Arreza steps down from SBMA, no replacement yet

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT-–Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Administrator Armand Arreza has stepped down from his post even as President Aquino has yet to announce who will replace him at the agency.

In a statement, the SBMA said Arreza, who is also the agency’s chief executive officer, attended the flag ceremony on Monday to bid his co-workers goodbye.

Arreza, who was among the Subic volunteers when the SBMA started in 1992, served the agency as administrator for the past six years.

In his message to SBMA employees, Arreza recalled his days in the agency starting as a volunteer and expressed gratitude for being given the opportunity to serve.

He urged the employees to continue doing their best to make sure that SBMA “continues to shine.”

He also said he would donate his last pay check to an SBMA-sponsored fun run organized as a fund-raising project to benefit SBMA employees suffering from cancer.

SBMA Chair Roberto Garcia said the SBMA “really owes Arreza a big favor for his contribution in putting SBMA back in the map again.”

Before, nobody was interested in the SBMA, Garcia said. “But now, the SBMA has been transformed into a thriving freeport, very successful and very well-respected,” he said.

Garcia said the new SBMA board of directors would continue to build on the successes of Arreza and former SBMA Chair Feliciano Salonga “to put the SBMA in a better place.”  Robert Gonzaga, Inquirer Central Luzon