President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (File photo)
MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has designated parcels of land in Barangay Baculong in Victoria, Tarlac as a special economic zone.
In his Proclamation No. 623 signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on July 4, Marcos identified a total of 297,719 square meters of land to be known as the Victoria Industrial Park.
According to the Republic Act 7916 or the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995, special economic zones or ecozones are selected areas with highly developed or have the potential to be developed into agro-industrial, Industrial tourist/recreational, commercial, banking, investment and financial centers.
They may contain any or all of the following: Industrial Estates, Export Processing Zones, Free Trade Zones, and Tourist/Recreational Centers.
Areas may be established as ecozones in a proclamation to be issued by the President and subject to the evaluation and recommendation of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) based on a detailed feasibility and engineering study.
PEZA facilitates the business operations of investors in export-oriented manufacturing and service facilities inside selected areas throughout the country that were proclaimed ecozones.
According to PEZA, there is a total 419 economic zones as of April 2023, of which 78 are manufacturing economic zones; 297 are information technology parks/centers; 17 are tourism export enterprises; 24 are agro-industrial economic zones; and three are medical tourism parks/center. (PNA)
