President Marcos has appointed local businessman Eduardo Aliño as the new chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
Aliño replaced Jonathan Tan, a former mayor of Pandan town in Antique who stepped down as SBMA head, a position he held for the past eight months.
Tan was appointed as undersecretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Tan described his stint at SBMA as “short but valuable.”
“I was given the chance to serve the agency. I’ll bring with me all the happy memories I had with you,” Tan said in a message to SBMA employees.
Aliño was chairman and president of the S.T.A.R. Group of Companies, amajor player in integrated supply chain services and port operations before he was tapped by President Marcos for the Subic job.
This bodes well for Subic, a former base for the United States Navy whose core business asset is its seaport, local businessmen said.
The Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce (SBFCC) earlier pointed out that there is a need for the SBMA to “focus more on streamlining its operations (and) promoting growth, increased economic activity, and trade.”
The new SBMA head was also chairman of the Subic Bay Yacht Club in 2015 to 2018 and in 2023.