MANILA, Philippines — The three-member Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives yesterday claimed victory over the deferment of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA)’s proposed P1.98-billion budget for 2027.
Reps. Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers party-list), Sarah Jane Elago (women’s group Gabriela) and Renee Louise Co (Kabataan party-list) said they “successfully moved to defer the consideration” of the BCDA budget due to questions over Pax Silica.
“Until the BCDA produces the documents and explanations the people demand, it has no business receiving a single peso of public fund,” the three declared in a joint statement over the weekend.
They said they repeatedly asked BCDA officials about the proposed site for the US-led Pax Silica initiative and the 1,620-hectare Clark Advanced Manufacturing Park, but the officials “utterly failed to answer basic questions” about the issue.
“The hearing exposed the truth that the Filipino people are being made to pay, through public funds, sovereign lands and displaced communities, for a project that serves foreign strategic interests, not our national development,” they said.
According to the group, BCDA executives “could not even name a single foreign technology company or investor definitively committed to locating in the hub, yet it has already hard-launched the project, notified local government units and the residents facing displacement.”
They added that the deferment “must hold until the BCDA submits all final and draft agreements with foreign partners and investors, complete documentation of its offer of sovereign lands to the Pax Silica coalition, historical data on technology transfer, official environmental clearances from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and full disclosure of all consultations with affected farmers and Aeta communities.”