SUBIC BAY FREEPORT?THE board of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority?s manpower subsidiary has suspended the firm?s operations after failing to keep it afloat.

Lawyer Eddie Tamondong, head of the SBMA?s Freeport Services Corp. (FSC), said SBMA officials tried to keep the firm operating but declining revenue hampered their efforts.

?We?ve exhausted all possible means to keep it operating. [FSC has] no more source of revenue, we can no longer sustain the expenses for salaries and operations,? Tamondong said in a statement.

On June 25, members of the FSC board, which Tamondong chairs, decided to give the remaining 240 workers of the subsidiary their separation pay equivalent to a month?s worth of salary for every year of service.

But Celso de los Santos, FSC administrative head, said the firm would observe status quo until his office receives a notice.

FSC was created in 1995 to provide manpower services to SBMA. It operates several facilities and is engaged in various income-generating ventures like operating beach resorts, gasoline stations and stores. It also hosts a yearly bazaar.

The SBMA gets 5-percent share of revenue generated by FSC using SBMA facilities.

Tamondong said the FSC has never remitted any share to SBMA, prompting SBMA to take back most of its assets in the past two or three years.

Since 2000, SBMA has been subsidizing FSC P6 million monthly, or P72 million a year, for salary and operating expenses.

FSC?s financial problem was aggravated by the size of its manpower, SBMA officials said.