Bulaong said Amirco of Iraq has alloted P385 million to establish medical suites anchored on a spa village, an assembly facility for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder, as well as a lapidary for fashion jewelry.

She said the company is spending at least P275 million to establish a medical suite with not more than 100 beds, as well as a P55-million spa village that would cater to American and European tourists and patients.

Amirco who was represented by Amir Al Atia—director general of the League of Businessmen of Iraq—is also planning to put up an assembly facility for LPG cylinders. The proposed facility would churn out two million LPG cylinders a year that would be exported to the Middle East.

Furthermore, the planned lapidary for fashion jewelry would be established together with Filipino jeweler Tony Marco.

The facility is expected to cost P55 million and would use shells and pearls sourced locally, as well as imported gemstones such as diamonds. Output would be shipped to the United States and Europe.

Starsteyr Enterprises is spending P200 million to put up a manufacturing facility for cigarettes inside the free port and special ecozone. The plant would produce 80 containers per month of various brands such as Tango, Captain Black, among others.

Starsteyr marketing manager Augusto Dantes Jr. said output of the plant would be exported to various countries once it starts commercial operation by May. The project would generate employment for 400 workers.

Filipino businessman Naz Fontilla, Austrian Victor Tomasin, and Leonard Woodley of Trinidad and Tobago own the company.

Bulaong added that Grand Star Motors has allocated P28.5 million to put up an assembly plant for reconditions motorcycles, cars, all-terrain vehicles, trucks, and minibus sourced from China. Grand Star has an authorized capital stock of P20 million of which P5 million has been subscribed while P1.25 million has been paid-up.

The plant would have an annual capcity of 8,228 units of reconditioned motor vehicles. About 20 percent of the output would be exported on the first year that would eventually increase to 70 percent on the fifth year.

The Bataan Technopark was once the site of the United Nations-managed Philippine Refugee Processing Center and is overlooking the South China Sea. In 1997, the entire municipality of Morong was proclaimed as the Morong special ecozone with the Bataan Technopark as the main zone.

Last October, President Arroyo issued Executive Order 381 placing the Bataan Technology Park under the Jurisdiction of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA). All the territories comprising the Bataan Technology Park would be known as SBMA-Bataan and would be transformed into a free-port and economic zone.