A bill establishing the Bulacan Special Economic Zone and Freeport has lapsed into law.
The Republic Act 11999 or the Bulacan Special Economic Zone and Freeport Act which lapsed into law on June 13 also creates the Bulacan Special Economic Zone and Freeport Authority.
Under the law, the Bulacan Special Economic Zone and Freeport will be known as the “Bulacan EcoZone,” or (BuZ).
It shall cover the airport project and the airport city project while the Bulacan Special Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (BEZA) will manage the BuZ.
In consultation with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the BEZA shall establish the general framework for land use, planning and development for the area covered by BuZ, consistent with the Philippine Development Plan of the government.
The BEZA shall be organized within 180 days upon the effectivity of the law.
It will take effect 15 days following the completion of its publication in the Official Gazette, or in a newspaper of general circulation.
After previously opposing the bill, the Bulacan ecozone has garnered the support of Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto.
Recto expressed his endorsement of the bill aimed at establishing BuZ near the New Manila International Airport in Bulakan, Bulacan.
Highlighting that BuZ is the largest ecozone in the country, Recto emphasized that it will unlock the value of currently idle land, leading to an increase in tax revenues.
“It will be creating value for thousands of hectares. There’s nothing there and no taxes will be lost,” the finance chief explained.
“It’s a private domestic investor building a four run way airport and ecozone worth roughly P700 billion in Bulacan,” he added.
In July 2022, President Marcos vetoed a similar bill due to concerns about significant fiscal risks to the government.
However, Senator Grace Poe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs and was the bill's sponsor, said that the concerns raised by the executive had been adequately addressed in the revised legislation.
To recall, former Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said that the vetoed Bulacan airport ecozone posed significant fiscal risks to the government.
Diokno had explained that if the legislation establishing the Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone and Freeport were to pass, the government would be required to offer "very generous fiscal incentives."
DOF earlier projected that the San Miguel-led ecozone could result in government leakages of at least P60 billion.