President Marcos defends Pax Silica amid concerns

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos stand to benefit from the proposed Pax Silica project in Capas, Tarlac, President Marcos maintained yesterday amid concerns that the hub could exploit the country’s natural resources and displace indigenous peoples.

Pax Silica is a US-led initiative to build a secure, resilient supply chain for silicon, semiconductors and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

“I cannot see how another country can come into the Philippines and, for example, exploit our minerals without the agreement of our Philippine government,” Marcos said at a forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.

Marcos underscored the significance of having processing centers in the country for critical minerals such as nickel.

“This provides us an opportunity to start the processing in the Philippines. Therefore, the value added to that will be left here in the Philippines,” the President said.

He also stressed that the Philippines could not do it on its own and needed partnerships, either through a fully commercial venture or a joint venture arrangement.

Asked whether the benefits of Pax Silica would outweigh the risks of hosting such a facility and whether it was an alternative to Chinese investments, Marcos said the government would enter into investment arrangements as long as these were mutually beneficial.

“What we are interested in is to benefit our people in terms of jobs, in terms of investment into the country, in terms of the advancement of our capabilities, in terms of technology, in terms of training, reskilling and upskilling, all of those things,” he said.

For his part, Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. said the project will need less water resources as it is not expected to host AI data centers but semiconductor production that would support AI technology.

“Essentially, it is AI-focused by developing chips that will support (the technology), but not an AI hub,” Solidum said. “Since there will be no AI hub, then the water requirement will not be very much.”

Solidum said the Bases Conversion and Development Authority could use reserve water in Tarlac for the project.

Senators  said their support for the project would be conditioned on strict social safeguards, resource independence and full transparency, following concerns that local communities were bypassed before the project was unveiled.