Marcos trips yield 43% of P175.7-B investments approved by PEZA

The General Director calls for a policy review to reap its benefits.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s foreign visits last delivered nearly half of the total investments approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) in 2023, according to its Director General Tereso “Theo” Panga.

The PEZA chief said that P75 billion "out of the P175.7 billion in investments that we approved, we can attribute 43% of that to the presidential visits."

P175.7 billion worth of total investments got the green light from PEZA in 2023, a 25% increase from P140.7 billion in 2022.

According to Panga, the president’s trips have been "very effective" and instrumental to the significant increase.

"I would say that it's because of the President reaching out to people and economies and taking advantage of our FTAs [free trade agreements] that we as a nation are able to attract investments," he said.

"The President is very clear in his messaging that the Philippines is ready to attract investments," he noted.

However, Panga added, these investments can only push through and actually take shape if the right policies are in place to facilitate and support them.

The PEZA chief was referring to the current moratorium on the establishment of ecozones in Metro Manila under Administrative Order No. 18 (AO18) in 2019.

"New entrant investors have always preferred the National Capital Region (NCR) as the location for their businesses. Unfortunately, with the moratorium in place, we might be limiting the scope of new partnerships and slowing down our development," Panga lamented.

Panga also shed light on the inopportune nature of AO18 amid the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) recent report on the country’s export performance.

According to the DTI-Export Marketing Bureau, exports in 2023 finally breached the $100-billion mark, driven by the information technology business process management (IT-BPM) and tourism sectors.

"If we want to sustain the IT-BPM sector's bullish growth forecast for the next four years – with its annual target of 10% increase in exports and 200,000 incremental jobs – we need to provide ready locations for new and expanding IT locators," said the PEZA chief.

Additionally, Panga upheld a report published by Leechiu Property Consultants that projected the need for "one million seats in office spaces, effectively doubling the current capacity in Metro Manila." The PEZA chief warned that a shortage in IT centers and office spaces is on the horizon if the moratorium stays in place.

The IT industry's call, Panga shared, is for the government to "help address the looming problem by lifting the moratorium and implementing the CREATE law here, allowing the establishment of IT parks in Metro Manila."

The Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act took effect in 2021 as a measure to provide fiscal relief to corporations doing business in the country, and to accelerate economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The act appears to supersede the earlier AO18 moratorium, as sections in its Implementing Rules and Regulations allow ecozone and freeport zone development, such as the establishment of IT parks, in NCR.

"Should the CREATE law be properly implemented in NCR, it will support as well the call of other local government units (LGU) in Metro Manila that were deprived by the said moratorium to host IT parks and locator companies within their jurisdiction," the PEZA chief explained.

"We share the president’s enthusiasm," said Panga, "and PEZA is eager to support his efforts and roll out the red carpet for more investments in strategic industries into the country.”

"This is why we find it truly necessary to ensure that we have sound regulatory policies in place, maximizing the potential of every new partnership coming our way," the PEZA chief concluded, imploring for regulatory coherence in the matter.