The Special Economic Zone Act of 1995: How Special Is It?

Cabatos 1 Lawdemhar T. Cabatos Ms. Louyzza Maria Victoria H. Vasquez English 10 21 March 2013 The Special Economic Zone Act of 1995: How Special Is It? Approved on February 24, 1995, the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995, the “act providing for the legal framework and mechanisms for the creation, operation, administration, and coordination of special economic zones in the Philippines, creating for this purpose, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), and for other purposes,” took effect on the very day President Fidel Valdez Ramos imprinted his signature on the bill (“Republic Act No. 7916). It is the government‟s declared policy to materialize state policies and provisions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Section 20, Article II of the 1987 Constitution states, “The State recognizes the indispensable role of the private sector, encourages private enterprise, and provides incentives to needed investments” and Section 12 of Article XII declares that “The State shall promote the preferential use of Filipino labor, domestic materials and locally produced goods, and adopt measures that help make them competitive,” (“The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines”). By virtue of Republic Act No. 7916, the Philippine government hopes to fulfill the mandates of its constitution. Before we deal on how special Republic Act No. 7916 really is, what are special economic zones (SEZs)? Defined in Republic Act No. 7916, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) or ECOZONES are “selected areas with highly developed or which have the potential to be

Cabatos 2 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 (IEs), export processing zones (EPZs), free trade zones, and tourist/recreational centers.” The law defines an industrial estate (IE) as “a tract of land subdivided and developed according to a comprehensive plan under a

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