BACOLOD CITY – The lone district solon here has filed a bill that seeks foreign direct investments within special economic zones and the creation of a Bacolod Economic Zone Authority (BEZA).
If passed into law, this would pave the way for the creation of more ecozones in the province that currently only has two, one each in the northern city of San Carlos and the Oriental Negros town of Valencia.
This is one of the intents of House Bill 5440, titled “An Act Providing for the Legal Framework and Mechanisms for the Creation, Operation, Administration, and Coordination of Special Economic Zones in the City of Bacolod, Province of Negros Occidental creating for this purpose, the Bacolod Economic Zone Authority, and for Other Purposes” that Gasataya has filed 2019 November before the Lower House.
“… Bacolod City at present has the amenities to accommodate both local and foreign investments and further economic growth with little to no congestion issues in comparison to other metropolitan areas,” Gasataya said in the bill’s explanatory note.
Gasataya also pointed out that the law on special economic zones” clearly classifies (Bacolod) to be a viable location for the establishment of an economic zone” that, once put up, will lead to “the betterment and dispersal of its economic growth.”
Under Republic Act 7916, as amended by Republic Act 8478, the Constitutional recognition of the indispensable role of the private sector, the encouragement of private enterprise and the provision of incentives to needed investments is one of the policy frameworks.
Investopedia defines a special economic zone as an area in any country that is “subject to unique economic regulations that differ frim other regions of the same country” and where regulations “tend to be conducive to foreign direct investment.”
Companies that operate in this zone also receive tax incentives and the opportunity to pay lower tariffs, Investopedia added.
There are close to 400 operating economic zones in the country, according to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority website.
Most, 262 of them, are information technology parks or centers.
