PEZA Economic Zones in the Philippines: Zone Types, Location List and How to Register

What PEZA is, and the zones it governs

PEZA — the Philippine Economic Zone Authority — is the government body that develops, accredits and regulates special economic zones nationwide. It designates qualifying land or buildings as economic zones (ecozones) or IT buildings and offers firms inside them one-stop permitting, customs facilitation and tax incentives.

The zones PEZA governs are varied and spread across Metro Manila, Cebu, Clark, Davao and beyond, covering IT parks and IT buildings, export manufacturing zones, agro-industrial zones, tourism economic zones and medical-tourism zones. Remember one rule above all: to enjoy PEZA incentives, your project must sit inside a PEZA-accredited zone or building and be registered as a Registered Business Enterprise (RBE). Outside an accredited zone, the incentives simply do not apply.

A checklist of PEZA zone types

Different industries map to different zone categories, and choosing the wrong type can affect eligibility. The common ones include:

• IT parks / IT buildings: for IT-BPO, software development, shared services and knowledge-process outsourcing. This is the mainstream choice for BPO and outsourcing centers, usually in urban office clusters near talent. If you plan an outsourcing center, start with the Philippine BPO setup path.
• Export manufacturing zones: for factories, assembly, electronics and garments that export, with industrial land, bonded status and customs facilitation.
• Agro-industrial zones: for agri-processing and food manufacturing tied to export.
• Tourism economic zones: for hotels, resorts and tourism developments.
• Medical-tourism zones: for medical, wellness and health-tourism services.

There are also logistics, agriculture and eco-zone categories. The key is to identify which activity your project falls under, then find an accredited zone that matches it.

Where the zones are: Metro Manila to Davao

PEZA-accredited zones span the country. Metro Manila concentrates many IT buildings and is the default for IT-BPO; Cebu is a southern hub for outsourcing and manufacturing; Clark and nearby Central Luzon host sizeable manufacturing and logistics parks; and Davao and other parts of Mindanao are expanding.

Picking a city is about more than whether a zone exists — weigh talent supply, rental cost and supporting infrastructure. IT-BPO needs English-speaking talent and reliable power, favoring big-city offices; export manufacturing cares more about land price, ports and freight corridors, often landing in the outskirts or dedicated processing zones. Matching what your industry needs against what a zone offers is the real siting decision.

What incentives a PEZA zone unlocks

Once inside an accredited zone and registered as an RBE, a qualified project can secure a full package under the CREATE / CREATE MORE framework, mainly:

• Income Tax Holiday (ITH): zero corporate income tax for the first several years.
• After the holiday, one of two: the 5% special corporate income tax (SCIT) on gross income, replacing almost all national and local taxes; or the enhanced deduction regime (EDR), with extra deductions for R&D, training and local sourcing.
• Duty exemptions on imported machinery and raw materials, and zero-rated VAT on export sales.

The exact terms and ratios are granted at the agency's discretion per project, so plan your company structure and tax incentive application together. For the full mechanics of ITH, SCIT and CREATE MORE, see the full PEZA vs BOI incentives guide.

Choosing a zone: industry, location, accreditation

Faced with many zones, screen on three dimensions:

• Industry type: manufacturing goes to an export processing zone, IT-BPO to an IT park or building, tourism to a tourism economic zone — align with the activity first.
• Location and talent: assess the target city's talent supply, English ability, rents and transport; people-intensive operations like BPO especially need to sit near a talent pool.
• Accreditation: confirm the building or park is a currently valid PEZA-accredited ecozone, not merely one a developer markets as "about to be approved." Only projects inside accredited zones get the incentives.

Weighing these three yardsticks alongside longer-term incentive planning avoids signing a lease only to find the zone does not qualify.

How to register into a PEZA zone

The rough path: confirm your project is a PEZA-recognized activity → select an accredited zone/building and secure the site → file the project application and business plan with PEZA → obtain approval and register as a Registered Business Enterprise (RBE) → receive the certificate of incentives → file annual compliance and performance reports with PEZA and the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue). It spans company setup, site commitment, industry-list matching and investment or employment commitments.

Mind a few points: the ITH runs from the start of commercial operations, not from registration; export share, holiday length and whether you may switch to SCIT are written into your approval letter and must be followed; failing to maintain export or compliance obligations can trigger retroactive cancellation. Treat compliance as an ongoing discipline, not a one-off. Planning setup, siting and the incentive application together up front is the safest approach. Final eligibility follows PEZA's current rules and case-specific professional advice.

PEZA or BOI: do you need a zone?

Not every incentive requires a zone. The Philippines' other channel, the BOI (Board of Investments), serves priority industries on the Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP), does not require you to locate inside a zone, lets you choose your site freely, and covers some domestic-market projects; PEZA, by contrast, requires an accredited zone and leans export-oriented.

In short: mainly export, want zero-rated VAT and willing to sit in a zone — lean PEZA; serving the domestic market, in a priority sector, needing flexible siting — look at BOI. The two are not mutually exclusive, and different group entities can register separately. Their perks are largely harmonized under CREATE MORE; the difference is chiefly who they fit. For the full comparison, see the PEZA vs BOI incentives guide.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. PEZA policies and zone lists change; confirm eligibility and incentives against PEZA's current rules and a case-specific professional assessment.