Duterte declares Taguig building as special economic zone 

President Rodrigo Duterte declared the 24,845 square meter Vista Place Campus Tower 1 and the land on which it stands in Taguig City as a Special Economic Zone as an information technology center, according to a report by GMA News.

This was provided under Presidential Proclamation 1102 signed by the President last February 18 and released by the Palace on Monday afternoon.

Built in 2018, Vista Campus Tower 1 is a 10-storey building with a total area of 22,181 square meters located along Cayetano Boulevard in Taguig City. It is developed by Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. led by Manuel Villar Jr., ranked as the Philippines' richest man in 2020, as chairman.

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Shares in the company closed Monday at P4.23 apiece, unchanged from last Friday's finish.

The Special Economic Zone Act, enacted in 1995, defines a special economic zone or econzones as “selected areas with highly developed or which have the potential to be developed into agro-industrial, industrial, tourist/recreational, commercial, banking, investment and financial centers.”

The same law provides that an ecozone may contain any or all of the following: industrial estates, export processing zones, free trade zones, and tourist/recreational centers.

In addition, the same law grants fiscal incentives, tax credits and tax exemptions to businesses located within ecozones which include remitting five percent of the gross income earned by all businesses and enterprises within the ecozone to the national government in lieu of paying taxes, both local and national.

Goods manufactured by an ecozone enterprise, on the other hand, will be “made available for immediate retail sales in the domestic market, subject to payment of corresponding taxes on the raw materials and other regulations that may be adopted by the Board of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.”