The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) is a

government-owned and controlled corporation In the Philippines, a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC; ), sometimes with an "and/or", is a state-owned enterprise that conducts both commercial and non-commercial activity. Examples of the latter would be the Government Service I ...

(GOCC) responsible for managing and supervising the development of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport (CSEZFP) in the Philippines. Its creation and operation are mandated by Republic Act No. 7922, also known as the "Cagayan Special Economic Zone Act of 1995," signed into law by President

Fidel V. Ramos Fidel Valdez Ramos (; March 18, 1928 – July 31, 2022), popularly known as FVR, was a Filipino general and politician who served as the 12th president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. He was the only career military officer to reached ...

. The Act was authored by former Senator

Juan Ponce Enrile Juan Valentin Furagganan Ponce Enrile Sr., (born Juan Valentin Furagganan; February 14, 1924), also referred to by his initials JPE, is a Filipino politician and lawyer who served as 21st President of the Senate of the Philippines from 2008 to ...

, a native of

Gonzaga Gonzaga may refer to: Places *Gonzaga, Lombardy, commune in the province of Mantua, Italy *Gonzaga, Cagayan, municipality in the Philippines *Gonzaga, Minas Gerais, town in Brazil *Forte Gonzaga, fort in Messina, Sicily Surname *House of Gonza ...

, Cagayan. CEZA is the first economic zone in the Philippines to host

financial technology Financial technology (abbreviated as fintech) refers to the application of innovative technologies to products and services in the financial industry. This broad term encompasses a wide array of technological advancements in financial services, ...

companies in the emerging fintech industry, having issued the first batch of FTSOVC certificates to three locators.

Overview

The Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport, also known as Cagayan Freeport, is a

special economic zone A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increasing trade balance, employment, increas ...

Cagayan Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan (; ; ; isnag language, Isnag: ''Provinsia nga Cagayan''; ivatan language, Ivatan: ''Provinsiya nu Cagayan''; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Cag ...

Province, northern

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

, in the Philippines. It is envisioned to be a self-sustaining industrial, commercial, financial, tourism, and recreational center, in order to effectively encourage and attract legitimate and productive local and foreign investments and eventually create employment opportunities and increase income and productivity in the rural areas around Freeport Zone. The Cagayan Special Economic Zone also serves as one of the main gambling jurisdictions in the Philippines. CEZA is headed by Secretary

Katrina Ponce Enrile Deli Mondo Food Specialities Inc., doing business as Delimondo, is a Filipino food processing company founded by Katrina Ponce Enrile under the JAKA Group. It was founded on November 13, 2006 after the Enrile family's specialty Potted meat, cann ...

as Administrator and Chief Executive Officer.

Location

Spatially, the Cagayan Economic Zone & Freeport covers the entire Municipality of Sta. Ana, including the Islands of Fuga, Barit, and Mabbag in the Municipality of

Aparri Aparri (ibanag language, Ibanag: ''Ili nat Aparri''; ; ), officially the Municipality of Aparri, is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of , Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a ...

in the Province of Cagayan. Approximately 54,118 hectares of land for prime development fall within the jurisdiction of CEZA. It is surrounded by the waters of

Babuyan Channel The Babuyan Islands ( ), also known as the Babuyan Group of Islands, is an archipelago in the Philippines, located in the Luzon Strait north of the main island of Luzon and south of Taiwan. The archipelago consists of five major islands and thei ...

and the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

on the North and the Pacific Ocean in the east.

References

External links

Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) Official WebsiteRA7922
{{authority control Industrial parks in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Cagayan PEZA special economic zones Government agencies under the Office of the President of the Philippines Government-owned and controlled corporations of the Philippines Government agencies established in 1995