DINALUPIHAN, Bataan — An economic zone, the first registered expansion site of the Freeport Area of Bataan (FAB) outside Mariveles town, is soon to rise in 380 hectares of hilly land in Barangay Pinulot here.
During the blessing and groundbreaking Wednesday of the Dinalupihan Woodlands Economic Zone, lawyer Elmer Sy, DWEZ president, said they were initially developing 40 hectares in the area.
So far partnering with DWEZ are Sinosun Group of Companies, SJG Medical Hub, Serendib, Inc. and 1Bataan Agri Inno-Tech Corp.
These investors attended the groundbreaking with Sy, provincial and municipal officials led by Vice Gov. Cris Garcia, 2nd District Rep. Jose Enrique “Joet” Garcia III and Mayor Maria Angela “Gila” Garcia, and Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan administrator Emmanuel Pineda.
Open for sale in the Bataan ecozone are industrial lots for light and medium industries, warehouse and cold storage rental, medical facilities, and greenhouses to produce lettuce, among some others.
Mayor Garcia was ecstatic about the project that she said will provide thousands of job opportunities in the next five years.
“After two years of the coronavirus disease, this is surely a light of hope for our constituents. Bataan is one of the provinces and Dinalupihan as one of the municipalities that will rise from the pandemic and we will be ready to give our services to the people,” Gila said.
The mayor thanked brother Congressman Garcia for sponsoring the law approved by President Duterte on the FAB expansion.
With the amendment of the law creating AFAB that replaced the Bataan Economic Zone and the Bataan Export Processing Zone, ecozones can be set in all 11 towns and one city in Bataan and not only in Mariveles.
“This gives opportunity to attract investors not only to set shop in Mariveles but in other areas of the province by giving fiscal and non-fiscal incentives,” Gila said.
“This is rooted on job generation, investments that are aligned to our comprehensive development plan and our vision and the trust of investors are also very important. Bataan in Region 3, I think, is poised to be the next economic regional hub in the entire country.”
She said that Dinalupihan Woodlands Economicand Freeport Zone is the first private company that has registered outside of Mariveles, and with it their constituents will be more competitive and will be able to seek good paying jobs right in the municipality and need not go outside the municipality, province or go abroad.
Congressman Garcia said as author of the FAB expansion, he was happy over the result of the law. “Nabigyan ng pagkakataon ang mga investors na mamuhunan sa bayan ng Dinalupihan sa tulong ng munisipyo para magkaroon at lalo pang sumigla ang ekonomiya sa ating bayan at probinsiya.”
He said that with the new law, AFAB turned out to be a super investment promotion agency (ITA). “Sa tingin ko, this is a test case kasi maaaring may mga sumunod na mga ITA na magpapa-amend din ng kanilang charter katulad ko kaya kailangan maipakita nila na talagang very effective ang ganitong klase ng ITA na merong talagang kakayahan upang makapag-expand at matulungan ang investors.”
The solon noted that as in all laws, the laws will be there but the most difficult part is the implementation. “Kahit nandiyan ang batas kung wala namang gagamit ng batas para makapagbigay ng trabaho, additional investment para sa ating bansa ay balewala ang batas.”
“At this point, I really want to congratulate our investor, our operator of this industrial estate, for taking the initiative, for taking the risk to invest in the province of Bataan and also in the municipality of Dinalupihan and we are very happy that you are the first private operator outside Mariveles,” the congressman said.
“I am sure na marami na ang susunod na magre-register outside Mariveles to suit their needs and we are hoping that with the impact of investors and locators in our industrial estate, this will really help our constituents recover from the pandemic that we are all going through.” he added.
Vice Governor Garcia said Bataan is very dynamic with regards to investments, human development index, education, health and economy.
“This is one of those that we need to focus on especially now after two years of pandemic. It is about time that we intensify our investments at mag-open ang ating economy,” she said.
