US-based Pinoys plan business ventures in Subic

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT, Philippines – United States-based Filipino entrepreneurs belonging to the Federation of Philippine-American Chambers of Commerce (FPACC) are planning to put up businesses in this Freeport.

According to FPACC delegation of 65 members came over here for the Luzon leg of the US Trade and Investment Mission to the Philippines and they have met with officials of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), local industry leaders, and heads of local government units (LGUs).

The mission, which visited the country Oct. 17 to 24, was organized by the Central Luzon Growth Corridor Foundation, Inc. to help promote Central Luzon as an ideal investment destination.

Gus Mercado, head of mission and executive director of FPACC, said they aim to bridge and facilitate business and cultural ties between the two nations through the Philippine-American chamber network.

Mercado said the delegates represent various endeavors and businesses, but all are entrepreneurs in their own right and represent the creme dela creme of the Filipino community in the United States.

He said the delegates have expressed interest in real estate, eco-tourism, manufacturing, light-industrial machinery, and retirement facility.

“The majority of us here were born in the Philippines, and we have what they call pusong Pinoy,” Mercado said.

“Our non-Filipino members of the delegation will understand why although we have been away for so long, we still have “pusong Pinoy”. Deep in our hearts, we are still Filipinos,” Mercado added.

He also noted that despite its conversion into a free port, Subic Bay “is probably the only place in the Philippines where the US traffic laws are still being enforced.”

Meanwhile, SBMA chief operating officer Joven Reyes warmly welcomed the group and briefed them about the free port and the local business climate.

Reyes said that SBMA was created by virtue of Republic Act 7227 “to promote and develop the Subic Special Economic Zone into a self-sustaining industrial, commercial, financial and investment center.”

He said that with the SBMA’s mandate to generate employment and attract productive foreign investments, the agency has succeeded in turning Subic into a home of almost 1,500 business locators and more than 90,000 skilled workers.

Reyes also informed the visitors that the SBMA has performed well in the past few years, posting a net profit of P1.2 billion last year and increasing its net operating budget by 66 per cent as of August this year.