4 days ago
PEZA Board OKs creation of Palawan Mega Ecozone
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Board has approved the creation of the Palawan Mega Ecozone (PMEZ), set to be biggest of its kind in the Philippines, with 28,000 hectares of idle land in the Iwahig Penal Colony of the Bureau of Correction (BuCor) planned for conversion into industrial estates.
According to PEZA, the Board approved the creation of PMEZ during its meeting on May 21, affirming its contract with BuCor to transfer ownership of idle lands to PEZA for the creation of the ecozone.
An initial 4,000 hectares has already been transferred to PEZA under Phase 1, with the pre-qualification for the declaration of a 4,000-hectare property located in Barangays Montible and Sta. Lucia, Puerto Princesa also approved for development.
"The Palawan Mega Ecozone is envisioned to attract environmentally responsible industries such as agro-industrial processing, renewable energy, ecotourism, and marine biotechnology," PEZA Director General Tereso Panga said in a statement.
"This will not only preserve Palawan's rich biodiversity but will also uplift the livelihood of local communities through jobs and infrastructure development," he added.
Under the Special Economic Zone Act, ecozones are selected areas with highly developed areas or those which have the potential to be developed into agro-industrial, industrial tourist/recreational, commercial, banking, investment, and financial centers.
Business establishments operating within ecozones are entitled to fiscal incentives as provided by the Ombinus Investment Code, and exempted from national and local taxes, except for real property taxes on land owned by developers. They are instead mandated to remit 5% of their gross income—with 3% going to the national government, and 2% to the treasurer's office of the city or municipality.
PEZA said the PMEZ is seen to "revive" the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), and is an immediate response to instructions of the President to promote stronger ties among member states of the Association of East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
It is expected to create over 480,000 direct jobs, employing individuals from local communities, persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), and the whole of the Western Visayas and Sulu Regions.
Under its mandate, PEZA is tasked to promote the establishment of economic zones in the Philippines for foreign investments.
The agency approved 102 new and expansion projects from January to May this year, equivalent to a total investment of P66.34 billion. These are expected to generate over $1 billion in export revenues, and approximately 29,000 direct Filipino jobs.
South Korea was the top investing nationality, accounting for 16.12% of total approved investments, followed by the United States with 4.08%, China with 2.20%, Japan with 2.92%, and the Netherlands with 2.16%.
In terms of industry, the largest share of approvals were in food and beverage with 43.74%, backed by ecozone development with 32.52%, and information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) with 7.59%. — VDV, GMA Integrated News
