The incoming investments eyed to be approved this month may cause the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) to hit its P250-billion investment approvals for the year, according to PEZA Director General Tereso Panga.

Panga said the last PEZA Board meeting on December 22, to be presided over by him and PEZA Board Chairperson and Trade Secretary Cristina Roque, would determine whether their current investment approvals of P238 billion would increase enough to hit or surpass their target investment nods.

“We are now at P238 billion, so that means we’re P12 billion short to hit the P250 B. The P238 billion investment approvals at PEZA were after our 12 December Board Meeting. We are getting some applications still, and they all want to be approved by 22 December,” Panga told reporters during the PEZA 30th Anniversary and Investors’ Recognition Night at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City on Monday night.

Panga said the pipelined applications are mostly in the manufacturing industry, “and some are coming in new big-ticket investments.”

“Origin of the investment is one American, some are Japanese, but I cannot name them yet, unless they filed their applications. Another one is into tourism, which is another big-ticket investment, an ultra-luxury tourism brand investment. Some are developers,” he said.

Pearl of progress

Meanwhile, Panga, in his speech, said the celebration of PEZA’s 30th anniversary is not just a revelry of an agency, but a legacy — “a legacy polished through time, perseverance, and determination.”

“This is PEZA: the Pearl of Progress. A pearl, as we know, is formed under pressure — layer upon layer of resilience, care, and transformation. It takes years to form, and when it does, it becomes something rare and valuable. That, in many ways, is the story of PEZA. It started with a grain of vision in 1969 with President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. creating the Bataan Export Processing Zone Authority, which then evolved into the Export Processing Zone Authority or EPZA, our predecessor agency,” he said.

From its humble beginnings, Panga said his agency has worked hard to become the country’s catalyst for industrial growth and investor confidence, managing to transform wastelands into industrial hubs, sleepy towns into bustling central business districts, and rural communities into thriving new growth areas—driving both local and national development.

“Since its establishment in 1995, it has generated over P4.5 trillion in cumulative investments, created more than 1.81 million direct and quality jobs, and contributed over $1.12 trillion in exports,” he said.

From its early years to its peak of P319 billion in approved investments in 2011, the PEZA chief said the investment promotion agency has demonstrated strength, adaptability, and resilience amid global disruptions and economic headwinds.

“It is our aspiration that, if not this year, we will breach the P300-billion mark by 2026—bringing us back to the heyday of PEZA when we were approving an average of P290 billion in annual investments during the 2011 to 2015 period. This solid performance affirms PEZA’s unwavering commitment to ease of doing business, job creation, and positioning the Philippines as a top investment hub in Asia,” he maintained.

He stated that PEZA has not only recovered from the downward spiral in ecozone investments recorded from 2016 to 2021 but has also achieved its highest investment approvals in the past seven years.

Since 2022, PEZA’s approved annual investments have been consistently growing, peaking at P214.18 billion in 2024, enabling the self-sustaining agency to remit its highest dividends to the national coffers, having entered the prestigious GOCC billionaires’ club starting in 2023.

To date, PEZA now has 35 new and expanded ecozones proclaimed since 2022, most of them strategically located in the countryside to promote regional development.

“And we have more in the pipeline, including new public economic zones in the Bicol region and in Palawan. It is also no coincidence that under the current administration, PEZA has approved 124 big-ticket projects worth 1 billion pesos and above, for a total of P581 billion, which are expected to generate $7 billion in exports and create 60,923 direct jobs for Filipinos,” according to Panga.