House OKs Bulacan airport ecozone on final reading

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives approved on Tuesday on third and final reading the bill seeking to establish an economic zone adjacent to the proposed New Manila International Airport in Bulacan.

With 205 affirmative votes, six negative votes, and one abstention, the lower chamber approved House Bill No. 7575 which seeks to create the Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone and Freeport.

According to the bill, Bulacan Ecozone shall have a domestic and international airport and “be developed into and operated as decentralized, self-reliant and self-sustaining industrial, commercial/trading, agro-industrial, tourist, banking, financial and investment center with suitable residential areas under the Airport City.”

The ecozone likewise shall be equipped with transportation, telecommunications, and other facilities needed to attract legitimate and productive investments, generate linkage industries and employment opportunities for the people of the Municipality of Bulakan—where it will be located—and its neighboring towns and cities.

The approval of the measure in the lower chamber came about a week after it granted San Miguel Aerocity Inc. a franchise to build the New Manila International Airport.

San Miguel Corporation (SMC) will invest P735 billion for the construction of the proposed “New Manila International Airport,” which will be built in the coastal areas of Bulakan town in Bulacan, or around 30 kilometers north of Metro Manila.

The airport is expected to decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and support growth and development in Central Luzon. [ac]