The Philippines is reopening Metro Manila to new outsourcing hubs as it tries to defend its place in the global services market and win more complex work from multinational companies.
Officials, industry executives and property analysts say the move could help the country compete for higher-value offshore functions – from software engineering and finance to healthcare documentation, data work and AI-related services – by making more modern, incentive-eligible office space available in the capital.
But the decision has also revived a concern raised when new IT parks in the capital were restricted seven years ago: whether allowing more investment back into Manila could weaken the push to build outsourcing hubs in provincial cities such as Cebu, Davao and Clark.
On July 23, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr issued Administrative Order No. 45 (AO 45) allowing the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) to accept and evaluate applications for new information technology parks and centres in the National Capital Region.
Peza oversees special economic zones where eligible companies can apply for incentives, making its accreditation an important factor for outsourcing firms and multinational service hubs choosing where to locate.
The order partially lifts a 2019 moratorium which aimed to steer more economic activity into the provinces.
