By Carlos Jimwell Aquino


PHOTO: GMA / Manila Standard


Senator Imee Marcos remarked on Sunday that she does not personally take his brother President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s decision to veto a bill she sponsored in the Senate that sought to establish the Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone and Freeport Authority.


In a statement, Sen. Marcos, who is also the chairperson of the Senate committee on economic affairs, mentioned that while she recognizes the president's right to veto any measure, she is "deeply disappointed" that House Bill 7575, or the Bulacan Ecozone Bill, was cancelled.


"Trabaho lang, walang personalan at wala ring kapatiran. It is my hope that the veto does not have a chilling effect on the potential local and foreign investors, whom we need now more than ever, as our economy struggles to recover from the pandemic," the senator said in a Facebook post.


According to Sen. Marcos, the bill could have provided employment opportunities for those who lost their sources of livelihood because of the pandemic, particularly in Region III provinces. 


Nonetheless, she asserted that this was 'unfinished business' from the term of former Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, wherein the creation of ecozones were prohibited from 2016 to present.


President Marcos vetoed the proposed bill on his first day as the chief executive. For him, the bill "lacks coherence with existing laws, rules, and regulations" and would "significantly narrow the tax base."



Edited by Audrei Jeremy A. Mendador