Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Tereso O. Panga assured its ecozone locators in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu that the agency is committed to facilitating their development, following his three-day visit to the city in the first week of May.
“Under the present leadership, PEZA will be open, innovative, and above all, protective of our locators. I look forward to your sustained presence and expansion plans because these have a direct impact on generating employment for our LGUs and improving the local economy of the Philippines,” said Panga in a statement by PEZA on May 8.
There are six PEZA ecozones in Lapu-Lapu City, namely the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ), MEZ II - Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Cebu Light Industrial Park - SEZ, The Mactan Newtown, Phil. BXT Corp. Tourism Economic Zone, and Bigfoot I.T. Park.
To date, the six ecozones host a total of 324 locator companies, contributing P90.7 billion investments, generating $2.32 billion exports in 2023, and 67,358 direct jobs.
In 2022, the ecozones and locators have a two percent remittance share to the local government, valued at P267 million.
During his visit, Panga highlighted the operations of two locators, namely Swiss microtechnology firm AM SWISS Microtech Inc. and watch manufacturer TMX Philippines Inc., both in the MEZ.
Since 2017, AM SWISS has generated $8.94 billion in exports and 309 direct jobs. It recently expanded its operations in MEZ, driven by the aggressive efforts of the Philippine government in earning investments from foreign investors like Switzerland and the European Union.
Meanwhile, TMX Philippines has contributed P429 million investments, $703 million in exports, and given 1,349 jobs to workers over the past five years. It has also established a distribution center in MEZ wherein strapping, packing, labeling, and distribution operations to retail outlets are conducted, said PEZA.
“All these endeavors and success stories of our ecozone developers and locators are just the beginning of the groundwork that the government is doing toward attaining a full economic boom. As such, we will continue to make the ecozone program relevant and vibrant as we promote clean and green production and the creation of more eco-industrial parks in rural and new growth areas to accelerate our countrywide development and attract more foreign direct investments (FDIs) to the country,” said Panga.