Peza eyes amendments to ecozone laws

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) will seek legislative support for the amendment of laws to enable economic zones to offer an even more attractive, lucrative proposition to prospective locators, including allowing foreign investors to lease lands for up to 99 years.

The existing law, Republic Act No. 7652 or the Investor’s Lease Act, allows foreign investors investing in the Philippines to lease private lands for up to 75 years.

Peza director general Charito B. Plaza said the extension of leasing period for foreign investors formed part of the proposals that they intended to put forward to Congress to make it more viable for companies to set up shop in ecozones. “We’re studying the leasing period at Peza because we want to extend it to 99 years, similar to what is being implemented in other countries. There really isn’t a problem about the period but Peza is just trying its best to become highly competitive in the market. We want to compete with the likes of Dubai that allow 99 years,” Plaza explained.

“Right now, all the incentives of Peza are provided in the law, like income tax holiday. We won’t be changing that because that will cause worry among investors. But the amendments we want to introduce are just to make us competitive,” she stressed.

Another proposal was the adjustment of wages of workers in the ecozones to make them more competitive against neighboring countries. Specifically, Peza is looking at creating a special wage package that will be beneficial for both workers and locators.

“We will create a technical working group between Peza and the Department of Labor and Employment because we want to have a special wage package in the ecozones. This will be different because while the salaries will be rationalized, workers will be provided with more benefits such as low cost housing, scholarships for their children, trainings, and livelihood support. We have a lot of programs like these and it’s just a matter of Peza linking with the agencies that are implementing such programs,” Plaza said. —AMY R. REMO