Taguig City – The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Charito “Ching” Plaza announces on Wednesday the approval of twelve (12) new economic zones as President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed the proclamations in the period of January to June 2020.
Plaza said that “PEZA is grateful to the President for his wise approval for the proclamation of new ecozones in the country amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Once export companies invest in these newly proclaimed ecozones, these will surely multiply investment and economic activities and opportunities in the Philippines.”
“The newly proclaimed ecozones are comprised of nine (9) IT Centers, (2) manufacturing ecozones, and one (1) IT Park. It is estimated that these will bring about a total of ₱ 6.4 Billion of investment to the country,” said the PEZA Chief.
“Majority of the new ecozones composing 67% of the total will be located in Luzon whereas the other 33.33% will be positioned in Visayas and Mindanao,” said Plaza.
Signed in January 2020 by President Duterte, the new SEZs were proclaimed under Proclamation Nos. 885, 889, and 895-897 respectively which include the following:
- Abiathar Commercial Complex – IT Center
- TDG Innovation and Global Business Solutions Center – IT Center
- Millennium Industrial Economic Zone – Manufacturing
- Ayala Bacolod Capitol Corporate Center – IT Center
- Silver City 4 – IT Center
Meanwhile, the seven (7) other new ecozones were proclaimed under Proclamation Nos. 940, 946-950, and 953, which were signed by President Duterte on May 5, May 22, and June 2, 2020 respectively. These include the following:
- Davao del Sur Industrial Economic Zone – Manufacturing
- BatStateU Knowledge, Innovation and Science Technology Park – IT Park
- GLAS Office Development – IT Center
- Bench City Center – IT Center
- Ortigas Technopoint Tower 1 & 2 – IT Center
- NEX Tower – IT Center
- Robinsons Luisita 2 – IT Center
Retention of PEZA powers and incentives
Referring to how Philippines continue to attract investments in ecozones, the PEZA Chief said that “Despite the lacking efficiency factors, we’re able to continue to attract investors in the country because of our incentives which are tried, tested, and proven to be globally competitive.”
She added further that “It is PEZA’s best practices, one-stop-shop, ease of doing business, and tax incentives that are the strong factors attracting foreign investors in the Philippines and export-oriented industries, aside from our rich natural and human resources.”
“This is the reason why we are appealing for the status quo of PEZA’s incentives and powers. Moreover, PEZA urges the Congress to legislate an enhanced economic stimulus that will support our export-oriented companies to bring in huge capital investments, millions of jobs, transfer of new technology, and trigger the growth and development of domestic enterprises,” explained Plaza.
The Director General stated, “The Philippine government must improve its fiscal and non-fiscal incentives and budget support for the public works and IT infrastructure and the building of new logistics and transportation hubs. Also, Philippines need to lower power rates and complete the supply chain. We also need to provide skills training programs that match the manpower needs of our investors to transform the Filipino workers to become multi-skilled, multi-knowledge, and world-class workers.”
“Once these efficiency factors are addressed, it will lower the cost of doing business and will make the country an investment haven in Asia. This will likewise attract more export-oriented industries to locate to the Philippines that would triple the economic gains and inject more investments to the country,” assured Plaza.
“The COVID pandemic indeed taught us a lesson to become self-reliant, self-sustaining, and revenue-generating to take care of our environment and be responsible in utilizing our natural resources. Thus, PEZA’s programs aim for environment-friendly industrialization and the creation of green, healthy, sustainable, and smart ecozones,” said Plaza.
Since 2016, when Duterte became President and appointed Director General Plaza in PEZA, there are now a total of 73 proclaimed new ecozones comprising of one (1) Agro-Industrial Economic Zone, fifty-two (52) Information Technology Centers, nine (9) Information Technology Parks, ten (10) Manufacturing Economic Zones, and one (1) Medical Tourism Center. ₱ 88.3 Billion is the total amount of investments brought about by the 73 ecozones proclaimed from October 2016 – June 2020.
To date, PEZA registered and manages a total of 408 economic zones nationwide. The number may increase as public, private lands or even ancestral domain lands can be registered to PEZA as ecozone by the LGU concerned and through private sector initiative.
Also, PEZA has a total of 4,542 locator companies directly and indirectly employing 6.5 million Filipino workers as of May 2020. #