• San Miguel Corp. is being encouraged to salvage its newly vetoed Bulacan Airport City project by registering it with PEZA as an economic zone
• PEZA director general Charito Plaza welcomed the veto of HB 7575, adding that the proposed Bulacan airport “should instead be registered with PEZA as the authorized agency nationwide for registering new special economic zones”
• Senator Joel Villanueva and Albay 2nd District Representative Joey Salceda are set to refile an amended version of the bill
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is encouraging San Miguel Corp. (SMC) to register the Bulacan Airport City project as an economic zone under PEZA.
This after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vetoed House Bill (HB) No. 7575, which proposed the creation of the Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone and Freeport (BACSEZF) and Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (BACSEZFA).
In his veto letter dated July 1 but released on July 3, Marcos said he “cannot support the bill considering the provisions that pose fiscal risks to the country and its infringement on or conflict with other agencies’ mandates and authorities.”
PEZA director general Charito Plaza in a statement said her agency welcomes the veto, noting that the authority’s opinion on HB 7575 has been very consistent that the proposed BACSEZF “should instead be registered with PEZA as the authorized agency nationwide for registering new special economic zones.”
In its legal opinion on HB 7575, PEZA cited that it “encourages and supports the establishment of economic zones through the PEZA administrative process that will no longer require legislation just to create an economic zone or freeport in any part of the country, but would only need a Presidential proclamation after a PEZA Board approval and favorable recommendation of the proponent’s application.”
“To think that the [BACSEZF] is a private-led development of new ecozone, it is but appropriate to register it with PEZA instead of having it legislated as a new investment promotion agency (IPA). Through this, government is spared the responsibility of providing annual budget to legislated independent economic zones and to create multiple IPAs with overlapping goals and mandates,” Plaza said.
“Moreover, by having a nationwide IPA, there is more cohesive investment strategy for the country and not creating numerous IPAs competing with each other to attract [foreign direct investments],” she added.
As mandated by Republic Act No. 7916, or The Special Economic Zones Act of 1995, PEZA is the authorized agency in the country to register lands and buildings into economic zones nationwide, except in those areas or regions with their own legislated IPAs.
While other IPAs are reliant on government subsidy for their operations, Plaza underlined that “PEZA is a self-reliant, self-sustaining and resource-generating agency. We don’t receive subsidy from the government but we contribute to the government’s income and resources as we remit 50% of our net profit as dividends.”
Plaza said that “if [BACSEZFA] will apply with PEZA, we can accept their application under our framework, following the criteria and parameters provided in the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Law and the Strategic Investments Priorities Plan (SIPP) as among the big-ticket and strategic investments.”
“Ecozone developers or landowners can register to PEZA and develop or create different types of economic zones where different enterprises can locate different types of industries. Through this, lands are utilized responsibly depending on the land and natural resources on it,” said the PEZA chief.
HB 7575 authorizes BACSEZFA to establish, build, operate, and maintain public utilities and other services and infrastructure in the proposed Bulacan economic zone.
BACSEZFA would have jurisdiction over SMC’s US$15 billion New Manila International Airport, to be located on a 2,500-hectare property in Bulakan, Bulacan.
An airport city will also be built beside the airport, which will have a passenger terminal building with a design capacity of 100 million to 200 million passengers per year, four parallel runways that are upgradable to six, and eight taxiways.
The project broke ground in October 2020 and the first phase of construction began in March 2022.
In a statement on July 3, Press Secretary Rose Beatrix Cruz-Angeles said Marcos fully supports the creation of the Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone and Freeport and his decision to veto House Bill 7575 was meant to cure the defects found in the measure.
Senator Joel Villanueva said the bill supporters in Senate will mull over “refiling this bill, and even consider other possible proposals such as strengthening the PEZA law.”
Albay 2nd District Representative Joey Salceda, in a separate statement, said he will refile an amended version of the bill, taking into consideration points raised by Marcos in his veto letter.
