SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — A Hawaiian-inspired Christmas display at the Subic Bay Yacht Club (SBYC), with a giant yellow pineapple forming the centerpiece, jumpstarted the Christmas season in this Freeport and provided a cheerful preview of the coming holidays despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma, together with SBYC Commodore Juan Miguel Macapagal Arroyo, switched on the Christmas lights last Friday and toured the outdoor displays laid out along one block of Subic’s main thoroughfare, the Rizal Highway.
Aside from the two-story high pineapple, the lighted displays included a native-themed Nativity scene, stars, as well as Hawaiian tiki masks and palm trees.
The display is an annual project of SBYC employees, with support from some corporate sponsors in the Freeport.
During the switching-on ceremony, Eisma expressed hopes for a better holiday season celebration this year, pointing out that the continuous vaccine rollout by the Department of Health (DOH) in partnership with the SBMA had resulted in more Freeport workers and residents being vaccinated.
“I am very, very happy to note that Covid has not stopped us from observing this tradition, which has always ushered the Christmas season here in Subic. And this is a very, very good sign because it points us to one direction—and that is, to try to get back to what normal is,” Eisma said.
Arroyo, meanwhile, stressed that the intention of the displays is to lift the spirits despite the pandemic.
“For us, the lighting of the Christmas tree in Subic, specifically the Subic Bay Yacht Club, has been an uplifting experience spiritually because it connotes the coming of the Christmas season,” Arroyo said. “During this season, we are reminded of God’s glory. And we need it more than ever due to Covid.”
Arroyo also thanked Eisma for her leadership and for the SBMA’s Covid response, and for getting workers vaccinated so that business may go on as usual.
The Subic Bay Yacht Club Christmas displays are lighted each day at 6:00 p.m. and are open for public viewing.