Philippines seeks to draw investors from Qatar

DOHA: The Philippines is keen to attract more investors from Qatar and the Middle East with plans to establish more Special Economic Zones (SEZs) throughout the country, sais Brig Gen Charito B Plaza, Director General of Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).
Set to generate millions of jobs, SEZs would also encourage Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to go back to the Philippines and utilise their skills to contribute to the development of the country, said Plaza, who recently assumed office and is one of PEZA law’s authors.
PEZA is a government arm mandated to promote investments, extend assistance, register, grant incentives to and facilitate the business operations of investors in export-oriented manufacturing and service facilities in SEZ.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Plaza said 99 percent of foreign investors deal with PEZA as it provides the best incentives such as 100 percent investment ownership except the land which they can lease up to 75 years.
She sees a huge potential for the Middle East to be one of the main investors in the SEZs.
“The biggest investors right now are the Japanese, Taiwanese and Koreans as well as some Americans and British. The Middle East would be a very good partner especially in SEZs to be built in Mindanao where there are many Muslim Filipinos,” she said. While there are already 344 privately owned economic zones in the country, there are only four owned and managed by the government, none of which is located in Mindanao.
“The four PEZA owned SEZs are located in Baguio, Cebu, Cavite and Pampanga; none yet in Mindanao that’s why we will start establishing in Mindanao. From being called ‘Land of promise’ Mindanao will now be ‘Land of fulfilment’.”
Under my stewardship as Director General of PEZA, I will be creating PEZA regional offices which will be working with governors and mayors to help them identify the potentials of each province. In other words we will be building as many SEZs in every province and city depending on their potential.”
The SEZs will range from manufacturing and information technology to agro-industry and tourism, among others.
A defence industrial complex is also being mulled to be built as an SEZ in which “we will invite shipbuilders, guns and aircraft manufacturers to have their manufacturing plants in the Philippines and instead of them paying us for land use, they will pay us in terms of equipment to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the police.”