PASAY CITY – The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has officially joined the ranks of top-performing government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs), having remitted over a billion pesos in dividends to the national government for two consecutive years – a first in the agency’s 30-year history.
From 2007 to 2021, PEZA remitted a total of PhP25.06 billion in dividends to the national government, an impressive contribution over 15 years. Yet what stands out even more is the agency’s recent performance: in just the last three years, PEZA contributed P3.688 billion, including over PhP1.3 billion in both 2023 and 2024. These back-to-back billion-peso remittances mark the first time PEZA has entered the elite “Billionaires’ Club” of GOCCs, an honor typically reserved for revenue-generating financial institutions.
What makes this achievement more remarkable is that PEZA is a non-financial, investment promotion agency operating with just over 600 employees. It manages over 400 economic zones nationwide and supports more than 4,000 locator companies, all while remaining fiscally self-sustaining.
At the helm is Director General Tereso O. Panga, a career official who has spent 28 years within PEZA. Since assuming leadership, Panga has led the agency through three straight years of growth in investment approvals, reversing the post-pandemic slump and reinforcing PEZA’s role as a driver of national economic recovery.
The agency’s performance aligns with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive during his first State of the Nation Address to make special economic zones a pillar of national growth. PEZA has since doubled down on its mission, streamlining services, digitizing operations, and actively courting investments in manufacturing, IT-BPM, and emerging technologies.
PEZA’s transparency and efficiency have also earned it praise on the international stage. The U.S. State Department has cited PEZA as a model of good governance and regulatory clarity in the Philippines—an endorsement that reflects the agency’s professional reputation.
“As we turn 30, we are focused on future-proofing PEZA to ensure it remains a dynamic force for economic development and nation-building,” said Panga.
Now three decades strong, PEZA continues to prove that lean, transparent, and accountable governance can deliver big results—not only for investors, but for the Filipino people.
