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Senate gives SBMA P681M a speedy nod

Without any hesitation, the Senate has approved the proposed budget of P681-million for fiscal year 2024 of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) during a plenary session at the Senate of the Philippines on Tuesday, November 14.

The proposed budget sponsored by Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito was approved without further interpolation by the Senate during Plenary Session No. 30 presided by Senate President Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri.

𝑆𝐵𝑀𝐴 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐴𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝐽𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝐷. 𝑇𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐽𝑢𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑙 𝑍𝑢𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑖 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑠ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 “𝑡ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑠 𝑢𝑝” 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑓𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝐵𝑀𝐴’𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠.

According to Ejercito, the recommended appropriations for the SBMA for fiscal year 2024 will focus primarily on the rehabilitation of Subic Bay Freeport and its facilities, and will fund two continuing projects, mostly road and infrastructure projects.

Minority Floor Leader Senator Koko Pimentel readily approved the proposed budget citing that he will no longer post questions regarding the said budget stating that it was a reasonable amount of subsidy.  Senator Pimentel also expressed his admiration for SBMA Chairman Jonathan D. Tan noting the official’s friendly, pleasant and unassuming disposition, and as a former mayor, Sen. Pimentel said that Tan is competent to run the Freeport zone.

𝑆𝑒𝑛. 𝐸𝑗𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝐵𝑀𝐴 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑇𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝐵𝑀𝐴’𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 2024.

Pimentel also shared that the SBMA Chief also revealed his plans on how to fight smuggling “to the fullest extent of his authority as SBMA Chairman and Administrator.”

Meanwhile, Senate President Zubiri said that the Senate is in the process of amending the CREATE law purposely to return the powers to the economic zones which is now a priority measure of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. 

He added that the Ways and Means committee of the House has just passed and approved the version, “which basically brought it back to the old regime, because the new regime was not working unfortunately.”

He then congratulated the SBMA for the two-minute interpellation and approval of the Agency budget.

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