Marcos open to signing new bill on Bulacan airport special zone
PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. is still open to signing a new bill creating the proposed Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone and Freeport (BACSEZF).
This after Marcos vetoed on Friday (July 1) House Bill 7575, which would have established the economic zone, due to its “defects,” the most serious of which were the “fiscal risks” from forgone revenues.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Press secretary Beatrix “Trixie” Cruz-angeles explained the legislation would have faced constitutional challenges had it passed into law in its current state.
“Had the President not vetoed HB 7575, it would have lapsed into law on July 4 or 30 days after the bill was sent by the legislature to Malacañang,” Angeles said.
“Presidential Veto is the fastest way to cure the defects of HB 7575, especially the provision” which exempts financial transactions of the special economic zone and freeport from scrutiny by the Commission on Audit, she added.
Aside from its lack of audit provisions, Marcos also flagged the bill for having no procedures for the expropriation of lands awarded to agrarian reform beneficiaries, lack of a master plan for the specific metes and bounds of the economic zone, and for giving “blanket powers” to the BACSEZF authority for managing its technical airport operations.
He also noted the BACSEZF was located in close proximity to the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga province, thus violating the government policy of building such economic zones in “strategic locations.”
Angeles said Marcos “fully supports” the creation of the BACSEZF if Congress could come out with a law which will address his concerns.
The immediate past Senate President Vicente Sotto III, in an interview with Businessmirror, had advised advocates of the special zone to re-file a revised version in the 19th Congress, after addressing the key concerns embodied in the veto message.
The BACSEZF would have been built near the P740-billion international airport in Bulacan, which is being constructed by the San Miguel Corporation (SMC).
Angeles clarified that the veto of the HB 7575 does not affect the construction of the SMC airport.
“The construction of the Bulacan international airport and aero city is not affected by the veto,” she said.