The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is stepping on the gas, targeting the proclamation of 20 to 30 new economic zones every year as it banks on a wider network of investment hubs to drive jobs, exports and countryside growth.
Leading the pipeline are two marquee projects: the proposed Pantao Ecozone in Albay and the sprawling 20,000-hectare Philippine Mega Ecozone in Palawan, both seen as potential game changers for regional development.
PEZA Director General Tereso Panga said the agency now oversees 436 economic zones nationwide, with manufacturing accounting for about 80 to 90 percent of them. More ecozones are lined up for presidential proclamation.
“We’re targeting yearly at least 20 to 30 economic zones to be proclaimed,” Panga said.
The expansion reflects the Marcos administration’s push to spread investments beyond traditional business centers, with PEZA positioning ecozones as engines of local economic transformation rather than mere industrial estates.
Panga cited a Philippine Statistics Authority study showing that local government units hosting economic zones consistently rank among the country’s strongest economic performers.
“We see a direct correlation in the growth of these LGUs vis-à-vis the ecosystems that they’re hosting. We can accelerate countryside development if we facilitate the creation of economic zones across the regions, cities and municipalities,” he said.
Pantao is being developed as a gateway to Pacific markets along the eastern seaboard, while the Palawan project is envisioned as one of the country’s largest industrial estates and a strategic link to the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).
PEZA is also expanding along the Luzon Economic Corridor to support major investors such as Pax Silica and their supply chains while promoting new manufacturing and IT-BPM hubs in Iloilo, Dumaguete, Pampanga, Bataan and Tarlac.
The expansion gained fresh momentum after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the enlargement of economic zones in Cavite and Batangas and created a new information technology park in Dumaguete, reinforcing PEZA’s strategy of bringing investments, jobs and export industries closer to the regions where they are needed most.
