THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has approved P6 billion worth of investment pledges in March, bringing the first-quarter approvals to P58.947 billion.
In a statement on Wednesday, the investment promotion agency said it greenlit 27 new and expansion projects worth P6.01 billion at its March 28 meeting. This was 110% higher than the P2.855-billion investment pledges it had approved in March 2024.
“These projects are seen to generate $223.497-million exports and directly employ more than 4,500 Filipino workers,” PEZA said.
PEZA approved 12 information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) projects, 10 export manufacturing projects, two utilities projects, two economic zone (ecozone) development projects, and one domestic enterprise project.
These projects are located across Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Region IV, Central Visayas, and Northern Mindanao.
PEZA said it greenlit two big-ticket projects worth a combined P2.615 billion — a water treatment facility in Batangas and a coconut milk production plant in Misamis Oriental.
For the first quarter, PEZA said it approved P58.947 billion worth of investment pledges, a 294.3% increase from the P14.951-billion pledges a year ago.
“I believe that the first-quarter performance of PEZA is a testament to the improved policy and investment environment established by the President. It basically keeps us at par or even above that of our neighbors when it comes to providing benefits to prospective foreign direct investments,” PEZA Director-General Tereso O. Panga said in a statement.
The 66 new and expansion projects approved in the January-to-March period are expected to generate $497.461 million in exports and create 15,815 jobs.
Broken down, this includes 24 manufacturing projects, 24 IT-BPM projects, seven ecozone development projects, seven domestic enterprise projects, two utilities projects and two facilities projects.
Thirty-two of the projects are in Region IV, while 12 are in the National Capital Region. Eight projects are located in Central Luzon, while the other eight are in Central Visayas.
The rest of the projects are in Davao Region, Ilocos Region, Northern Mindanao and Western Visayas.
PEZA said that it is confident that investments will further increase due to the fiscal incentives under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy (CREATE MORE) Act.
“We are bullish that we will sustain this upward trajectory coming into the second quarter of the year as we intensify our investment promotion initiatives partnered with the CREATE MORE incentives, the most generous fiscal incentives among ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) to date,” Mr. Panga said.
Mr. Panga said the agency has hosted inbound delegations from US, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Spain, who have expressed interest in investing in economic zones.
“We are anticipating the influx of more investors looking into the Philippines for their offshore operations in Asia,” he said.
“With geopolitics at play as well as future movements of supply chains due to the tariffs, we expect more investments coming to the Philippines,” said Mr. Panga.
Mr. Panga expressed confidence PEZA will hit its target for 2025.
For this year, PEZA hopes to approve P250 billion worth of investment pledges. If realized, this will be a 16.7% increase from the P214.18-billion pledges greenlighted in 2024. — Justine Irish D. Tabile