Economic zones in Calabarzon generated P25 billion in investments in 2021, or 36 percent of the total P69 billion approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) despite the economic slowdown due to the pandemic.
At the PEZA 5th Investment Promotions Group Champ Webinar series on Tuesday, the agency reported that the 2,194 locator-companies of the 56 ecozones in Calabarzon generated $26 billion in exports as of November and provided direct jobs to 545,734 Filipinos.
Calabarzon or Region IV-A comprises five provinces: Batangas, Cavite,
Laguna, Quezon, and Rizal; and one highly urbanized city, Lucena.
The region is the most populous region in the Philippines having over 14.4 million inhabitants in 2020, and is also the country’s second most densely populated after the National Capital Region. It is the third largest contributor to the national GDP, accounting for 17 percent of the gross domestic product.
In terms of ecozone development, Calabarzon is home to 35 manufacturing ecozones or 45 percent of the total 77 export processing zones operating all over the country.
Most of the top fortune 500 companies are locators in the prime industrial parks of Cavite, Laguna and Batangas, which are dubbed as the country’s mini-Detroit and Silicon Valley as they host a number of high-tech automotive and semicon-electronics companies. – Irma Isip
