APECO sees SIPP supporting its pursuit of defense, clean-energy, fishing locators

THE Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (APECO) said the 2026 Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP) will support its plans to attract defense, clean-energy, and fishing locators.

“The newly approved priorities reinforce our vision of transforming APECO into the country’s National Defense Hub, Fishing Capital of the Pacific, and Clean Energy Hub,” APECO President and Chief Executive Officer Gil G. Taway IV said in a statement on Wednesday.

“What makes the 2026 SIPP particularly significant for APECO is that many of the economic activities we are actively promoting are among the country’s priority investment areas,” he said.

APECO is actively promoting SIPP-preferred activities like agriculture, fishery and forestry development; processing and manufacturing of agricultural and fishery products; aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul; telecommunications infrastructure and services; ports and terminals; air, land and water transport; industrial zones; and logistics and fulfillment centers, it said.

APECO is also seeking investors in defense-related service activities, renewable energy, food security-related investments, defense-related manufacturing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and data science.

“APECO offers a unique platform where these priorities can converge through strategic investments and public-private partnerships,” it noted.

Memorandum Order No. 47, which details the updated SIPP, was signed by Acting Executive Secretary Ralph G. Recto on May 21. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz