Outgoing execs welcome new SBMA officials

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Outgoing Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Administrator Armand Arreza said over the weekend that he was preparing to step down and give way to President Benigno Aquino III’s newly appointed SBMA team.

Arreza said the appointments of Roberto Garcia as SBMA chair and Rafael Reyes as administrator would take the freeport to “greater heights.”

Outgoing SBMA chair Feliciano Salonga also welcomed the appointments. “Armand (Arreza) and I are ready to cooperate during the transition phase,” Salonga told the Inquirer in a text message.

Arreza described his successor, Reyes as a “good man.”

“I am glad and honored to be turning over administration of the SBMA to him. I personally wish them the best,” he said.

Arreza said Reyes was “a fellow volunteer at the SBMA” when it was overseen by its founding chair, former Sen. Richard Gordon.

A smooth transition has not always been the case at Subic. In 1998, Gordon refused to turn it over to the chosen appointee of then President Joseph Estrada and barricaded himself inside one of the buildings. It took a court decision two months later to settle the transition issue.

Reyes was SBMA deputy administrator for corporate planning from 1994 to 1995 during Gordon’s term, said Arreza. The incoming SBMA administrator obtained his Bachelor of Science and master’s degrees in industrial engineering from Stanford University.

Reyes, a son of former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. Chair Alice Reyes, was also a former senior executive in Belle Corp. and AIG.

“With his background and proven capabilities, Paey (Reyes’ nickname) is a great man for the job. We are now working to transition smoothly. I am confident that Chairman Bobby (Garcia) and Administrator Paey (Reyes) will take Subic to greater heights,” said Arreza.

Along with the appointments of Reyes and Garcia, Arreza said two other directors were named to the SBMA board—Alfonso Siapno and Wilfredo Pineda.

At the Clark Freeport, former Commission on Elections Chair Jose Melo led the new batch of appointees to the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) board.

Benigno Ricafort, CDC president and chief executive officer, told the Inquirer that reports reaching him indicated that Cesar Villanueva would take over the CDC chairmanship while former Dumaguete City Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo would replace him.

Villanueva, College of Law dean of the Ateneo de Manila University, will replace outgoing CDC Chair Rizalino Navarro. With a report from Tonette Orejas and Jun Malig, Inquirer Central Luzon