The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) started the year with P7.236 billion worth of investments in the first month of the year, reflecting 28.45 percent higher than the P5 billion in January 2011.
PEZA Director Lilia B. De Lima said this is as the agency is aggressively promoting investments this year with 12 percent growth target over 2011 figure.
Already, PEZA has approved the registration of two global printer manufacturers locating in the country. Canon is investing p20 billion in the country for the establishment of a high-technology printer with photo capability for the exports market generating over 6,000 jobs for Filipinos once they start commercial operation in the Calabarzon area.
The other printer investor is Brother International Corp. These two companies were the largest investors approved by PEZA Board in December last year.
PEZA was able to beat the odds in 2011 ending the year with sterling performances in terms of investment generation, employment and exports.
De Lima reported that PEZA was able to generate a total of P288.34 billion in investments for the whole of 2011 or 41 percent higher than the P204.395 billion in investments haul in 2010.
Employment generation was also up 15 percent to 837,136 total jobs in the various ecozones registered with PEZA as against 728,318 direct jobs generated in 2010.
De Lima even noted that jobs generated in PEZA ecozone have six times multiplier effect in terms of indirect jobs creation and eight times for the electronic sector.
This means that PEZA successfully surpassed by miles its 12-12 investment and employment growth targets for 2011 over 2010.
PEZA, however, failed to realize its 12 percent growth target for exports but was still able to post a positive growth.
As of November this year, PEZA exports have been up by a modest 4.54 percent or $38.677 billion versus $36.997 in 2010.
Growth in exports suffered given the economic slowdown in the U.S. and Europe, the country’s major exports for electronics items.
The earthquake and tsunami tragedies in Japan have also dampened operations of electronics companies, whose supply chain was disrupted leading to the closure of factories in Japan for months.
There are 257 PEZA operating ecozones and 2,600 operating locator enterprises, all export-oriented. The ecozones include three government-owned ones located in Cebu, Cavite and Baguio.
De Lima further said that prospects for 2012 are good with the manufacturing and IT sectors to continue leading the growth.
The PEZA-run ecozones have been favorite destinations among the export-oriented enterprises because of the efficient service the agency provides to its registered enterprises.
PEZA also provides a generous package of incentives including income tax holiday, five percent tax on gross income, zero duty on imported capital equipment and employment of foreign nationals, among others.

Source: Manila Bulletin - February 1, 2012