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CEBU CITY—The
chairman of the House economic affairs committee thinks
too many localities are applying for special economic
zone (SEZ)-accreditation, leading to tough competition
and the failure of some projects to lure investors.
Rep.
Ramon Durano VI of Cebu admitted there are “grey areas”
in the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995 (RA 7916) since
it provides two ways to get an SEZ accreditation—through
the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) and
through Congress.
“Personally, I think there are too many applications for
economic-zone accreditations even by some areas that are
not yet fully ready,” he said. “These areas end up
competing with each other for investors.”
The
economic-enterprise committee, which handles all SEZ
applications, has in the meantime informally adopted the
criteria set up by Peza to screen applicants, of which
those pending in the committee number 17 applications.
The
committee recently endorsed House Bill 1319 for a Cebu
Economic Development Zone to turn the entire island and
nearby smaller islands into an SEZ.
Durano
said the biggest concern raised against the proposal was
how to monitor the influx of goods into the planned Cebu
free port, raising the possibility of massive smuggling
but he said, “I think there will not be any big problem
because despite being a free port, there is only one
major international port in Cebu and one international
airport, and I think the government can monitor these
two.”
The
proposal, backed by the business sector, is being
readied for a full-scale feasibility study by a private
firm after the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry
secured funding from the German Agency for Technical
Cooperation.
All of
Cebu island’s other congressmen—Reps. Raul del Mar,
Antonio Cuenco, Eduardo Gullas, Pablo Garcia, Pablo
John Garcia, Benhur Salimbangon and Nerissa Soon-Ruiz
are authors of the
Cebu ecozone bill. |
