By: Marita M. Kho
- Planning Officer IV

ABOUT US

The Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority, otherwise known by its corporate name as ZamboEcozone Authority and Freeport / Zamboanga Freeport Authority(ZFA), was created by virtue of Republic Act 7903 authored by former Congresswoman Maria Clara L. Lobregat. It was enacted into law on February 23, 1995 and made operational a year later with the appointment of a Chairman and Administrator and the members of the Board by former President Fidel V. Ramos.

Zamboanga Freeport Authority was conceptualized to be an economic hub that is designed to generate local economic activities that will serve as a springboard for the promotion of trade, investments, and ecology tourism not only in Zamboanga City but also throughout the region, thus bringing about socio-economic upliftment.

Zamboanga Freeport Authority's role as a catalyst to boost the city's economic prosperity has taken its voluntary course. By virtue of Republic Act No.7903, it has acquired the legal mandate to be the driving force that would ultimately make Zamboanga City an economic haven in this part of the region.

By nature of its operation, Zamboanga Freeport Authority is unique being both an Economic Zone and Freeport and is in fact the only freeport in Visayas and Mindanao.

The prospects for legitimate domestic and foreign investors to set up shop in the Zamboanga Freeport where they can be free from customs tax, duties and tariff obligations, among an array of fiscal incentives like one peso per square meter per month on lease rates at the 1st Development Site; PhP 3,000.00 per hectare per year at the 2nd Development Site; Income Tax Holiday for four years extendible to a maximum of eight years; Net Operating Loss Carry Over tax scheme; 5% on Gross Income Earned ;guaranteed lease period of 50 years renewable for another 25 years, and foreign investors investing US$ 150,000.00 or more will be granted permanent residential status, along with their spouses, dependents and unmarried children below 21 years of age , foreign executives and technicians with highly specialized skills are issued working visas, renewable every two years; and 100% foreign ownership of business is definitely an attractive package to reckon with.

With the issuance by the Bureau of Customs of a special administrative order classifying the Zamboanga Freeport Authority as a separate Customs territory, the free flow, entry and movement of machinery and other goods sans the imposition of local and national tariffs are guaranteed.

Presently, the Zamboanga Freeport Authority maintains a 4-storey office building in San Ramon manned by a complement of 80 technical staff tasked to oversee the area's day-to-day operations and map out its long-termed development plan.

The Zamboanga Freeport Authority has two development site. The first Development Site consists of the 1st and 2nd Industrial Park. The 64.56-hectare San Ramon development site known as the First Industrial Park was once a barren agricultural land devoid of any semblance of basic infrastructure. It was formerly administered by the Philippine Coconut  Authority until it was transferred to the Zamboanga Freeport Authority through Presidential Proclamation No. 977 issued in February 1997 while the 2nd Industrial Park is a 664-hectare beachfront property formerly administered by the Department of justice which was turned over to the Authority on October 8, 2001 through Proclamation No. 111.

The Second Development Site on the other hand, which is located in the hinterlands of barangays Pamucutan and La Paz, consist of 15,391 hectares of logged-over forest.

The 64.56-hectare First Industrial Park is suitable for commercial and service-oriented projects, institutional complexes and light to medium enterprises.

Inside the First Industrial park is a Nature Park that boasts of two swimming pools, canteen, shower rooms and picnic huts which can accommodate as many as 500-700 guests.  A staff house with a beautiful landscape in the facade is available for lease for seminars, conferences, retreats may be availed as a vacation home for families and friends who want to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Investor's houses , Standard Manufacturing Building and Storage building were also constructed for lease by interested locators.

Today, the Zamboanga Freeport Authority under the helm of Chairman and Administrator Georgina Pantaleon Yu has 15 registered locators.  First to break ground as a Zamboanga Freeport locator in june 1997 was Faberco Holdings, Inc., a joint Filipino-Indian venture with three subsidiary companies that deal with equipment reconditioning and multi-products distribution system.  It has initially put up a huge warehouse for the opening of a duty-free shop which is currently awaiting an executive order for the lifting of a ban on the construction of duty-free shops in the Philippines.

In August 1997, another locator, the Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation which sent into orbit the first Filipino Satellite, Aguila II, for spacecraft tracking and telecommunications purposes, built a tracking, telemetry and control satellite station in the zone.  With its rotating dish antennae, the station serves as a backup of its main facility located in the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

Other locators include Bendimil International Corporation, a facilities operator; Nihon International Trading Corporation, a trading company; Seachamp Zamboanga, manufacturer and exporter of microwavable marine products; International Power Distributors of USA will be setting-up an International Commercial Seaport(Passenger and Cargo Port) and a power plant in the 20-hectare area of the Authority's Second Industrial Park; Okhawa Mould Designs and Engineering Company (OMED Zamboanga), a Japanese-owned software development company; Demak Motors Philippines Incorporated, whose main activity is the assembly of motor vehicles; Southgate Ace Marine Inc., manufacturer of pasteurized canned crabmeat; Globe Telecom Inc., Utilities Enterprise; Alfranz Trading, small scale mining of Gypsum (awaiting mining permit from City Mining Regulatory Board); Fenix Group of Companies, trading and reconditioning of imported used motor vehicles; Southern Auctioneer International Inc., Service Operator; and Golden River Farm, dealer in the production of high value crops, vegetables and Fighting Cock breeding.

Two new locators have recently been approved by the ZFA Board of Directors, namely: Wellstar Recycling Corporation, Recycling of used motor vehicles, scraps, engines and engine parts; and Filwave Corporation Philippines, Master licensor for e-gaming.

From the locators and projects inside the zone, a total of 1,064 jobs were generated for the residents of the city.

The Zamboanga Freeport Authority has come up with another priority project for the First Industrial Park.  This project is in line with the President's vision of a more globally competitive Philippines.  Priority is given to Information Technology (IT) with the availability of IT services such as Data Transcription, Medical Transcription, Litigation Support,  Publishing Services, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Data Conversion, Graphics Animation, Computer-Aided Drafting and Design (CADD), Hispanic Call Centers, and Software Development and Maintenance.

On the other hand, the 664-hectare seafront property of the Authority which serves as the site for the Second Industrial Park is the proposed site for the construction of a world-class International Seaport Complex.  The complex will have a main area of 20 hectares.  Other projects envisioned for the seaport site include an 18-hole golf course, hotel, recreational facilities, restaurants, marina and theme parks.

The concept of a retirement center in the hinterlands is now in the drawing boards.  The identified 40-hectare property for this project nestled among the rolling hills has a magnificent view of the ocean and has a serene and calming effect most idyllic for a retirement community complete with hospital facility, fitness center, outdoor entertainment, sports and recreational center, spas and salons.

The Second Development Site of the Zamboanga Freeport Authority is a 15,000-hectare logged-over area in upper La Paz and Pamucutan.  It is ideal for agro-forestry, high-end residential projects, information technology ventures and a university village.

The Baguio-like climate is highly viable for eco-tourism.  Visitors have raved about the once-in-a-lifetime experience of trekking in the slopes of the rugged terrain accompanied by well-trained members of Team Kaguang, the Authority's mountaineering club.  Guests vowed to come back for the exhilarating experience once more.

The rich soil in the highlands is ideal for high value crops, vegetables and cut-flower.  Proof of this is the success of the experimental strawberry farm in the La Paz area.  The cool climate yielded several harvests of strawberries and plans are now underway for the expansion of the farm.

Indeed, the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone has taken off on a dawdling start but it has slowly but surely increased its pace with the entry of local and foreign investors that believe in this project and what it stands for.  The availability of jobs has definitely given the Zamboangueños something to look forward to and has given them hope for a better tomorrow.  With Zamboanga Freeport leading the way, the more than 600,000-resident population of the city and the rest of Mindanao can all look forward to share in the bountiful social and economic rewards that it can offer.