Changes in Subic 10 Years After US Troops' Leave

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, September 30, 2002

Changes in Subic 10 Years After US Troops' Leave

A 10-year period is just a moment in history. But in the northern Philippine port Subic Bay, such a period could mean a lot of changes.

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A 10-year period is just a moment in history. But in the northern Philippine port Subic Bay, such a period could mean a lot of changes.

This September, the Subic Bay, a former US naval base, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the US troops departure and the establishment of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone (SBFZ) under the administration of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SMBA).

By holding volleyball, motor-vehicle racing and other sports and recreation activities in the month, the SMBA showed the guests and tourists that the biggest US naval base abroad has become a public resort and a revenue generating engine of the country during the past decade.

Taking advantage of the natural resources in the 67,000-hectarearea, including the deep-water harbor, beaches and surrounding mountains covered by tropical jungle, the SMBA made foreign trade-related industries and tourism as their development directions.

After 10 years of effort, the SBMA successfully attracted to the economic zone over 600 local and foreign companies who enjoy tax and duty free exemptions on imported raw materials, supplies, capital equipment, and other items for consumption within the SBFZ.

Last year, the SBFZ reached for the third straight year its record export value of over 1 billion US dollars, generating investments of 1.68 billion pesos (32.3 million dollars) and revenue contributions of 3.57 billion pesos (68.7 million dollars), remaining as the third largest export base in the country, SBMA statistics showed.

Embraced on one side by 12,000 hectares of marine waters and bounded in the other by 10,000 hectares of forest, Subic Bay has a wide variety of terrestrial and marine resources.

Various eco-tourism attractions in Subic include the famous BatKingdom, Butterfly Garden, JEST jungle survival camp and the Ocean Adventure which advertises itself as the Southeast Asia's only open-water marine park. There are also facilities for scuba diving, fishing, camping, water sports, motor-car racing and golf. A significant number of tourists are still lured by the freeport's tropical forest trek.

Subic Bay was among the top destinations in the country with 6.9 million local tourists and 20,370 foreign tourists enjoyed themselves with all kinds of recreation facilities and services in2001.

The 30,000-strong local work force who lost their jobs after the US troops' withdrawal, was re-employed by the SBMA and investors. Today, the total work force within the SBFZ reaches 45,742.

"The workers' landscape has greatly changed. Mostly blue-collared workers during the American Naval management, the general workforce today has both men and women working in the field of electronics and tourism and other manufacturing sectors," Felicito Payumo, the SBMA chairman, told Xinhua during a recent interview.

When the deep natural harbor of the Subic Bay was entered and toured by Spanish Miguel Lopez in 1572, the area remained some small fishing villages, until the late 19th century. US troops occupied the area since the beginning of 20th century and developed it into an important military base which provided to theUS troops logistic support during the Vietnam War and the Gulf War.

Manyade, a 23-year-old college student whose family has been living in Subic for several generations, said he wants to be an engineer employed by foreign investors after graduation. His grandfather and father, who were fishermen and vendors during the naval base era, had never dreamed their descendant could be an engineer.

"The establishment of SBMA in 1992 is seen as a symbol of the thorough national independence, for a century of US military presence ended. Our lives have changed greatly since then, becausewe, the local residents, finally became the owner of our own land," said Manyade, "What we should do next is developing the SBFZ to a more prosperous economic zone."

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