By Earl Jed Roque/PNA
MANILA – In line with the government’s vision to provide more job opportunities, President Rodrigo R. Duterte has signed two proclamations creating information technology (IT) centers in Metro Manila.
Duterte issued both Proclamation Nos. 672 and 673 on Wednesday, nearly a month after he signed Proclamation No. 655 creating the IT Center or Special Economic Zone in Bacoor City, Cavite.
Under Proclamation No. 672, Duterte designated 26,741 square meters of land located at EDSA corner North Ave. in Diliman, Quezon City as an IT Park to be known as SM City North EDSA Complex.
On the other hand, Proclamation No. 673 was signed designating a building and the parcel of land upon which it stands as a Special Economic Zone or IT Center in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig.
To be known as Milestone, the BGC’s IT Center will have a gross floor area of 27,089 square meters situated in a land area of 3,010 square meters.
Duterte created the IT parks and special economic zone upon the recommendation of the Board of Directors of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).
Special economic zones are defined in Republic Act No. 7916 or The Special Economic Zone Act of 1995 as “selected 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.
IT parks are hubs entitled to all benefits given to special economic zones to make it more attractive to foreign investors who would want to set up their own business process outsourcing offices.
