The Philippine Economic Zone Authority’s (PEZA) governing board reported a huge 294.26 percent improvement in their investment approvals in the first quarter of this year, standing at P58.947 billion.

The more than P58 billion trade nods are approximately 24 percent of its 2025 investment targets, an increase from the P14.951 billion investments approved a year ago.

“PEZA’s continued upward trajectory reflects our strong commitment towards investment promotion and facilitation, coupled with our most generous fiscal incentives under the CREATE MORE, and the other advantages placing the Philippines in a sweet spot for economic growth and development. PEZA continues to play a vital role in advancing the country’s economic resilience through sustained job creation, increased exports, and enhanced investment attraction,” PEZA director general Tereso Panga said in a statement.

For March alone, the PEZA Board greenlighted 27 new and expansion projects worth P6.014 billion, which is 110.66 percent higher than the P2.855 billion approved in the same period last year.

The projects are seen to generate $223.497 million in exports and directly employ more than 4,500 Filipino workers, which encompass various types of industries, namely 12 IT-BPM projects, 10 export manufacturing, two utility projects, two ecozone development ventures, and one domestic enterprise which will be strategically located across Metro Manila, Region III, IV, VII and X.

P2.5B in two projects

Among the projects are two big-ticket ventures with a combined total of P2.615 billion set to create a water treatment facility in Batangas, and a coconut milk production plant in Misamis Oriental.

The approval of these projects brought PEZA’s total for the year to 66 projects worth P58.947 billion, with projected exports of about $497.461 Million and approximately 16,000 jobs for Filipino workers.

“We are bullish that we will sustain this upward trajectory coming into the 2nd quarter of the year as we intensify our investment promotion initiatives partnered with the CREATE MORE incentives, the most generous fiscal incentives among ASEAN to date. We are already organizing various investment missions with our investment partners, and those led by OSAPIEA-DTI,” Panga stated.

“We already received several inquiries and hosted inbound delegations from the US, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Spain who are interested in investing in the ecozones. We are anticipating the influx of more investors looking into the Philippines for their offshore operations in Asia,” he added.