$20-million medical and wellness center inagurated in Subic

SUBIC BAY Freeport: A $20-million medical facility was inaugurated here Tuesday by Dr. Solita Monsod, who will serve as chairman of the center.

The George Dewey Medical and Wellness Center in Subic is among the best in the country and can be at par with medical facilities in Metro Manila, such as St. Luke's once it becomes fully operational, said Chairman Dante A. Ang of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), who was one of the dignitaries at the event.

"This medical and wellness center when completed will have amenities such as a nursing home, a gym, a shopping cen­ter, a swimming pool, a bow­ling alley, and a billiards hall, so that visitors and patients would have extra activities when they are here," he added.

Ang described the medical and wellness center as a "one-stop medical and wellness community."
Operated and maintained by the George Dewey Medical College, the George Dewey Medical and Wellness Center will employ 300.

Ang said they have recruited doctors trained from Singapore and Europe.
Located at the former Cubi Hospital Complex, which is in the heart of Subic Bay, the medical facility now has 50 beds and has plans to add another 150.

Besides the amenities, Ang said the medical and wellness center also boasts of the latest equipment.

Among those who also attended the inauguration were Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Administrator Armand Arezza, Olongapo City Mayor James Gordon Jr., SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator for Business and Investments Hermenegildo Atienza 3rd, and members of the Subic Bay Chamber of Commerce. Anthony Bayarong

Residents appeal to stop mining operation

STA. CRUZ, Zambales: RESIDENTS of a seaside town in Zambales have sent out an urgent appeal for their forests and environment now under threat of destruction due to ongoing mining operations, said local officials.

Mayor Luisito Marty of the mineral-rich-town of Sta. Cruz said hundreds of residents along the shorelines and inner villages have complained against the operation of Benguet Corporation, which has turned the once green environment into a wasteland of barren soil.

“Dust from the loose soil covers wide areas in summer and it turns into mud when it rains,” Marty said. “Massive environmental disturbances continue without let-up.”

Sta. Cruz is one of the coastal towns of Zambales facing the South China Sea. It is rich in deposits of nickel and other minerals.

Benguet Corporation has started operations even without permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), local officials noted, adding that the mine sites were located in areas that have been declared as tourism spots.

Marty said the mining operations have hampered water flow and in many areas the streams and rives have dried up because of mine tailings.

“The dust and fumes from diesel trucks and loss of vegetation have put the health of many residents at risk,” he said.

Danilo Merced, barangay captain of Lomboy, the main site of Benguet’s operation, said they were told that the company only had an “exploration” permit from the DENR.

He said the government should step in and stop the destruction of their environment and penalize those responsible for their illegal mining operations.

Benguet’s access to the mine runs across Barangay Tubo-Tubo North, one of the town’s tourist attractions with a beautiful waterfall, and residents said they are concerned that the mining operation will have a detrimental effect on their surroundings.

In Barangay Bolitov, a fish sanctuary intended for eco-tourism projects, residents filed a petition to the municipal government opposing the plan of Benguet, which announced to put up a pier and use it “by hook or by crook” to ship ores from the mines. THE MANILA TIMES

6,000 residents avail of free training program

THE local government of this city reported yesterday that more than 6,000 residents of this city have benefited from its Welding training program in anticipation of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Inc., full blast operation in coming years.

The Skill Training Program led by Mayor James Gordon Jr. and Skills Training Center Director and City Councilor Edwin Piano has initially employed 2154 trainees hired by Hanjin Shipbuilding, 103 trainees have been employed by Hanjin Construction, 240 have been hired by different investors in Subic Bay Freeport, while 200 are now working as Oversees Filipino Workers.

Piano said that the training program consist of Shipbuilding Orientation, career workshop Seminar, Flux Cord Arch Welding Seminar, Basic Computer Literacy and Shielded Metal Arc Welding level II.

Piano added that just recently around 200 trainees have passed the screening and initial interview for job opportunity in Australia.
Mayor Gordon meanwhile said that the training program is all accredited by Technical education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

Animal theme park opens new gig for tourist

TRY out a new experience this summer, this time it’s the animal who will visit you personally, no cages, no fenced areas and best of all, its all in just one area.

Zoobic Safari, which brought to Subic Freeport the only tiger safari adventure in the country, is now offering a bigger, improved animal show, plus an educational camp for adventuresome kids and adults.

Want to see poodles that waltz, monkeys that dunk a basketball, pigs hurdling obstacles, or dogs dancing tinikling? Then Zoobic Safari is just the place for you, said company CEO Robert Yupangco.

Yupangco, who opened several new attractions recently in this popular theme park, said Zoobic Safari
launched early this month the “Zummer Zoobic Safari” program, with additional facilities and entertainment features that the whole family would surely enjoy.

“You can do so many things here,” Yupangco said. “You could go camping. We have a boot camp, with a course. You can learn different things like how to breed animals.”

Under the special summer program, Zoobic Safari has headlined its daily entertainment fare with an animal show, where Jenny the monkey impresses the audience with her acting skills, Vera the dog successfully undergoes a tricky question-and-answer segment, while poodles dance and show their athletic prowess, and potbellied pigs jump and fool around.

Then, a tour of the whole theme park follows, with tour guides providing trivia about the golden
pheasants, tarsiers, albino water buffalos, moon bear, camels, and other animals featured in the park.

The tour would actually take half a day, at least, as it includes a visit to the “Rodent World,” which has specimens of cloud rat, one of the biggest rodents in the world; the “Rodent Saloon,” which is equipped with small bath tubs, hair blower and shampoo for its tiny furry customers; the “Serpentarium,” which has a collection of pythons and other reptiles; and the “Tiger Safari”, where visitors ride on metal-screened jeepneys to get close to tigers roaming in their natural grassland habitat.

The tour, of course, wouldn’t be complete without going to the “Savannah,” where ostriches, potbellies, wild bears and guinea fowls roam freely; the “Animal Muzooeum”, which boasts a rare collection of stuffed wild animals and mounted animal skeletons; and the “Croco Loco,” which, of course, features live crocodiles.

The tour is capped later in the afternoon with an animal parade, where representative specimens of all the animals in the park, both wild and domesticated, are brought out in a parade that is actually a modern take of the biblical story of Noah’s ark.

Despite the overwhelming number of attractions at Zoobic Safari, Yupangco said the theme park is only about 30 percent completed.

“We have yet so much to do, and I think 50 years is not enough to accomplish all that,” Yupangco said with a laugh. “We now have 50 tigers here, but we will soon introduce white tigers. A lot of zebras and giraffes are also coming in, and yes, an elephant.”

Yupangco also mentioned plans for animal races, which include greyhounds, horses, and quite surprisingly, even chicken. This is in addition to Zoobic’s ongoing breeding program for endangered animals, and a “pit bull program”, which trains what are otherwise known as fighting dogs for the non-aggressive activity of racing.

And more is yet to come, as the management is currently working to add to the list more adventure rides, a forest camp with trailers painted in tiger stripes, as well as fishing and canoeing.

Early this month, Zoobic also broke ground for its latest project — the “Aeta’s Way,” which would enable tourists to experience how it is like to live close to nature, as the indigenous people of the Subic Bay Freeport still do.

For this project, Yupangco said that a parcel of the theme park would be developed, complete with air-conditioned cottages and first-class amenities of modern living.
This seemed ironic, as Yupangco himself admitted, but he added that the idea was for Zoobic Safari visitors to get a grasp of the Aeta lifestyle without sacrificing comforts.

www.subictimes.com to be online soon

Soon, http://www.subictimes.com/ will be online.

This new website dedicated for news around the bay area of Subic Bay freeport promises to bring you fresh and up-to-date news and information.

Although this is a new venture for this writer, i will try to do my best to update the readers.

If you have any suggestions, it will be highly appreciated, email it to abayarong@gmaill.com