TYPHOON PEPENG has disrupted product shipments from firms based in the Baguio Economic Zone but spared facilities and the labor force there, officials said yesterday.

The typhoon dumped rains on Northern Luzon for more than a week, triggering landslides that made access roads to the city impassable.

Kennon Road was the only access road reopened to light vehicles last Sunday afternoon after having been closed since Friday.

‘Within the ecozone, roads are fine but going out, there have been problems for the past two days,’ Modesto C. Agyao, Jr., zone operations head, said in Filipino in a telephone interview yesterday.

The economic zone is home to 16 locators, he said, 12 of which are manufacturers.

‘[Companies] have stocks of raw materials anyway so operations were not disrupted. There was no damage to facilities. Power interruptions don’t last long and employees have been coming to work,’ Mr. Agyao said.

‘We don’t see decreased export sales due to the storm because operations have generally been continuing,’ he said.

Several firms at the economic zone confirmed that operations have generally continued despite the storm but noted that they’ve had to delay delivery commitments.

‘There has been conflict in scheduling shipments. We’re delayed by two days now,’ Maila Adrid, human resource supervisor at garment manufacturer Adriste Philippines, Inc., said in a telephone interview.

Gift item exporter Bay-Sport Manufacturing, Inc. also had problems with outward shipments, said executive secretary Wilma Anay.

‘We have one container for a European client that was supposed to leave last Friday,’ Ms. Anay said in Filipino in another telephone interview.

The Baguio Economic Zone is among four state-run ecozones. Industry leaders had complained that the site’s attractiveness to investors is being hurt by the lack of roads that can accommodate large delivery trucks.

Another problem for SM

Barely three weeks since Sy-led SM Prime Holdings, Inc.’s SM Sta. Mesa mall was flooded by tropical storm Ondoy, the country’s largest mall operator is now facing another challenge — opening its Pangasinan mall as soon as possible because of the thousands of jobs that depend on it.

The first level of SM City Rosales was flooded at the weekend with typhoon Pepeng staying in the country for nearly 10 days.

‘What we want to do now is to repair it and open it as soon as possible. We want to help [the city] by opening the mall because of the number of people who are dependent on it for employment and business,’ SM Prime Holdings, Inc. chief finance officer Jeffrey C. Lim said in an interview.

Mr. Lim said around 5,000 people are affected directly and indirectly because of the closure of the two-storey mall.

‘Right now, we are starting to do the rehabilitation,’ he said.

But the Pangasinan mall’s suspended operations won’t have a significant effect on the company’s overall revenues since it is just a ‘small mall,’ he said.

Mr. Lim said initial loss estimates stood at P200 million, including those of tenants and their merchandise.

SM City Rosales opened last year. It has a gross floor area of 60,989 square meters (sq. m.) and a leasable area of 43,235 sq. m.

The two-storey mall has at least 200 shops and stores and eight anchor tenants including SM Department Store, SM Cinemas, and SM Hypermarket. Junior anchors include the SM Appliance Center, National Book Store, Ace Hardware and Watsons.

During the onslaught of Pepeng in Northern Luzon, the mall’s rooftop served as a drop-off point for rescued evacuees. Some 1,000 people were left stranded inside the mall.

Pepeng entered the country days after tropical storm Ondoy flooded Metro Manila, Laguna, and Rizal.

Ondoy forced the SM group to temporarily close six of its Savemore supermarkets. A portion of SM North EDSA’s basement was also flooded. The damage was greatest at the supermarket of SM Sta. Mesa in Manila.

Shares in SM Prime, which has 35 malls all over the country, did not move at P10.50 apiece yesterday.