By HENRY EMPEÑO

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Three teams from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) swooped down on separate areas at the Ilanin Forest here on Monday to repossess more than 240 hectares of land that remained undeveloped since its lease to the Subic Bay Marine Exploratorium, Inc. (SBMEI) 12 years ago.

The teams padlocked 22 former ammunition bunkers, warehouses and other US Navy-era structures and closed off access to certain areas within the 505-hectare property under lease and management agreement with SBMEI, the operator of popular tourism facilities Ocean Adventure, Camayan Beach Resort, and Adventure Beach Waterpark here.

The repossessed portions of the SBMEI lease consisted of Area B, which measures 92 hectares; Area C, 97 hectares; and Area E, 51 hectares, or a total of 240 hectares.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T.  Eisma in a press briefing here on Monday night said the takeover of the properties went on smoothly and without any untoward incident.

However, members of the takeover teams reported that the facilities were in various states of disrepair, an indicator that the government-owned properties were not maintained through the years by the lessor.

The takeover teams said some of the bunkers were covered by dense undergrowth and were not easily located. In some areas, only piles of rubble remained where some structure should be, they added.

Still, Eisma expressed gratitude to the SBMEI management for cooperating in the repossession despite it having filed a case against the SBMA on October 18 to thwart the implementation of the agency’s pre-termination order issued on September 27.

“I can only thank the SBMEI management for cooperating in the takeover, which proceeded smoothly and without any untoward incident,” Eisma said.

“We also welcome the filing by SBMEI of a case in court because this move brings us one step closer to the resolution of this problem. Whatever the final decision of the court will be, you can count on the SBMA to honor it,” she added.

Eisma also stressed on Monday that the takeover was precipitated by SBMEI’s failure to fulfil development commitments.

“This is the overriding issue here—that for almost 20 years, the SBMEI failed to develop these areas to the detriment of the government,” she said. “The issue is much more than simply the P25 million that SBMEI owes us in back payments for its payment scheme, nor the P7 million in current billing,” she added.

The SBMEI started operating the Ocean Adventure marine park project in 2002, but was later granted a 50-year lease starting January 2007 that covered 505 hectares, of which the firm has only developed a total of 11.6 hectares.

Eisma said that with hundreds of hectares of property remaining undeveloped, the government has been losing a huge amount in unrealized income, as well as in lost employment opportunities, because SBMEI is only required to pay SBMA gross revenue shares, which was four percent of its gross income.

“This means that if SBMEI was not earning any money from these undeveloped areas, then it didn’t have to pay SBMA anything. So where is justice in that?” she added.

TOP PHOTO: SBMA personnel padlock structures at Area E, one of the undeveloped areas of the SBMEI lease (Photo by Ruben Veloria)