PRRD signs law creating Iloilo City IT ecozone

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signs the Executive Order which prohibits illegal contractualization while delivering his speech during the 116th Labor Day Celebration at the IEC Convention Center in Cebu City on May 1, 2018. RICHARD MADELO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA — President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed a proclamation creating an Information Technology Center Special Economic Zone in Mandurriao, Iloilo City.

Proclamation No. 733, signed by Duterte on Tuesday but released to the media on Friday, also designated a building that will be named SM City Iloilo BPO Tower.

The planned special economic zone will be situated along Senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Avenue, Mandurriao, Iloilo City.

Duterte created the special economic zone at 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.