House to add safeguards in ‘corrected’ ecozone bill

Ramon S. Ang, SMC, president, and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda (INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS)

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives will introduce safeguards in the “corrected” version of House Bill No. 7575, which proposed the creation of a special economic zone and free port in the P750-billion airport city being developed by San Miguel Corp. (SMC) in Bulacan province, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said on Monday.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vetoed the measure on July 1 for its fiscal risks and provisions deemed incoherent with existing laws and regulations, and for being located too close to the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga province.

Salceda said the House would now require a cost-and-benefit analysis of the Bulacan ecozone and freeport to address the president’s fiscal and economic concerns.

“So as early as now, I am telling potential investors and other proponents to give us a sense of their plans so that we can already weigh the costs versus the benefits,” Salceda said.

In a statement, the economist-turned-lawmaker noted that Marcos’ concerns about the proposed special economic zone were “valid, so we have to take heed.”

CREATE Act

Among the provisions that the lawmaker proposed to include in the corrected version of the bill is a clause that explicitly states that the ecozone shall be “fully subject to the rules, procedures and regulations” under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act.

“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 [to] address the President’s concern about the ‘lack of coherence with existing laws, rules, and regulations,’” Salceda said.

He also suggested a provision to remove “extraordinary powers” from the authority’s control and to explicitly subject it to “other governance mechanisms covering audit mechanisms and rules and regulations” issued by the agency overseeing state-owned firms.

Salceda also proposed limiting the ecozone’s power to acquire any private land within or adjacent to the Bulacan site.

As to Marcos’ concerns about the ecozone’s area, Salceda suggested that “the initial metes and bounds of the proposed economic zone be explicitly included in the text of the revised bill.”

“We also propose imposing a condition in Congress 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 conducts a public hearing on the new bill,” he added.

Optimism

SMC president Ramon S. Ang on Monday said he was confident the government would eventually approve the creation of the economic zone at their P750-billion airport city in Bulacan.

In a statement, Ang “expressed optimism that the vision for the ecozone could still be realized” since this would create “hundreds of thousands of new jobs” and boost the country’s economy.

“We respect and abide by the government’s decision. We thank [President Marcos] for recognizing where the proposed free port bill can be further improved, and we look forward to working with his administration toward perfecting this,” Ang said.

In Malacañang, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said in a press briefing that the Palace understood the “feelings of disappointment” from lawmakers over the vetoed bill.

“The Palace merely says that the law has to be sharpened. We have to make anticipations of possible constitutional challenges on this one. It will cause further delays if the law is challenged and invalidated,” she said.

The secretary said the veto was “the best way to address the problems… and it gives an opportunity for the legislature to make those corrections.”

Sen. Imee Marcos on Monday also called for a convening of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council “at the earliest opportunity” to set clear guidelines on creating ecozones to guide Congress in crafting laws and avoid a repeat of the fate that befell her pet bill on the Bulacan ecozone.

—WITH REPORTS FROM MIGUEL R. CAMUS, JEROME ANING AND MELVIN GASCON

RELATED STORIES

First veto: Bongbong Marcos nixes Bulacan freeport bill

Imee Marcos puzzled by Bongbong’s veto of Bulacan airport ecozone bill

PCOO: Bulacan Airport City ecozone bill veto ‘meant to cure defects in measure ’