For instance, if the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) received interest from investors in the garments sector, Peza may refer the investments to the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (Afab) as Afab has an established supply chains in its ecozone.
Manalo also noted that each IPA has unique package of incentives it can provide to investors. He said every IPA can encourage investors to go to ecozone in which they can get incentives more appropriate for them.
“Instead of driving away their investors because they may not have some of the things they offer within their zones, better for them (investors) to be referred in other ecozone so that the Philippines can capture the investment,” he stressed.
The DTI undersecretary said he will suggest to have common target among all IPAs.
“Aside from individual target, let’s have an aggregate one. Also in FDIs (foreign direct investments), approved investments,” he mentioned.
Currently, the Board of Investments (BOI) and Peza which are both under DTI contributed bulk of approved investments.
“In the future, I want to set our own target. Of course the bulk of the investment is with BOI and Peza. We need to be able to capture what other IPAs can configure… They need promotional support. And they should have be able to be strong, strengthen themselves for them
to be a viable economic zones,” Manalo said.
