CONSIDERING the massive potential benefits from the proposal creating the Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone Authority, the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means has refiled the bill creating the Bulacan Ecozone.
Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda refiled the proposal establishing the Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone and Freeport after it was vetoed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on July 1, 2022 citing fiscal, economic, and governance concerns.
“The Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone and Freeport is expected to add USD200 billion in annual Philippine export revenues, over the next decade. This is an increase of around 170 percent of current annual exports,” Salceda said in his explanatory note.
“The USD200 billion in incremental exports will come from four areas: the new airport, which at P735 billion, is the largest ever single investment in the country’s history; a Silicon Valley-modelled technological hub, focused on semiconductor manufacturing and industrial goods like batteries, essential for our energy independence; a University City in tie-ups with leading universities in the US, Europe, and China; and a Medical Center with tie-ups with leading medical service providers in the world,” the lawmaker added.
In vetoing the bill, President Marcos was primarily concerned about its consistency with existing frameworks for fiscal and economic planning and management, as well as issues about overlaps with the powers and functions of regulatory agencies.
However, Salceda said the refiled bill will address the President’s concerns and also includes the safeguard provisions in the proposal.
“[I am] confident that the proposed safeguards materially, if not completely, address the concerns that the President manifested to Congress in his veto message for HB 7575,” said Salceda.
New features
Salceda said the new bill now includes:
■ Specific metes and bounds for the territorial coverage of the ecozone
■ Governance mechanisms consistent with other ecozone laws
■ Limiting rule-making to functions of the ecozone
■ Defining relationship between government agencies and the ecozone
■ Cost-sharing on the defense and security of the ecozone, to address fiscal sustainability concerns
■ Consistency of fiscal incentives framework with the Tax Code
■ Changes in provisions on capitalization to ensure fiscal sustainability and protect the public interest
■ Changes in the composition of the governing board, to ensure the primacy of public interest
■ General qualifications that the provisions of the charter are subject to existing laws, rules, and regulations
■ Audit mechanisms consistent with existing law, and protecting the authority of the Commission on Audit and the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations
■ Protection for the mandate of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation with respect to games and amusements
■ Protections against conflict of interest
■ Protections against abuse of investors’ visa; and
■ Protections for agrarian reform beneficiaries
“We propose that the bill explicitly states that the ecozone shall be fully subject to the rules, procedures (including approvals), and regulations under Title XIII of the Tax Code (CREATE Act),” he said.
“We also propose explicitly stating that the power of the ecozone authority to grant incentives shall be a delegated power from the Fiscal Incentives Review Board. This would address the President’s concern about the lack of coherence with existing laws, rules, and regulations,” he added.
Salceda also proposed that the powers and functions of the proposed Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (BACSEZFA) take standard powers and functions granted to other Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs), such as the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), which is similarly situated.
The lawmaker also proposed a provision explicitly subjecting the ecozone authority to the Commission on Audit, and other governance mechanisms under Republic Act No. 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act, particularly Sections 24, 25, and 26, on audit mechanisms; and to subsequent rules and regulations issued by the Governance Commission for GOCCs.
The bill also provides a provision of a process for the expropriation of land awarded to agrarian reform beneficiaries.
Salceda also proposed to limit the ecozone authority’s “power to acquire either by purchase, negotiation or condemnation proceedings, any private land within or adjacent to the Bulacan Ecozone” with some conditions.
The House leader also said an additional provision can be included allowing the President, upon recommendation of the Department of Finance and the National Economic and Development Authority, to extend the metes and bounds of the ecozone.
Salceda also proposed that a comprehensive master plan and feasibility study be presented to the Regional Development Council III and to the Economic Development Cluster of Cabinet, before the House Committee on Economic Affairs.