Tarlac property declared as industrial park

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has declared several parcels of land in Victoria, Tarlac as a special economic zone.

Proclamation 623 named the 297,719-square-meter property in Barangay Baculong as Victoria Industrial Park.

The proclamation was signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin by the authority of the President on July 4.

Republic Act 7916 or the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995 defines special economic zones as “select areas with highly developed, or which have the potential to be developed into agro-industrial, industrial, tourist/recreational, commercial, banking, investment and financial centers.”

An ecozone may contain any or all of the following: industrial estates, export processing zones, free trade zones and tourist/recreational centers.

Areas may be established as ecozones in a proclamation to be issued by the President, and subject to the evaluation and recommendation of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) based on a detailed feasibility and engineering study.

Companies operating in ecozones receive certain tax and other financial incentives to bring down the cost of production.

According to the PEZA, there are 419 economic zones as of April 2023. These include 78 manufacturing economic zones, 297 information technology parks/centers, 17 tourism export enterprises, 24 agro-industrial economic zones and three medical tourism parks/centers.