POE TO ECOZONES: MAKE SURE WE DON'T LOSE ANY MORE JOBS

Sen. Grace Poe asked the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) and Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority (ZCSEZA) to find out why locators are leaving.

CEZA reported that employment was cut by half from 2,880 in 2018 to 1,555 in the first quarter of 2020, while ZCSEZA went from employing 1,467 people in 2018 down to 998 in 2020.

It was noted at the last Senate hearing on the proposed 2021 budget of the investment promotion agencies that ZCSEZA chief Raul Regondola failed to look into why a wig manufacturer, considered to be one of the biggest manufacturers of wigs that exports to Japan, decided to leave the ecozone.

"It is part of your responsibility to figure out why relocators left. We want to make it a thriving ecozone, so dapat tanungin natin kung saan tayo nagkulang at anong puwede nating gawin," Poe stressed.

The senator said that if the tax holiday was the reason why relocators are leaving, they could approach the DOF (Department of Finance) or NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) for help. "May mga bagay na pwede nating gawin para maisalba natin ang mga trabaho," said Poe.

CEZA administrator Raul Lambino explained that the reason behind the decline in employment is their cleaning up of offshore gaming corporations and locators found to be engaged in illegal activities that was reported last August.