SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — From putting out blazes, catching snakes and stray animals, and responding to disasters, the SBMA Fire Department has now switched mostly to fighting an unusual enemy that could not be seen: Covid-19. While fighting with sprayers carried on backpacks to disinfect facilities had not diminished the team’s fire suppression capacity, it… Read More SBMA firemen wage another battle vs. Covid-19

By HENRY EMPEÑO | Masinloc, Zambales THIS town in the northern part of Zambales took the threat of the new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) seriously. Putting up checkpoints, imposing curfew, requiring quarantine and travel passes, and even setting up market schedules, Masinloc successfully kept he virus at bay even when border controls somewhat eased when the… Read More Masinloc coal plant reeling from Covid-19 outbreak

By HENRY EMPEÑO | Subic Bay Freeport THE Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has offered the use of its community isolation facility at the Subic gymnasium here, as more workers at the Subic container terminal tested positive of the new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in a mass testing held on Monday, Aug. 17, on orders of… Read More SBMA offers isolation facility as 43 port workers test Covid-positive

By CARRIE T. ASPA | Iba, Zambales FOLLOWING a resurgence in the number of Covid-19 infections among residents of Zambales last week, Gov. Hermogenes E. Ebdane Jr. has ordered local government units and authorities here to re-impose strict border controls to keep the virus at bay. In a memorandum to mayors of the 13 municipalities… Read More Strict border controls back in Zambales

By HENRY EMPEÑO | Subic Bay Freeport SUBIC Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma warned against travel to other places and accepting visitors from areas with raging Covid-19 infections, as authorities noted a new surge in positive cases here and in nearby communities. Eisma said on Friday (July 24) that the… Read More SBMA warns vs travel, exposure to visitors

By HENRY EMPEÑO | Subic Bay Freeport AFTER being free of Covid-19 infection under four months of quarantine restrictions, the Subic Bay Freeport reported its first positive cases on Tuesday, just two weeks after it eased into modified general community quarantine (MGCQ). Wilma T. Eisma, chairman and administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA),… Read More SBMA: 1st confirmed Covid-19 cases traced to outside contacts

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, which is considered the gold standard in the accurate diagnosis of the new coronavirus disease (Covid-19), is now available to residents in the Subic Bay Freeport area and neighboring communities. Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the public… Read More SBMA-PRC Covid-19 testing center now open to public

By HENRY EMPEÑO  | Subic Bay Freeport  The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) formally opened a molecular laboratory here on Friday, June 19, to boost its mass-testing program in the Central Luzon area under a joint project with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA). The laboratory has the capacity to do 2,000 polymerase chain reaction (PCR)… Read More Red Cross opens Covid-19 testing facility in Subic Bay Freeport

By ANNABEL CONSUELO PETINGLAY SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The Municipal Health Officer (MHO) of the town of Caluya said the death of a coal mining worker who arrived in this province from Zambales is not related to coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Dr. Anna Marie Villalobos, Caluya MHO chief, in an interview Tuesday (June… Read More Masinloc LSI’s death not due to Covid-19, says Antique health exec