THE island of Panglao in Bohol will soon have a tourism economic zone (ecozone), a top official of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) said.

In an interview, Peza Director General Charito Plaza said some resort players want to have an ecozone in the tourist-famous island in the region.

“It will be a tourism ecozone situated near the Panglao International Airport. They are now processing their papers,” Plaza said.

Plaza reiterated the importance of ecozones in attracting investors in the Philippines. She said the presence of ecozones spur business opportunities as a direct impact.

There are about 19 operating tourism ecozones in the country as of November 2017 ,while six tourism ecozones are being developed.

According to Plaza, local government units (LGU) that have turned to ecozone development are now enjoying high income, high employment rate and busy business activities.

As of now, Peza has four ecozones located in Baguio; Mactan, Cebu; Angeles, Pampanga; and Cavite.

The Peza director general said they are eyeing to approve or register more ecozones.

“We are inviting LGUs, private landowners, public agencies, which are managing public lands, to convert all these lands into different types of ecozones so that we can invite different types of industries. We will put all these ecozones in the Philippine Economic Zone map,” she said. “So if there are investors, all they have to do is look at the map,” she added.

By having an ecozone in a city or a town, investors can set up new businesses that can generate additonal jobs in the community. Locators inside an ecozone enjoy fiscal and non-fiscal incentives.

Moreover, under the modernized Peza concept, Plaza want the ecozones to be environment-friendly.

“One of my major programs in Peza is to transform our economic zones into green and healthy workplaces,” she said.

Plaza also added they are pushing for the development of an integrated ecozone concept. This is a type of an ecozone that houses different industries that are complementary to each other.

“We want our locators to stay within the zone. They don’t have to get out. We will now make our zones by itself a township,” she said.

Peza records 4,271 locator companies that generate 1.4 million direct employment as of 2017. (JOB with KOC)