BALANGA CITY, Bataan — Bataeños hailed Tuesday the designation of Francis S. Garcia to represent this province in the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Board of Directors, a reappointment for which they thanked President Benigno S. Aquino III.

Garcia, a computer science expert and son of Governor Enrique “Tet” Garcia, had been on the SBMA Board from March 2010 to August 2010.

His reappointment by Aquino is valuable to Bataeños since three-fourths of the total land area occupied by the SBMA is part of Bataan.

No less than the President administered Garcia’s oath-taking in Malacañang recently, with his Albert S. Garcia, congressman representing the 2nd District of Bataan; Joet, mayor of Balanga City; and Gila, also a former SBMA director, witnessing the event.

“I am committed to the vision of President Noynoy Aquino and the SBMA itself of attracting more investors that will translate to more employment opportunities for our people and gain much-needed revenues for our government,” Director Garcia said.

Palace officials said Director Garcia will be an asset to the SBMA due to his expertise.

Educated in the University of the Philippines, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Garcia holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering, majoring in Computer Science.

Garcia worked as an intern in the testing and integration of software for one of Andersen Consulting’s biggest clients in Manila in 1994; was tapped by Delta Technologies in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996, working on the development of a distributed systems application involving the real time sensing, processing and dissemination of mission critical flight information for Delta Airline’s Operation Control Center.