By HENRY EMPEÑO | March 18, 2022

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Newly-installed Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Rolen Paulino Sr. on Thursday outlined the policy thrust of his administration to make the Subic Bay Freeport Zone more conducive to investment and business following two years of economic slowdown under the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We need to make Subic fast, friendly, and flexible to encourage business,” Paulino said during his first media briefing here following his appointment to the Subic agency on March 1.

“Investors need assurance that we (the SBMA) shall help them. For the past two years the investors have already suffered a lot; let’s give them a chance to make a comeback now,” he added.

Paulino, a former mayor of nearby Olongapo City, said that upon his assumption to the SBMA, he has ordered the speedy issuance of the Certificate of Registration and Tax Exemption (CRTE), which is required for businesses operations here.

“If the CRTE’s took quite a time to be issued before, now it’s already faster,” Paulino said, adding that he patterned it after the one-day processing time that he introduced in Olongapo City when he was mayor.

“Give (the incestors) a checklist, and let them operate if the deficiencies in requirements are minimal—provisional permits are okay,” he also said. “Then, just penalize them if they can’t comply with what’s on the checklist later on.”

Paulino’s pronouncement of support to business came after the Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce (SBFCC) issued a white paper detailing factors that allegedly impeded business success in Subic.

“The current system is inefficient and bureaucratic. It is difficult to do business in the Freeport,” the SBFCC said in a 10-page manifesto.

“Reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic, much has further come to light with regard to the limitations and ability of SBMA to meet the needs of their locators. Businesses are now finding it ever more difficult to survive,” it added.

Among the solutions proffered by the SBFCC is for the SBMA to “focus on its role as IPA (investment promotion agency) and relegate to a secondary purpose its mandate to regulate.”

In Thursday’s briefing, Paulino appeared to be taking this tack. He said that his administration will fully support investors with friendly policies “because that’s their lifeline.”

“If we helped our investors, then they themselves will promote Subic to others and help us attract more business here,” he added. ~