BUSINESS TRENDS
BAGUIO CITY – The John
Hay Management Corporation (JHMC) reported its existing locators within the
John Hay Special Economic Zone (JHSEZ) generated some 6,078 jobs for local
residents as of November 30, 2019.
JHMC president and chief executive officer Allan Garcia
claimed the number of generated jobs was 96 percent compared to its projected
employment generation of 6,300 jobs for qualified residents of the Baguio-La
Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) area.
Last year, JHMC locators generate some 6,106 jobs for
qualified local residents.
On consumer satisfaction, Garcia reported researchers are
still conducting the required data gathering for the said purpose with experts
from the Saint Louis College in San Fernando City, La Union administering the
consumer satisfaction survey.
The JHMC official disclosed locators provided some P829.72
million in income, roughly 72 percent of the projected P1.152 billion income
from the economic zone for this year.
According to him, there were over 64,000 tourist arrivals
in the historical core for the first nine months of the year compared to the
over 104,000 tourist arrivals in the economic zone last year, thus, the need
for the corporation to sustain its aggressiveness in promoting John Hay, the
former American rest and recreation area, as a must-see tourist destination in
the city.
Garcia underscored JHMC embraced the forest bathing
as one of its newest attractions to provide nature lovers with a walk through
the scenic forest cover of John Hay as the area still covers 53 percent of the
city’s remaining forest cover, thus, efforts are being done to sustain the
preservation and protection of the city’s environment.
He added there are new locators that signed the necessary
agreement with JHMC for their operations in the city while there are still
other companies that signified to enter into a lease contract for their future
operation within their preferred areas within the economic zone, provided that,
they adhere to the stringent environmental regulations imposed by the JHMC.
JHMC is a subsidiary of the State-owned Bases Conversion
and Development Authority (BCDA) tasked to administer, manage and operate all
former American military bases in the country after the same were turned over
to the Philippine government when the Senate rejected the supposed renewal of
the bases agreement.
In 1997, BCDA leased to Fil-Estate Penta Capita Consortium
some 247 hectares from the over 686-hectare Camp John hay watershed and forest
reservation for its conversion into a world-class tourism multi-use rest and
recreation center to help boost the identity of Baguio City as the country’s
undisputed Summer Capital with the put up of the appropriate rest and
recreation facilities.
However, the lease agreement was subjected to mutual
restitution following the failure of both parties to deliver on their
commitments that significantly affected the supposed pace of development within
the declared economic zone. -- Dexter A. See
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