Peza official: Shipbuilders, other firms welcome to locate in economic zones

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine Export Zone Authority (Peza) is encouraging shipbuilders, car part manufacturers, agri-industrial project and food processing firms to consider locating their facilities in the economic zones across the country.

The call came on the back of the current situation where mostly electronics and semi-conductor industries are topping the list of investors are coming into the country.

Peza director general Lilia de Lima said that investments from these other sectors shall generate about one million job opportunities for the Filipinos.

De Lima graced the inauguration and grand opening of the US$28-million manufacturing facility of the micro-acoustic and human interface solutions maker Knowles Electronics (Philippines) Corp. at the Cebu Light Industrial Park (CLIP) in Lapu-Lapu City.

The Chicago-based manufacturing firm is set to hire over 3,000 workers within this year in addition to its 507 total existing employees.

De Lima cited that 50 percent of the locators in Peza are into electronics followed by the information technology sector.

In the 297 economic zones in the country, there are 677 projects registered last year, of which 85 percent are foreign-owned. In 2012, around 567 projects were recorded.

Cebu houses three industrial parks that are currently operating and will have another one to rise in Minglanilla.

While most investors particularly from the information technology sector hire college graduates, de Lima said that they aim to provide jobs for the high school graduates and even those who have not gone to school.

She said that an investor who directly hires one worker could actually employ seven more indirectly.

She added that the Tsuneishi shipyard in Balamban, for instance, provides regular jobs to 8,000 Filipinos but reaches close to 15,000 to 20,000 contractual workers when the need arises.

She also said that the Filipino manpower could significantly contribute to the shipbuilding companies in terms of production.

The Philippines now ranks fourth in the world in the shipbuilding industry following South Korea, Japan and China.

The Philippines is now considered a "sweet spot" to invest given its consecutive investment grade ratings from international credit rating agencies during the first quarter of 2013.

De Lima assured investors with the continued support and best service from Peza that has developed its own brand of services anchored in four pillars namely one-stop shop, non-stop shop, no red tape and no graft and corruption.

She added that the country could also be considered as an ideal hub for investments with its demographics of the Philippines having the youngest population in the region with a median age of 22 to 23 years old.

She also said that Filipinos are also known for being competitive labor force given their fluency in the English language, high training ability and right attitude at work.

De Lima, however, raised the issue of making the entire Cebu as a province-wide economic zone, saying it may be difficult to control the entry and exit of goods.

She further noted that despite the high cost of power in the country, there are no blackouts in the economic zones in the country.

Meanwhile, President Benigno Aquino III, in his message delivered by de Lima, said that the first major investment of Knowles in the country will help spur greater development in the national and local economy.

He added that the presence of the foreign company shall convince other investors to look at the Philippines as a potential destination for expanding their operations.

He said that the growing confidence of international investors to the country could be attributed to the improved performance of the Philippines in the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index, IFC Ease of Doing Business and Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom.

Aquino also described the newly-opened facility as a "source of hope" to rebuild the lives of many Cebuanos who were affected by the twin calamities last year.

He further expressed pride of the competent Filipino workforce that could meet the growing demand of local and foreign investors. /JMD (FREEMAN)