‘PEZA contributed P10T in 2015-2017’
Credit to Author: TYRONE JASPER C. PIAD| Date: Thu, 08 Aug 2019 16:19:24 +0000
THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said on Thursday it and its registered firms contributed a total of P10.05 trillion to the Philippine economy from 2015 to 2017, in an effort to banish whatever misconceptions people have about the state-run agency.
In a statement, PEZA said exports accounted for 70 percent of the amount; salaries and wages to direct employees, 12.46 percent; local purchases of capital equipment and raw materials, 7.6 percent; investments, 7.5 percent; taxes paid by PEZA firms to the government, 2.7 percent; and PEZA taxes and dividends, 0.04 percent.
The agency released the data as Director General Charito Plaza dismissed “misleading information that does not give the entire picture of the enormous contributions of PEZA companies to the continuing growth and development of the Philippine economy.”
PEZA was described as “evil three-headed dragon devouring money that should have gone to the people,” she said.
According to the PEZA chief, such a statement could negatively affect its investors and investor sentiment toward her agency.
PEZA also addressed the issue of incentives granted to exporters of manufactured products and information technology (IT)-enabled services and activities, saying they were not “indiscriminately given.”
“Exports [are] most desired by all countries and [are] always given the highest priority by any country, including the Philippines,” it added.
The agency also said more than half of the country’s total commodity exports came from it: 59 percent in 2015, 65 percent in 2016 and 64 percent in 2017.
“The country’s exports [would] be in a state of total disaster without the exports coming from PEZA companies. And no other government agency aside from PEZA can contribute this enormous export receipts [to] our country.”
In terms of gross domestic product, PEZA exports of manufactured products and IT-enabled services contributed 15.01 percent in 2015, 15.71 percent in 2016 and 16.38 percent in 2017.
PEZA-registered firms also contributed in boosting economic activities through job opportunities and private and public land development, among others.