By HENRY EMPEÑO |

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT (Jan. 28, 2020) — The scheduled arrival here of a cruise ship from Hong Kong has set alarm bells among residents of communities surrounding this premier free port, impelling local government officials to call for a temporary ban in cruise liner arrivals here in view of the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) in China.

In separate letters to Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma on Tuesday, Subic town mayor Jonathan John Khonghun and Olongapo City mayor Rolen Paulino Jr. asked the Subic agency to stop cruise ship visits while the outbreak is not yet contained.

SBMA had confirmed early on the scheduled arrival here of the cruise ship MV World Dream, which had docked in Manila on Tuesday prior to its Subic tour.

Khonghun and Paulino both said that while the Subic Bay Freeport is becoming a prime tourist and cruise ship destination, the health and safety of the local communities must be prioritized.

“We support the Subic Bay Freeport Zone’s thrust to establish itself as a premier cruise ship destination and believe that its success redounds to the benefit of Olongapo City as well,” Paulino said.

“(However), we are appealing to your good office to temporarily stop accepting cruise ships which are bound to enter the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, until such time that the threat has been totally managed and controlled,” Khonghun meanwhile said.

The mayors’ letters were a sober version of the hysteria that local residents had expressed on social media. Some residents called for the SBMA to stop outright the arrival of World Dream, or if that can’t be done, for the people to stage some “mass action” to prevent the ship passengers from disembarking here.

CALL FOR SOBRIETY

Amid the hysteria, SBMA’s chief executive appealed to stakeholders in the Subic Bay area for sobriety, adding that the Subic agency is also open to suggestions from local stakeholders on how to address the nCov problem.

In statements to mainstream and social media, Eisma pointed out that the Department of Health (DOH) is confident that the multi-layer protocols in place “are enough to ensure the safety of host communities that cruise ship passengers visit during their tour.”

Eisma said she has been personally coordinating with Health Secretary Francisco Duque on the matter and DOH officials assured her that the quadruple safety procedures in place are enough.

However, she said that if Subic stakeholders “feel there is a need for the DOH to reverse its position, then we have to unify our call.”

“We have to decide on this as a team,” she added.

Eisma also noted that Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo had clarified in a press conference at Malacañang on Tuesday that there would be no basis to stop a cruise ship from entering the Subic Bay Freeport if there was no one afflicted by the virus among the passengers.

Eisma sounded the appeal for sobriety even as passengers of MV World Dream were allowed to disembark after arriving in Manila on Tuesday.

MV World Dream, which is one of the frequent visitors to Subic in the last two years, usually carried more than 3,000 passengers on a trip but now had only 778 passengers on board.

The ship had reportedly skipped picking up the majority of its bookings from Guangzhou, a port city northwest of Hong Kong and located further inland, because of a government lockdown at the Wuhan area, the epicentre of the nCov infections.

PROTOCOL IN PLACE

Eisma said the multi-layered safety protocol imposed by the DOH involved the quarantine of cruise ship passengers upon entry and exit at their last port of call in Hong Kong, during the trip to Manila when they were processed again by personnel of DOH-Bureau of Quarantine who were aboard the ship, and again when they arrived in Manila before they were allowed to disembark.

“The same procedure will be repeated in Subic where the passengers will be heavily guarded when they would be allowed to leave the ship,” she added.

Eisma said the SBMA has placed the Port of Subic on heightened alert as early as January 6, after the Department of Health’s Bureau of Quarantine issued an alert on the viral pneumonia that has infected people in Wuhan. This heightened alert status covered both sea ports and airport in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

She added that she had personally discussed the Subic situation with Secretary Duque last Monday and was advised that there was not a need just yet to stop the entry of cruise ships in Subic.

But Duque further advised Subic to be on standby should drastic measures, such as a temporary ban on cruise ships, be deemed necessary, she said.

Eisma said the SBMA will continue to coordinate with all concerned parties, including local residents, Freeport locators, and government agencies on how Subic would best address the nCoV emergency.

“This is something that affects our own community, so we have to wisely decide what’s best for it,” Eisma said.

OLONGAPO RALLY

Buoyed by calls from LGU executives early Tuesday (Jan. 28) for a temporary halt in the arrival of cruise ships in the Subic Bay Freeport, residents and community leaders on social media weighed options on how to make the DOH order a cruise ship ban.

The discussions on a facebook thread started by Eisma soon produced a plausible solution: mass action by residents.

At around 4:00 p.m., more than a hundred residents led by the civic group Batang ‘Gapo Peoples Organization, Inc. began to gather at the People’s Park near the Subic Bay Freeport main gate for a rally where community leaders urged the national government and SBMA to consider the safety of the Subic Bay community.

But in the end, the DOH order that was not forthcoming did not really matter. Eisma said that Genting Cruise Lines, the operator of MV World Dream, had decided not proceed with the Subic visit in face of possible antagonism by local residents. — With a report from CARRIE ASPA