PGMA visits model garment factory at CFZ

Clark Freeport Zone (22 April) — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo visited the Smart Shirt Philippines Limited, one of the locators at the PhilEx Business Park here, which has been cited as a model for best practices in human resource management.

From Tarlac City, where she led the groundbreaking ceremonies of the Tarlac-La-Union Toll Expressway and the dry-run of the Subic-Clark Expressway, the President proceeded here to informally interact with some 3,000 workers of the shirt factory.

She was also given a tour of the factory by Smart Shirt Phils. General Manager Mark Pressley.

The President was briefed on the operation of the factory as she toured the different sections of the manufacturing complex including the pattern- making, cutting, sewing, pressing and packing sections.

The President, who was visibly pleased with the factory’s operations, posed for a souvenir picture upon the request of the factory workers.

A subsidiary of Youngor Group Co. Ltd., Smart Shirt manufactures such garment brands as Nautica, Nordstrom, Claiborne and JC Penny for export to the United States and the United Kingdom.

The firm uses the “dipping technology,” a wrinkle-free process. The state -of-the-art technology is the first to be used in the country.

As of 2006, Smart Shirt’s investment in the country totaled P170 million. The company is the third biggest garments exporter at the Freeport.

Last September, Smart Shirt’s management signed a collective bargaining with the firm’s labor union.

From the shirt factory, the President proceeded to her hometown of Lubao in Pampanga where she attended the holy mass in commemoration of the 11th death anniversary of her father, former President Diosdado Macapagal.