Story and photos by Henry Empeño
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—In this global business outpost, local bayanihan (working together) still gets the job done.
When severe tropical storm Domeng dumped heavy rains, swelled rivers, and whipped up Subic Bay into a raging cauldron early this month, tons and tons of debris washed up on the shores of the Subic Bay Freeport. Grasses and small trees uprooted from river banks, plastic wastes from overflowing drainage, and all sort of trash carried by floodwaters found their way into the beach.
The resulting eyesore would have been a logistical headache even for the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) which manages this special economic zone, were it not for the traditional Pinoy bayanihan spirit that brought together various stakeholders in one massive demonstration of community action.
Heeding SBMA Chairman Wilma T. Eisma’s call for malasakit or community concern for the Subic Bay Freeport, hundreds of volunteers consisting of foreign investors, local businessmen, government employees, students, and residents in and around the Freeport turned up for cleanup drives last week, proving once more this was one community caring for one another.
Eisma made the call for a general cleanup and waste segregation on June 17, after surveying the Subic waterfront following almost a week of foul weather.
“We had to remove the debris that piled up, and then segregate and dispose of them, and that was a huge job,” Eisma recalled.
Eisma said the pileup of storm debris is a constant problem during the rainy season for the SBMA, which has been promoting Subic not only as an investment site, but also as a tourism center. At least seven major rivers empty into the bay of Subic, which straddles a good part of the 67,000-hectare area of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. These are the Pamulaklakin and Boton Rivers in the Subic Bay Freeport; Kalalake, Santa Rita-Kalaklan, and Maquinaya Rivers in Olongapo City; and Matain and Calapandayan Rivers in Subic, Zambales.
Subic Bay, which forms the communal waters of Olongapo, Zambales and Bataan, is described as a threatened resource largely due to trash inflows from its tributaries.
Eisma said this is an environmental problem that transcends the geographical boundaries of communities near the Subic Bay.
She said the Subic Bay community traditionally cleaned up beaches during the conduct of the annual International Coastal Cleanup, which falls on the third Saturday of September each year.
“But that is still three months away. We can’t wait for that. We had to take action now,” Eisma said.
Call for help
POSTING on her social-media account, she called on SBMA employees to pack brooms, rakes, and shovels on June 18 and report to any of four designated cleanup stations along the coastline of Subic’s Central Business District from 3 to 5 p.m. that day.
But she was almost dumbfounded when the cleanup began, as hundreds of volunteers from various locator-companies, schools and housing areas in the Freeport arrived to assist SBMA employees.
A delegation from Olongapo City headed by Mayor Rolen Paulino and Vice Mayor Jong Cortez arrived to boost both spirit and manpower during the cleanup, bringing with them two pay loaders to help speed up the operations.
Subic Grain Terminal, a company based in the Freeport donated gloves, broomsticks, garbage bags and empty sacks, as well as bread, sandwiches, water and noodles for the volunteers; while Subic Truck Boy, an automotive dealer, lent a pay loader and a dump truck to augment SBMA equipment used in digging, collecting and hauling trash from the beach.
Together, the volunteers swept the beaches, sifted through sand to remove buried garbage and carried away rotten tree trunks that floated downriver. Some formed a human conveyor belt, passing on the trash along the line from the beach to waiting garbage trucks.
Within the two hours allotted for the cleanup, the volunteers finished cleaning the whole kilometer stretch from Alava Wharf to the Boardwalk Activity Center.
Project Reprise
EISMA called for a second cleanup event four days later to get rid of the piled up debris in the second half of Subic’s CBD coastline. After the successful first project, volunteers poured in droves from various groups in the Subic Freeport and nearby communities.
“It was really heartwarming to see the whole community responding to our call for assistance,” Eisma said. “I am truly humbled for all the support, for their show of malasakit and concern for the Subic Freeport.”
Among those who joined the second clean-up were Cortez; Subic Bay Freeport Grain Terminal Services Inc.; Harbor Point Ayala Malls; Philippine Coast Guard; Precision Tek; Networx Jetsports Subic Bay; Mansion Garden Hotel; The Iron Grill; PLDT Subictel; The Lighthouse Marina Resort Subic; Le Charmé Suites; Columban College; Subic Truck Importers Association; Olongapo Warriors Tackle Football Team; Office of Rep. Jeffrey Khonghun; Northfolk Information Technologies Inc.; JC Salas Builders; United Auctioneers Inc.; Veva Sun; Junior Chamber International; Tele Empire; Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc.; Subic Montessori; and Royal Duty Free.
There was also assistance from Philippine Coastal Storage and Pipeline Corp.; Gerry’s Grill Restaurant and Bar; Grand Harbor Hotel; Seafood by the Bay; Philippine Guardians Brotherhood-Olongapo Chapter; Jolibee; Asahi Group International Corp.; Subic Techno Park Pollution Control Officers Association; United Kabalikat UKC Olongapo-Subic Bay; and residents of Binictican, Kalayaan, and Cubi areas in the Subic Bay Freeport.
One Subic Bay
Cortez said the instantaneous collaboration between the SBMA, the city government, and other community groups “showed we can come together swiftly as one for the love of the community and concern for the environment.”
“The residents of Olongapo, Zambales and Bataan have a deep sense of community, especially in matters of the environment. After all, the sea, forest, air and water are resources that are common to all,” he added. Peter Geroue, who heads the Subic Truck Importers Association, said it was a voluntary gesture on their part to join the cleanup project.
“We were not specifically invited, and it was just mentioned to us, but here we are with around 120 people and 15 trucks,” he said. “We are locators and we also live here. This will be just two to three hours of work; and it’s no big deal,” he added.
Jody Hua, an employee of Northfolk Information Technologies Inc., echoed the sense of community-belonging among foreign workers here who joined the cleanup.
“We are foreigners who work here and also live here,” Jody explained. “We want to see a beautiful Subic Freeport, so we help clean it up.”
Local culture
EISMA said the cleanup drive will be a continuing project for the Subic community for as long as the Subic coastline gets inundated by trash during rainy months.
“We’re all affected by this problem, and that is why we—the Subic Freeport, Olongapo, Zambales and Bataan—should work together to deal with it and come up with effective solutions,” she said.
She added the SBMA would again be seeking help from its community partners in other undertakings that require assistance from Freeport stakeholders.
“We’re getting better at this bayanihan projects because we have ingrained upon our stakeholders the value of malasakit,” Eisma said. “Here everybody helps, and everybody wins.”
Image credits: Henry Empeño