Making Cebu an ecozone pushed

CEBU, Philippines - Former Cebu governor and senator Rene Espina has renewed his call to lawmakers and to the Malacañang for the speedy passage of Cebu Freeport Ecozone Bill into law.

Espina also called on Cebuano politicians who will seek congressional and senatorial position in next year’s elections to make it as an election platform.

In 2006, former Cebu City north district Rep. Raul del Mar filed House Bill 5263 establishing the Cebu Freeport.

First district Rep. Eduardo Gullas also filed House Bill No. 1319, creating the Cebu Special Ecozone and Free Port and passed to the Senate level during the 14th Congress.

On July 1, 2010, Gullas filed House Bill 91 to declare Cebu province as an economic zone saying that he is serious in pushing this province-wide economic zone proposal for Cebu, as this is his third time to file the same bill in Congress.

“At the very least, Malacañang and the majority in Congress should exert their utmost efforts to pass the Cebu Freeport Ecozone Bill into law. Let us all move, time is running out,” Espina said.

He said this could have been the legacy of then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to Cebu where she got an unprecedented over a million vote majority against her opponent.

In pushing why the island of Cebu should become an economic zone and free port, Espina made Singapore as his model.

He said Singapore is also an island which lies at the strategic tip of the Malay peninsula.

Practically, all of the tankers pass through that area, from the Middle East and Africa to Asean and to East and North Asian countries such as China, North/South Korea, Japan, and Eastern Russia.

He added that the only threat to Singapore’s strategic importance is a possible canal across the Isthmus of Kraa in Thailand.

Espina explained that unlike many other regions in the Philippines, Cebu has none or has the least mega projects that the national government has undertaken.

Cebu doesn’t have a Subic Freeport and Tarlac Clark Economic Zone. It also has no Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway costing billions of pesos, no LRT or MRT and commuter railroads, which cost billions of pesos in construction and subsidy expenditures.

Espina said that in spite of the benign neglect of Cebu, the Mactan Export Processing Zone has produced more than US$1.0 billion in average exports every year and it employs around 50,000 workers.

In the Western Cebu economic zone of Balamban town, the biggest ships so far ever made and exported by the country is regularly built by Tsuneishi Shipyard of Cebu, a Japanese-Filipino joint venture.

Espina said that unlike other provinces, Cebu, in general, is not blessed with the kind of land that could produce substantial grains and other agricultural products.

“What we have are mountains that are rich in raw materials for cement. These are the areas planted into mangoes. The farmers indeed live a very stressful life,” he said.

Espina also pointed out that what we don’t have inland resources has been amply compensated by the people who have what it takes to bring economic progress.

“What they need is an equal opportunity as other people especially in Central Luzon where there have been given through the introduction of infrastructure and the passage of economic incentive laws such as ecozones and freeports,” Espina said.  (FREEMAN)