SONA 2026: Marcos says Pax Silica to bring 'quality' jobs to PH

The Pax Silica Industrial Hub will benefit Filipinos by providing quality jobs, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. said Monday, referring to the planned development for the US-led Pax Silica initiative for an artificial intelligence supply chain.

During his fifth State of the Nation Address, Marcos said the hub—an AI-focused industrial complex spanning 1,600 hectares in New Clark City in Tarlac—“will create an eco-system that will have AI at its core. It will bring quality jobs to our people, accelerate our industrial competitiveness, and revitalize our economy.”

As a strategic component of the Luzon Economic Corridor, the Pax Silica hub “will be an advanced manufacturing and logistics center in the global AI and technology value chain,” he added.

EXPLAINER: What is Pax Silica and why are people worried?

US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth Jacob Helberg, who heads the initiative, has visited the Philippines and describes Pax Silica as a "new economic security consensus" to "build the AI ecosystem of tomorrow."

This is already a controversial project, as AI facilities consume massive amounts of water and electricity.

In addition, House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers party-list Representative Antonio Tinio has decried Pax Silica as war production by another name, with the US positioning Philippines as a supply chain outpost for its military-industrial complex.

“The United States is not offering the Philippines economic development. It is offering us the role of supply chain outpost for the US war machine,” he said.

“Pax Silica and the US-Philippines critical minerals framework form an integrated pipeline designed to secure American strategic interests in semiconductor and advanced electronics production for military applications,” Tinio added.

The US is currently at war against Iran, supposedly to deter Iran from enriching its nuclear weapons and other assets. — BM, GMA News