PEZA Opens First Pharma Ecozone in Bulacan

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has officially granted Philstar Marketing Development, Inc. registration as a developer and operator of its First Bulacan Business Park (FBBP) in Malolos, Bulacan, the first mixed-use ecozone in the province.
FBBP will be a premier ecozone in the country that will host pharmaceutical players and support IT companies and export-oriented industries. To meet locator companies’ demand for a sustainable business environment, FBBP also plans to adopt smart technologies and renewable sources of power inside the ecozone.
Citing the importance of the ecozone as an effective strategy to bounce back from the present crisis and to prevent it from happening again, the PEZA Director General Charito “Ching” Plaza noted that “PEZA will continue to do its best to attract investors and create more pharmaceutical economic zones in the Philippines, making the country self-reliant, self-sustaining, and resource-generating in terms of producing our own medicine, medical equipment and supplies.”
In December 2020, Senator Francis Tolentino had appealed to the government to speed up the establishment of more pharmaceutical manufacturing zones to ensure the public’s access to cheaper medicine and boost the country’s economic growth. Tolentino proposed Senate Resolution No. 580 urging PEZA and the Board of Investments (BOI) to fast-track its creation of pharmaceutical zones.
The COVID-19 outbreak reaffirmed the need for investment in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. PEZA is therefore also looking to explore adding new types of ecozones such as a “Biomedical Innovative Center” where it will host leading Biotechnology Companies and Philippine startups (under Innovative Startup Act), including pharmaceutical players. This will follow the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster (KBIC), which offers a platform for networking businesses and institutes in their pursuit of innovative collaboration and groundbreaking discoveries in a wide spectrum of medical, pharmaceutical, and biological fields, including medical device and regenerative medical fields.
In support of the business continuity objective of the global pharma companies which are mostly located in Metro Manila, FBBP provides a site outside NCR and in the countryside. FBBP is also in close proximity to the proposed Bulacan International Airport.
The creation of different types of economic zones is part of PEZA’s 10-point program and special projects which has been adapted by PEZA as its transformational roadmap for the next 25 years.
(Source: The Philippine Economic Zone Authority)