What a waste!

ON Nov, 25, 1996, the Subic Bay freeport in Zambales, Philippines, played host to the 4th Apec Leaders Summit. It was a crowning achievement of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, then headed by administrator Richard Gordon, who showed off how the Philippines was able to transform a former U.S. military naval base, into a commercially viable center for business and tourism.

The Philippine government wasted no expense in renovating a conference site called Summit Hall where the 18 heads of state including U.S. President Bill Clinton, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed, Brunei Sultan Bolkiah, Indonesian Prime Minister Suharto, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, among others, would be able to meet and thresh out issues to further push cooperation among their countries. About 21 luxury villas costing $1 million each, where the leaders would be able to retire after their meetings were done for the day, were built as well.

(18 heads of state including U.S. President Bill Clinton, far right, wave to photographers for the usual group photo to mark the leaders' summit of the Association of Pacific Economic Cooperation - Apec - forum. Photo from the Apec web site.)

(Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Phil. President Fidel V. Ramos compare their barongs. Photo from the Sydney Morning Herald archives)

About $12 million was reportedly spent to renovate the Summit Hall and nearby Crown Peak Garden Hotel. Both are located in the Upper Mau area of the freeport.

I was on vacation in Subic for the weekend and was surprised to see this:

(This is the Apec Summit Hall now - rundown and decrepit.)

(The sign says "Subic Summit 1996" with the logo of Apec in the middle. It's a shame that the SBMA failed to maintain the Summit Hall. It would've been a good venue for conferences and important meetings. Another waste of resources.)

(Don't ask us any questions, we'll tell you no lies, these two stone carvings seem to be saying. These figures are the only remaining vestiges of the splendor that was once was the Apec Summit Hall.)

I don't remember any head of state actually staying in the Villas built for them, which has since been renamed into Triboa Bay Estates, and were being sold to private individuals at a cost of P50 million each. (One of those villas were said to have been donated to a head of state (wink!) after the Summit was over.) Apparently there have been no takers for most of the villas that the last listings from real estate brokers put the villas at P30 million.

I recently read a report by Home Guaranty Corp., a government-owned corporation which has apparently taken over Triboa Estates/Apec Villas, stating that the 3rd bidding for the repair/rehab four of the villas were declared as failures in 2007 and as such were up for negotiated procurement. Tsk, tsk.

If you're going out of town

A LOT of people are making tracks out of the city, with a number of them going up north to Clark, Subic, and Tarlac for the Holy Weekend. A few still are unfamiliar traversing the new Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway so, in the interest of public service, I'm posting a map courtesy of the BCDA web site.

You may click and print it:


Here's the corresponding fare matrix as well. Try to have the exact fare on hand to speed up your time at the toll booths. You may click and print as well for your guidance.


Drive safely people. Enjoy yourselves but pls. remember what this entire week is really about.

An advanced Happy Easter to all!

Court martial set for US soldier charged w/ Pinay's rape in Okinawa

By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 11:16:00 08/01/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- The American soldier who is accused of raping a Filipina in Okinawa, Japan has been charged by the United States Army, setting the stage for his court-martial, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Friday in a statement.

"On July 28, the United States Army charged Specialist Ronald Edward Hopstock Jr. with the rape of a Filipino woman under section 120 of the US Uniform Code of Military Justice," it said.

As a result of information discovered during the course of the Army criminal investigation, the US Army also charged Specialist Hopstock with additional offenses unrelated to the Filipina victim. The DFA did not specify these additional offenses.

The Commander of the 10th Army Support Group, US Army Japan, then appointed an independent officer (IO) to conduct an Article 32 (UCMJ) hearing, a prerequisite to a court-martial. (The rest here)

Good for her! It's about time these US soldiers be taken to task with their abuses of women. I don't mean to put them all in one bunch, but if you remember the case of the 'Nicole' who got raped in Subic, what happened? Wala. Our authorities were so super-scared of pursuing the case because of the government's overdependence on the U.S. military for its hand-me-downs.

And because of the ensuing moro-moro in court (sure the accused was found guilty but...), and seeing how Philippine authorities behaved like patsies anyway, the U.S. military didn't even bother to bring him to court martial. Who knows, the kid, Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, is probably safe in his family's arms in the U.S. already, and not at the U.S. Embassy in Manila as claimed. Meanwhile, the case is on appeal and is expected to reach the Supreme Court. Kawawa naman si Nicole.

At least out there in Okinawa, where the Japanese authorities are apparently more thorough and really put the U.S. military on the spot, this Pinay is getting the justice that is due her. Kudos to the Okinawans considering they are losing the military bases by 2009, with the transfer of the Marines to Guam.

Despite the advances we females have made in society, certain men still like to treat us like trash. It doesn't matter what sector of society she belongs...even if she is wealthy, or just poor, a student, a career woman, or a hooker. When a woman says, "No," she means "No!"

Look to the sky: a profile of Zest-O's Fred Yao

ALFREDO M. Yao is a man who rarely rests.

He says the last vacation he had with his entire family was two years ago in New Zealand, and remembers a few regional cruises with his wife. He tells the BusinessMirror he would rather be on his toes, working, on the lookout for new business opportunities. “I always tell my children, ‘Never be complacent.’ Work as if someone’s burning his heels behind you. You have to keep running. That’s my business philosophy, that’s my secret. I just don’t sit down. I’m not complacent, even to this day. There should be some threat from competitors, from other brands…. You shouldn’t be able to sleep.”

For someone who stresses that “vacations are not for me,” Yao, ironically, is now Philippine tourism’s latest champion. He recently completed the purchase of Asian Spirit, a 12-year-old airline primarily flying between Manila and Caticlan, and is looking at buying another carrier, Southeast Asian Airlines, with the intention of merging both companies. He has also bought the Legenda Hotels and Suites in the Subic Bay Freeport, and is just waiting for its former owners to turn over the property to him. Last year he was appointed by President Arroyo as special envoy to develop tourism between the Philippines and China, which is why he is now looking into the possibility of expanding Asian Spirit’s regional routes to include Xiamen and Shanghai.

“I just thought it’s a good opportunity [buying Asian Spirit]. There’s a lot of room to grow here in local aviation and tourism market. There are so many unexplored areas. Our country is so beautiful, we have a lot of resources, all we need is to develop these sites, put in the infrastructure, then bring the tourists there. I think tourism will help boost the economy,” he says.

(For the rest of my interview of Fred Yao, pls. click here.)