Gullas refiles province-wide ecozone bid ahead of CCCI

CEBU, Philippines – While the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) has yet to decide on whether to re-file the Cebu Economic Development Zone (CEDZ) Bill or not, Cebu first district Representative Eduardo Gullas already went ahead and filed House Bill 91 proposing Cebu province as an economic zone.

In an interview with Gullas over the weekend, he said this being his third time to push the same bill at the House of Representatives only shows his earnestness to realize the province-wide economic zone proposal for Cebu.

Back in 2004, Gullas crafted and filed a similar bill in the 13th Congress, advocating his vision to make Cebu a more competitive investment destination. In the 14th Congress, he again filed the same bill even before CCCI and other Cebuano representatives jointly filed the CEDZ or House Bill 1319. 

And now, Gullas again displayed his keen interest in making this proposal a reality by filing again, for the third time, the same Cebu-wide economic zone proposal at the 15th Congress.

"I filed the Bill on the first working day of the 15th Congress on July 1 [2010]. And I commend the help of the business sector in Cebu, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Cebu Business Club for their help in some amendments of the Bill," said Gullas.

Although, CCCI still remains undecided if it is going to pursue its plan to re-file the same Bill this time, Gullas said "I'll give it my best shot. I sincerely believe this is the best for Cebu."

According to Gullas, he will enlist some Cebuano Congressmen who expressed interest to support the Bill, and may co-author with him in this bid.

Gullas hopes that CCCI will join with him and pursue their plan to re-file the Bill, despite criticisms from other parties.

In a separate interview earlier, Cebu fifth district Representative Ramon "Red" H. Durano VI expressed willingness to support the re-filing of the CEDZ in Congress this year, saying this bill can provide good economic future for Cebu province.

Like Gullas, Durano also believes that the Bill if passed into law is good for Cebu province.

The CEDZ is envisioned to be a paradigm of an effective and functioning Public-Private Sector Partnership with the private sector taking the lead and government providing infrastructure and institutional support and contributing part of the needed resources.

The bill is authored by all of the eight congressmen from Cebu on the 14th Congress and was jointly supported by local business groups including international funding groups, like the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

Gullas is determined to take on the fight, and sincerely hopes that other Congressmen, who wanted to make Cebu a world-class investment destination, will join with him.

On the other hand, considering the criticism given by Cebu South District representative Tomas R. Osmeña on the CEDZ proposal, the CCCI board members and the CEDZ committee decided to brainstorm on what to do with proposal, either to put it to rest or re-file it as earlier planned, said CCCI president Samuel Chioson.

Last month, Osmeña criticized the business sectors' ongoing bid in making Cebu as an entire economic zone province.

Osmeña told businessmen that the development of Cebu is based on its ability to get adjusted to globalization, and not merely based on what anybody thinks.

The former Cebu City Mayor emphasized that if the CEDZ under the House Bill No. 1319, will be passed into law, the entire Cebu will be under the "chamber's" management. (THE FREEMAN)