The Senate on Monday approved on the third and final reading a measure establishing the Bulacan Special Economic Zone and Freeport.

In a plenary session, Senate Bill 2572 garnered 22 affirmative votes, zero negative votes, and zero abstention from the lawmakers. 

Senator Grace Poe, who sponsored the bill, expressed high hopes that the Senate’s newly approved measure will contribute "so much improvement" in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

“The same way, I have high hopes for this ecozone that it will spur investment, create more jobs, and will actually be a model, not just here in the Philippines, but all over Asia, that would hopefully increase our GDP,” she said. 

Poe assured the “vastly improved bill” adheres to constitutional provision on land conversion, “which balances economic growth with environmental protection, and that warrants greater local government unit representation at its helm.”

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III  said he voted in favor of the bill but “with reminders.”

Pimentel urged his colleagues to “pay attention to the constitutional requirement” before Congress creates a government-owned and -controlled corporation (GOCC). 

“There must be some sort of a test of the economic viability of the GOCC we are creating and I think this is undoubtedly a GOCC which we have created. So let's comply. May time pa naman. There's still time to comply with the constitutional requirement," Pimentel reminded his co-lawmakers.

Pimentel mentioned the original version of the bill was among the proposed measures vetoed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., where he argued that the proposal “significantly narrows our tax base with its mandated incentives applicable to registered enterprises.” 

Marcos previously lamented the proposal was “contrary to the government’s objective of developing  a tax system with low rates and a broad tax base.”

The President cited the Republic Act 11534 or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act or the CREATE law that already allows eligible enterprises outside economic zones to apply for and avail of fiscal incentives without the need for creating new special economic zones.

In her previous sponsorship, Poe said that all the incentives, under the creation of the Bulacan EcoZone, are compliant with the CREATE law.

Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, who was hailed from Bulacan, thanked Poe for steering the passage of the measure.

During the deliberation of the bill, Villanueva proposed the increased local government unit representation in the Board of Directors of the Bulacan Special Economic Zone and Freeport Authority or BEZA, promote the protection of the environment and improve management of natural resources in Bulacan EcoZone and ensure the transfer of technology and skills to Filipino workers through the implementation of an understudy and skills development program.

Villanueva said the creation of the Bulacan EcoZone could generate up to 1.2 million jobs and bring in about P37.84 billion to P130.9 billion of investments in Bulacan province alone.