SBMA gets P68.4-B FDI pledges in Jan-Sept 2006

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) remains as the country’s top investment promotion agency with P68.4-billion worth of foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges in the first nine months of 2006.

According to a report submitted to President Arroyo by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), the nine-month figure accounted for 44.9 percent of the total P152-billion FDI pledges.

"The Chairman (Feliciano G. Salonga) and I concluded our first year in the SBMA’s top posts with a bountiful year, and we are very elated that we were able to establish a good headstart not only for the Subic Bay Freeport, but for the entire country as well," SBMA administrator/chief executive officer Armand C. Arreza said.

Arreza assured that the SBMA management would carry on with the good start and continue its intensive drive of attracting foreign and local investors to set up shops in the Subic Freeport, which would also help the national government reduce unemployment in the country as the SBMA embarks on generating as much as 100,000 job opportunities for the next five or 10 years.

The NSCB report also indicated that the Board of Investments (BOI) posted at total of P36.8-billion FDI pledges during the same nine-month period; Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) with P39 billion; and Clark Development Corp. with P7.8 billion.

Meanwhile, the SBMA came in second in terms of combined pledges from foreign and local investors. From January to September, the SBMA accumulated a total investment pledges of P69.9 billion, a dramatic increase from 2005’s P1.032 million.

SBMA Chairman Feliciano G. Salonga said that in the same period, the Board of Directors approved 89 projects, 21 of which were approved during the third quarter alone.

"These new projects will open about 13,334 job opportunities to residents throughout the region," Salonga said.

Both SBMA executives expressed optimism that with the completion of the government’s two flagship projects, namely, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway project and Subic Port Modernization project, together with the implementation of the Subic-Clark-Kaohsiung Economic Corridor, more businesses will pour in the Subic Freeport, more employment will be generated for the residents.