Alternatives to CUSA, Are There?

As of this writing, four different lawsuits are being readied against the SBMA’s CUSA fee. Assuming that a temporary restraining order (TRO) will be issued by the court and—heck, let’s dream bigger—assuming that the petitioners will eventually win, what then?

We all know that the SBMA is in deep financial trouble. It almost always has been. In fact, in its 20 years of existence under five different administrations, there were only seven years when it generated income—negligible at that. The other 13 years were all losses; so much so that the cumulative losses as of the present day amount to something like seven billion pesos.

Okay, SBMA in the red, no disagreement there. The argument is where to get the money to stop the bleeding.

But, why do we even have to care if SBMA bleeds to death? Because the Subic Bay Freeport will, too. Potentially including us. So let’s go back to our original assumption—we will win but what then?

We have to remember that while we are in conflict with SBMA regarding the CUSA, we are one with them in the pursuit of trying to reverse the expected decline of the Freeport due to lack of services.

Being able to stop the CUSA means the non-realization of SBMA’s expected revenue from it. Previously P350 million, it was eventually reduced to P170 million. We can presuppose that the P170 million supposed CUSA revenue cannot possibly be the all-encompassing solution for the money problems besetting the agency. But, assuming that it will be enough to slowly turn the agency around, do we have alternatives to generate that amount in lieu of the CUSA?

The Subic Chamber, in the position paper we submitted to SBMA last June 6, provided a good number of suggestions, mostly dealing with cost-cutting and streamlining of the SBMA bureaucracy. We have not, however, shown how much, in terms of actual money, those suggestions would amount to.

How about we try finding some P170 million right now?

But first, I have to qualify that we don’t have data metrics so reasonable assumptions would have to do.

Let’s start with SBMA’s bloated number of personnel. We do not know the exact number of personnel, but we know that SBMA’s expenses on salaries and benefits is close to P700 million. Let’s assume, therefore, that the number we are looking for is somewhere around 3,500, which would be a combination of plantilla and contract workers already. Is this number bloated? You bet it is. Chairman Garcia, without mincing on too many words, agrees. Even former Administrator Arreza agreed that it is very high (that’s even after a great number of personnel from the former FSC were removed during his term).

So how much can we consider a reasonable number? I’d say 2,000 would be more than enough. The Clark Freeport operates with way less number of personnel than this. So how much would SBMA save by removing 1,500 workers?

Assuming a conservative figure of P13,000 total monthly cost per worker, we are talking of P234 million savings! Wow, this alone is more than enough to replace the CUSA!

But the problem is more political than anything else. It would be political suicide to fire low-ranking workers, especially those who were previously original volunteers who safeguarded the Subic Freeport when the US Navy left.

But hey, maybe the workers don’t even have to be fired.

Last April, during the Locators’ Congress, I made a suggestion to Chairman Garcia. It involves the possibility of locators hiring a number of the original volunteers. I called it the Adopt-a-Volunteer program.

While the volunteers are no longer as strong as they used to be—okay, let’s call them elderly—they can still do menial tasks. But at least the locators would get some kind of service back and help the volunteers at the same time. With the CUSA, you basically pay something for nothing.

I would hire at least one volunteer myself. Some of the SBFCC Board Directors would, too. Given the chance to choose between the CUSA and “adopting” a volunteer? I think other locators would be leaning towards the latter also.

For plantilla positions, why not simply give them first priority when locators are hiring for similar skills? It seemed a no-brainer.

With only 2,000 personnel left, there would be a better inclination to streamline and reduce red tape. An indirect benefit.

While we’re on a roll, where else, if we are wearing SBMA’s shoes, can we get additional income?

How about a road user’s fee for those passing the Tipo Tollway? It doesn’t have to be humongous. Something like a ten peso fee for cars and a bit higher for bigger vehicles would do. Of course, this would have to be coordinated with the tollway operator to make it seamless. Exempted would be vehicles with SBF stickers.

What else? How about a ten peso environment fee for tourists? I could get flak for this suggestion since the Chamber opposed the original environment fee that SBMA proposed in 2010. But hey, that proposal was for hundreds of pesos; this one can be paid with one coin. It would be a bit tricky to implement this, though. An alternative would be to make available, ten peso raffle stubs within establishments with prices raffled from locator-donated tokens. Added benefit—it’s more fun-tastic in Subic!

With 5 million tourists a year, we could be talking more than P50 million from the two above!

Finally, how about revenue from tax-deductible donations? This will probably apply more for environment-related projects like the Subic Bay cleanup that I mentioned on last month’s President Message. But it might work.

So there, it looks like we will be able to marshal about P300 million just from the above. There could be better suggestions out there; some might even be crazier.

The key to finding solutions for the aforementioned problem is to seriously involve locators and residents into helping SBMA out. The SBMA cannot, and must not, act as the proverbial man with a hammer that sees everything else as nails. The majority of locators and residents are here for the long haul, even as administrations have come and gone. We can help.

(SBFCC Newsletter Volume 17 Issue 10)