MARIVELES, Bataan—About 130 multinational firms have applied for accreditation at the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan to put up manufacturing plants at the fastest emerging ecozone in the country, the Freeport Area of Bataan located in this town.
Engineer Emmanuel D. Pineda, AFAB chairman and administrator, said the foreign and local investors are waiting for the approval of the Board of Directors to start their operations this year.
Some of the prospective locators who are motivated to relocate their manufacturing facilities are engaged in the production of top-quality fashionable export products and other labor-intensive industries.
According to Pineda, at present there are 127 operational industrial firms in the FAB with a total of 43,000 workers which contribute at least P400 million monthly to the local economy.
Pineda added that the FAB, in solid harmonization with the local government officials headed by Bataan Gov. Albert Raymond S. Garcia, has explored all avenues of promoting the FAB as an investment-friendly location.
The establishment of FAB was through the initiative of Gov. Garcia, then congressman of the First District of Bataan, who authored the creation of the economic zone to boost the eco-industrial growth of the province.