SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The provincial government of Zambales have approved in principle a national government undertaking to activate the Subic Bay Freeport Zone as a crew change hub for seafarers.
In a dialogue with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Tuesday at the Travelers Hotel here, Zambales Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. expressed support for the hub project, but asked for “solid protocols” to ensure the safety of local communities during the arrival and quarantine of returning and departing ship crew.
Ebdane, who requested for the dialogue to apprise Zambales LGUs on the crew change hub proposal, gave the assurance that Zambales would back up the project, but stressed the need to address concerns by local communities, especially in the choice of hotels in Zambales that will be used as quarantine areas.
“The health and safety of locals cannot be compromised. This is our first and last requirement,” Ebdane said in the forum that was also attended by mayors and representatives of the towns of Subic, Castillejos, San Antonio, and San Marcelino in Zambales.
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chairman and Administrator Amy T. Eisma, who was also invited as a resource person, said eight hotels in the Freeport had agreed to accept returning overseas Filipino workers (OFW’s) and expatriates.
But she added that there is a felt need to involve LGUs and consult them in all stages of the crew-change project because the Freeport workers who would help carry out this plan would be coming from the communities around Subic.
Both Ebdane and Eisma stressed it would be necessary to cover all bases, from the moment seafarers or other returning overseas Filipinos arrived in Subic, until their departure after quarantine, especially the specific measures in cases when returning seafarers would test positive for the virus.
Castillejos mayor Eleanor Dominguez also urged DOTr to provide a list of all workers from Zambales who will be assigned in the crew-change facilities so that proper monitoring can be made.
Ebdane further raised the possibility of housing the workers in the Freeport as an added safety measure.
According to DOTr Undersecretary Raul del Rosario, who presented the proposal, the crew change hub is an inter-agency undertaking involving the DOTr, Department of Health, Department of Labor and Employment, the SBMA, Department of Interior and Local Government, Bureau of Immigration, and other government agencies.
He said the project seeks to facilitate the arrival and departure of passengers in all airports, seaports, and land transportation hubs in the country in accordance with the guidelines set by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
It also seeks to implement the so-called Philippine Green Lane to facilitate the speedy and safe travel of seafarers, including their safe and swift disembarkation and crew change during the Covid-19 pandemic.
To realize this project, Del Rosario said the DOTr task group has consulted with concerned agencies since July 27, inspected with the SBMA and Philippine Coast Guard all facilities needed in the project, and drafted procedures for anchorage and airport terminal one-stop-shop, as well as lodging facility protocols.
Del Rosario also said that the critical requirements for the crew change hub have been checked out, including a DOH-licensed RT-PCR laboratory; certified medical technology practitioners and technicians; swabbers and verification officers; Bureau of Quarantine-accredited facilities; anchorage and docking facility; OSS processing area; dedicated vehicles/vessels; and OSS secretariat.
In the forum, Ebdane also expressed his view that Subic would be ideal as crew-change hub.
“I know that the SBMA, headed by Chairman Eisma, can handle this project very well. Let us help the national government, but let us also raise our concerns so that perceived problems could be addressed at this early stage,” Ebdane said.