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SUBIC
BAY FREEPORT ZONE —“Every single investment here in
Subic, especially if it goes into a sensitive area, is
meticulously evaluated.” Thus did SBMA administrator
Armand Arreza
declare Tuesday as he waded right into the controversy
over the high-rise apartment complex built by Korean
locator Hanjin Heavy Industries Inc. right in the middle
of a forest in this free-port zone.
Arreza
and the embattled head of the SBMA’s ecology center
stressed that the Hanjin construction was on an area
that had long been cleared, because they were part of
sites developed by US forces who had once exclusive use
of what was once their largest overseas naval base.
Hanjin’s
$20-million apartment complex has attracted the
attention of environment advocates, with Sen. Loren
Legarda among the most vocal against the project—she
called for a Senate probe—propounding a lot of questions
as to its effect on the ecology of the place,
specifically mentioning waste disposal of the thousands
of people that will live in the complex.
Arreza,
in a briefing on Tuesday, said: “With Hanjin, in this
case, they’ve gone to the process of an environmental
clearance certificate [ECC]; they’ve secured all the
necessary guidelines, all the necessary legal
requirements, why would we criticize the project? It
sends the wrong signal to people.”
The
apartment complex consists of two buildings, 10 and 22
stories high, respectively, in the middle of
Subic’s rain forest. Its total land area is 3 hectares including
space for a planned swimming pool, parking areas, roads
to and from the site, and amenities for Hanjin’s Korean
and Filipino employees.
Hanjin
had chosen the area from a list of available areas given
to them by the SBMA.
“A lot
of people are calling for us to stop the project. There
are no grounds to stop the project. No environmental
laws, no zoning laws were violated by the project. We
cannot be whimsical when it comes to investments. We
also have to protect the interests of our investors,”
added Arreza. “We are not afraid of investigations.”
He urged
critics to make a distinction between the “core
ecological zones” comprising a total land area of 3,000
hectares which is a “no-development zone,” and all other
areas in the free-port zone. Arreza went on to say that
“Hanjin’s apartment complex is not within the protected
forest zone of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.”
This
recent controversy involving Hanjin Heavy Industries
Corp., which has a billion-dollar investment in the
free-port zone, is only the most recent incident in the
company’s history since its arrival in Subic.
In the
past few days, senators have suggested that Hanjin’s
activities in the free-port zone should be investigated,
including reports of violations in its safety programs
in the light of several deaths of workers employed in
the company’s shipyard.
Shim
Jung Sop, Hanjin president, who was supposed to join the
press conference on the controversy over his company’s
apartment complex, did not arrive and was unavailable
for comment.
Meanwhile, former SBMA chairman and administrator
Felicito Payumo said Tuesday the SBMA must defend its
approval of the controversial apartment complex at
Subic’s forested Naval Magazine area.
“SBMA
officials should make a stand and defend their position
if they think that their approval was the right
decision,” Payumo said in a statement texted to the
media.
But, he
added, the SBMA “should not allow another party like
[Senator Richard] Gordon to speak for them and pointing
his finger [at] somebody else.”
“While
berating SBMA officials, [Gordon] defends [SBMA
Administrator Armand] Arreza but makes him look like he
doesn’t know what he was approving,” Payumo added.
Payumo
was dragged into the Hanjin apartment controversy after
Gordon, his predecessor as SBMA chairman, claimed that
his successor “did away with the [US Navy’s] careful
environmental zoning planning.”
Gordon
also identified
SBMA Ecology Center
manager Amethya dela Llana-Koval, who had signed the
environmental clearance certificate (SBFZ-ECC) for the
project, as an appointee of Payumo.
Payumo
said, however, that it was Gordon who had allowed the
destruction of forests during his administration.
“Gordon
tries to show he is a protector of trees, but it was
during his time that hundreds, if not thousands, of
trees were felled to make way for 21 villas,” Payumo
said, referring to the presidential mansions built for
the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that
Subic hosted in 1996.
In a
press conference held here on Tuesday, SBMA officials
said the Hanjin apartment project had “minimal
environmental impact” since it was constructed on an
already built-up area—a clearing used by the US Navy for
an ammunition bunker.
Arreza
said several other projects are located in similar
clearings in the Cubi-Triboa District. These include
Polar Marine, which assembles tank cleaning equipment
for ships; Subic Apparel, a garment manufacturer; RCM
Manufacturing, producer of medical gloves; and DJ
Aerospace, an assembler of aircraft parts.
Polar
Marine was established in 1996, under Gordon’s term,
while Subic Apparel, RCM and DJ Aerospace were signed in
as locators under Payumo.
The
Hanjin apartment complex, which mainly consisted of two
high-rises—one 22-storey and another 10-storey
building—is part of support facilities being built by
Hanjin to complement its Hanjin
shipyard.
The
other facilities are a jetty at
Subic’s airport area, and a car ferry landing ramp at the Boton
logistics area. (With Henry Empeño) |
