PALO, Leyte — The provincial government here is pushing the passage of House Bill 24 or the measure seeking to create the Leyte Ecological Industrial Zone masterplan — a grand sustainable industrial development plan that is anchored on the region’s emerging copper industry to be constructed in Isabel, Leyte.
The proposed measure — with House Speaker Martin Romualdez as principal sponsor — was already approved on third and final reading last December and transmitted to the Senate Economic Affairs Committee chaired by Sen. Jose Victor Ejercito.
Leyte Fourth District Representative Richard Gomez is among the secondary sponsors of the bill.
The proposal is to convert the existing Leyte Industrial Development Estate into a special economic zone consisting of an industrial estate, export processing zone and free trade zone to be known as the Leyte Ecological Industrial Zone.
Regional Development Council chairperson and Ormoc City Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez said that she fully supports the enactment of the LEIZ into a law and the establishment of new industries within the economic zone as they will help boost the economy of the region and create jobs for the people.
Under the bill, the LIDE will become the LEIZ core area while the towns of Isabel and Merida as well as Ormoc City are tagged as the “LEIZ Non-Core Areas.”
The Eastern Visayas Regional Growth Center in Tacloban City will become the “LEIZ Tacloban North.”
The proposed measure will create a fully integrated copper industry value chain so that copper ores processed at the Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corporation into copper concentrates, cathodes, and wires will no longer have to be exported but will be processed locally to help boost the country’s manufacturing industry.