SBMA to lose P240 M a year if used-vehicle importers are evicted

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) would lose some P240 million a year or an average of R20 million a month in revenues from seaport services and rentals if small-scale importers of used vehicles are evicted from this Freeport.

Boy de Quinto, spokesman of the newly organized Subic Freeport Investors Association (SFIA), said some 5,000 skilled and unskilled workers would also lose their jobs if members of the group are forced to stop their operations.

Reacting to news reports that SBMA is running out of space to lease out to new investors, the group said that an inspection would show that only about 50 percent of the areas of Subic Bay Industrial Park and the Japanese Techno Park are occupied by investors.

"In fact in its committee report No. 2157, the House of Representatives’ committee on transportation and communications and the committee on trade and industry, stated that about 70,000 Filipinos are directly benefited by our group’s business enterprise while related businesses like reconditioning of vehicles, aircon, spare parts, stevedoring, arrastre, shipping lines and other related businesses help more than 50,000 people, aside from the hundreds of millions of pesos that we pay the Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Internal Revenue in the conduct of our businesses in this Freeport," Quinto said.

The group also said that they are responding to President Arroyo’s call for the private sector to assist the government create jobs for the poor by employing even out-of-school youth, including elementary and high school graduates, and help them to develop their skills for the automotive industry.

The new group said that the members do not compete with car assemblers because their market is composed of people who cannot afford to buy brand-new cars and that the customers of its membersare mostly OFWs, small-scale traders and local government units which cannot afford to buy brand-new and expensive service vehicles.

"The newly organized group also pledged to cooperate with SBMA and other government agencies such as the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) and Bureau of Customs in the campaign against smuggling to protect the operations of the members," Quinto said.

The group appealed to President Arroyo to consider the plight of the more than 100,000 Filipinos benefiting from the used vehicles industry.

The group likewise appealed to the President to recall Executive Order No. 156. (RM)