BAGUIO CITY – The John Hay Management Corporation (JHMC), a subsidiary of the State-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), reported a 2 percent increase in jobs generated in the economic zone last year because of the sustained growth of the companies operating in the zone.
JHMC president and chief executive officer Allan R. Garcia claimed that there were around 5,928 workers in the existing economic zone last year as against their target of 5,513 workers that were supposed to be employed by the establishments in the said facility.
He emphasized that 93 percent of the employees in the zone come from the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) area while there are only 415 non-BLISTT workers who are employed by some of the companies operating in the zone.
In 2017, he added that there were 5,830 workers that were declared by the companies that are operating in the zone wherein 5,442 workers are from the BLISTT area while 388 workers come from non-BLISTT areas.
Moreover, JHMC was able to garner a 92 percent consumer satisfaction rating wherein consumers were greatly satisfied in the overall dimension of satisfaction on the JHMC services.
On the gross sales of business enterprises within the economic zone, the JHMC official reported that there was a 9.98 percent increase in last year’s recorded sales of P1,063,468, 525.70 compared to the reported P967,475,904.67 sales by the businesses in the zone the previous year.
On the other hand, Garcia stated that tourist arrivals recorded in the historical core increased by 10.17 percent last year where there were some 104,093 tourists that visited the facility compared to the 94,480 tourist arrivals reported the previous year.
He said JHMC remains aggressive in enticing more investors to open their businesses inside the economic zone to sustain the gains of the present administration in spurring robust economic activities that will help the city’s economic situation.
According to him, the sustained increase in generated jobs, tourist arrivals and investments inside the economic zone is an indication of the trust and confidence bestowed by prospective investors to the prevailing business climate in the city and the state of development that the former American rest and recreation area was able to achieve over the past several decades after the former air station was turned over to the government for proper management and administration.
Garcia explained that to entice more tourists to visit the various sports inside the zone, JHMC intends to rehabilitate the Bell House porch, flooring and ceiling; enhance the pathways at the historical core, rehabilitate the Voice of America (VOA) log homes among other development projects.
JHMC is tasked to administer, operate and manage the Camp John Hay forest reservation wherein the former John Hay air station is situated considering that it is part of the former American rest and recreation center that was turned over by the United States (US) government to the Philippine government when the Philippine Senate rejected the renewal of the RP-US treaty sometime in 1991 or during the term of former President Corazon C. Aquino.
By Dexter A. See
