A group representing different sectors in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental appealed to the President to establish the old Bacolod Airport as a private economic zone.

In their letter to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the group said that as author of R.A. 7916 or “The Special Economic Zone Act of 1995”, she has made it possible for the Philippines to excel in the international market by paving way for more than 132 economic zones, earning for the country a total of P1.03 trillion in revenues in 10 years, and providing work for almost 60,000 Filipinos.

The letter was signed by Bro. Rolando Dizon, Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, Raymund Nones, Andrew Regalado, Roberto Montelibano, Bobby Magalona, Mary Verdure Tolentino, Teresa Villanueva, Anthony Visitacion, Engiemar Tupas, Ralph Sarmiento, Philip Wen Bombita, Anita Rabago and Greg Vallejera.

The group claimed that hundreds of famous international corporations rely on Filipino craftsmanship and ingenuity inside these ecozones to be able to offer world-class products and services.

They said Bacolod City has proven that it can compete with other cities having already captured the biggest locators in the information and communications technology industry. Five special economic zones have been proclaimed by the President to be ICT parks and buildings in Bacolod and these sites are now the workplace of almost 4,000 employees, they said.

They appealed to the President to establish the Bacolod City Special Economic Zone in the old airport site before her term ends.

They added that PEZA Director General Lilia De Lima, in a letter to the Bacolod Sanggunian dated June 12, 2007, had offered their full support to make the City of Bacolod a more profitable site for investments by converting the existing Bacolod City Airport into a Special Economic Zone, once the new airport in Silay starts its operation.

The group said a SEZ in Bacolod will maximize the availability of highly-qualified, as well as, highly-trainable labor pool produced by private and public colleges and universities including state colleges and universities and technical-vocational schools in the province and Region VI.

They said the old airport site has existing infrastructure and structures hence, the locators would be able to set-up quickly since the human resource, telecommunications infrastructure and local government support are already easily obtainable. The site is also highly accessible, compact and conducive for economic activity and is just across the first IT building in Region VI, the Robinson's Metro Bacolod, they said.*CGS

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