So was quoted SBMA Chairman Roberto Garcia in the papers.
And adding: “Aside from this, Subic Freeport has all types of vegetation — from those that grow in forests to those that thrive in grasslands and mangroves, so it can really supply seedlings even for various types of location.”
Great strides there in disaster management and environmental protection.
A short detour in Bataan provides more good news.
At least 6,000 workers will be hired at the Freeport Area of Bataan (FAB) comes next year with two firms under the Lhuen Thai Garments Co. starting their operations.
The FAB morphed from the Bataan Export Processing Zone, the country’s first that was established by the Great Ferdinand as a showcase of his New Society, if fading memory still serves right.
Currently, FAB hosts 52 registered firms, 45 of which are in full operation.
Fast-forward now to Clark.
A total of 3,008 job vacancies have been posted for various firms inside the Clark Freeport, 75 percent of which – all of 2,222 – related to information and communications technology and business process outsourcing.
The latest report at the Clark Development Corp. showed that total employment at the former bastion of American military might has now reached an all-time high of 63,223 spread over 509 locators.
Where glee is the order at the Clark Freeport, gloom and doom reign at the Clark airport.
The top leadership of the Clark International Airport Corp. in an internecine campaign that threatens to derail the full development of Clark as premier international gateway. The cable theft at the runway and taxiway negating Clark’s advantages over all other airports – NAIA included – as the country’s best.
Better move on to Tarlac, the expressway’s endpoint. But what do we find but still bad news.
Billboards proclaim that starting today – November 7 – motorists using the San Miguel Road as ingress to and egress from the SCTEx will have to pay toll.
The road traverses the 6,000-hectare Hacienda Luisita owned by relatives of President Benigno Aquino, as if you still did not know.
Tolls were previously collected on the road until June 2 when the Toll Regulatory Board issued a cease and desist order, which is said to be still in effect.
Arnel Paciano Casanova, president-CEO of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, said the imposition and collection of toll or pass-way fee was not consulted with them.
“We are not supporting it,” Casanova said. “We are of the understanding that [the road] should be for public use and for free…in consideration for building the [Luisita] interchange there.”
The 94-km SCTEx links the Luisita Industrial Park to the Clark and Subic freeports.
Yeah, at Hacienda Luisita gets crooked P-Noy’s matuwid na daan. In more ways than one.
