On March 13, 1992, Subic Bay Freeport in anticipation of the pullout of the US naval base facilities. Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and freeport incentives that was lobbied for by Richard Gordon and inserted as an amendment during the bicameral committee hearings. Pursuant to such, Gordon, then the mayor of Olongapo, became the first SBMA chairman.
Richard Gordon was SBMA chairman until June 1998 when newly elected president, Joseph Estrada,replacing him with a political ally, former Bataan Representative and Harvard-trained Felicito C. Payumo. In 2004, Payumo was replaced by Francisco Licuanan as Chairman and Alfredo C. Antonio as Administrator. In 2006, President Arroyo appointed Commodore Feliciano G. Salonga as Chairman/Head of Agency, and Armand Arreza as CEO of the SBMA. Exports had averaged a billion dollars since 1997, jobs generated reached more than 60,000 which was twice the highest number of jobs available when Subic Bay was still a US naval base. In June 2006, Hanjin Shipping opened over the weekend a P40-million modern training center in the Subic Bay Freeport. Hanjin's facility in Subic covers 349 hectares with total investments of US$1 billion. The project expects to generate at least 15,000 new jobs in Subic.courtesy of: wikipedia.org
